THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



543 



S. J. Yoiingman, of Lake View ; Sec- 

 retary and Treasurer, F. A. Palmer, 

 of M'cBride's. 1st Vice-President, L. 

 S. Benliam, of Alma ; 2d Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Edward Hunt, of Sheridan ; 3d 

 Vice-President, L. L. Bissell, of Lake 

 View ; 4th Vice-President, Mrs. A. 

 M. Sanders, of Slieridan ; oth Vice- 

 President, J. IL Robertson, of 

 Pewamo. 



The next annual convention will be 

 held at Alma, Gratiot Comity, Mich., 

 on the 2d Tuesday and Wednesday of 

 October, 1S84. 



Adjourned until 1 p. m. 



The Secretary suggested that a 

 semi-annual convention be held, dur- 

 ing the working season, at some bee- 

 beeper's apiary^ accessible by all, that 

 we may get practical ideas,'aud that 

 the same be made a basket picnic, and 

 all have a good time. The suggestion 

 was approved, and the President, Sec- 

 retary, Treasurer, and 1st Vice-Presi- 

 dent were made a committee to name 

 the time and issue the call 'for the 

 basket picnic convention. Miss F. A. 

 Bellamy made the request that the 



fatlieri'ng be held at her liome near 

 onia, which was cheerfully agreed to. 

 There being a little time before the 

 trains were due, the subject of hives 

 and frames was discussed, there being 

 722 colonies represented by member's 

 present, of which 539 were square or 

 deep frames, and 183 Langstroth 

 frames. It showed a preference for 

 the square or deep frame. Mrs. A. 

 M. Sanders could say nothing against 

 the Langstrutli franie, though she had 

 both the shallow and the square 

 frames, but considered the square 

 frame the most convenient to handle. 

 Bees wintered well, and possibly bet- 

 ter in the shallow frame than in the 

 square, last winter. Mr. Goodno's 

 experience had been aliout the same ; 

 like all other discussions upon this 

 subject, all did not agree. 



There was placed upon exhibition 

 at this convention an improved winter 

 bee hive for the shallow frame, by 

 Wm. O. Burk, of Crystal, which at- 

 tracted much attention, and met with 

 favor. He also had a simple though 

 convenient device for fastening foun- 

 dation in sections of his own make. 

 The Secretary also placed upon the 

 table the eighth edition of Prof. Cook's 

 Manual, Thos. G. Newman's " Apiary 

 Register " for 200 colonies, a supply 

 of Weekly and Monthly Bee Jouk- 

 ISTALS, and general catalogues of liter- 

 ature for the apiary, which was freely 

 distrilnited. Others placed copies of 

 A. I. Root's A B C of Bee-Culture. 

 Quinby"s New Bee-Keeping bv L. C. 

 Root, A. J. King's Text Book, and 

 some fine comb honey by E. S. Collins, 

 of Cedar Lake. This feature of the 

 convention was interesting and in- 

 structive, but it is hoped a'larger ex- 

 hiljit will be shown at our next con- 

 vention. 



The list of colonies with size of 

 frames were as follows : L. L. Bissell, 

 Lake View, 23 colonies in Langstrutli 

 frames ; F. A. Palmer, ^IcBride's, 2 

 colonies in 10x10 frames ; S. J. Young- 

 man, Lake View. 6o colonies in Lang- 

 stroth frames ; F. O. Johnson, Chaii- 

 wich. 32 colonies in 9x10 frames ; A.L. 

 Entricon, Westville, 30 colonies in 



10x12^ frames ; N.Kendall, McBride's 

 13 colonies in 10x10 frames ; E. E. 

 Thayer, 4 colonies in 10x12 frames ; 

 n. Peck, Saranac, 12 colonies in llx- 

 113-4 frames ; Geo. W. Stanton, Sheri- 

 dan, 48 colonies in 10x12 frames ; O. 

 R. Goodno, Carson City, 46 colonies in 

 10x10 frames, and Hi colonies in Lang- 

 stroth frames ; Mrs. A. M. Sanders, 

 Sheridan, 20 colonies in Langstroth 

 frames, and 44 colonies in 10x12 frames; 

 Mrs. Francis Miller, Sheridan, C colo- 

 nies in 10x12 frames ; Miss F. A. Bel- 

 lamy, lona, 40 colonies in Langstroth 

 frames ; Wm. O. Burk, Crystal, 3 col- 

 onies in Langstroth frames and 16 

 colonies in 10x10 frames ; Mrs. A. 

 Bradley, Sheridan, 7 colonies in 10x12 

 frames ; W. M. Penny, Shilo, 39 colo- 

 nies in 91^x10 frames ; E. S. Collins, 

 Cedar Lake. 12 colonies in 10x10 

 frames; O. F. Mason, Crystal, 12 col- 

 onies in 10x10 frames ; J. W. Mitchell, 

 Carson City , 3 colonies in 10x10 frames, 

 and 16 colonies in Langstroth frames ; 

 W. W. Trussell, Colby, 33 colonies in 

 10x10 frames ; V. Hallett, Colby, 12 

 colonies in 10x10 frames ; M. Foster, 

 Sheridan, 6 colonies in 10x10 frames ; 

 L. S. Benham, Alma, 81 colonies in 

 10x10 frames ; Clias. Cross, Carson 

 City, 63 colonies in 10x10 frames ; D. 

 A. McLean, Stanton, 6 colonies in 10- 

 xlO frames ; Mrs. G. L. Lean, Sheri- 

 dan, 12 colonies in 10x12 frames. 



Total, -539 in square or deep frames, 

 and 183 in Langstroth frames. 



A vote of thanks was tendered to 

 Mr. Stone for the gratuitous use of his 

 hall ; also a vote of thanks to Geo W. 

 Stanton, E. Hunt, Mrs. A. M. Sanders, 

 E. E. Thayer, and others, for gener- 

 ous hospitulity. 



A vote of thanks was extended to 

 the retiring Secretary for his service 

 for the past six years, and for the in- 

 terest he has always manifested in 

 the welfare of the association. Ad- 

 journed. Ol'HIR R. GOODNO. 

 Betiring ib'ec. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Labeling Packages of Honey. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Of late quite a number have tried 

 to out-do somebody else in getting up 

 showy honey labels. Such enterprise 

 is commendable, but tlie honey label 

 has not yet been invented. I fear the 

 inventors are working in the wrong 

 direction. Take a clean, smooth, 

 white section box, fill it with snowy- 

 white tempting comb honey. There ; 

 does that need a fancy label V Will a 

 showy label add to its' beauty V Will 

 it not rather deti'act V Is a beautiful 

 woman more beautiful when over- 

 dressed with gaudy attire V Does a 

 rich, ripe strawberry need a strip of 

 colored paper wrapped around it before 

 it is fit for market V If not, then why 

 desecrate the virgin purity of our 

 white combs of honey by pasting 

 around them gaudy hibels V All, yes, 

 says one, but these labels hide the 

 propolis, mildewed sei^tions, and un- 

 sightly holes left by the bees at the 

 corners. Very true, but would it not 

 be better to use smooth, white, well- 

 seasoned sections, pursue such a 



method of management that the sec- 

 tions will be well filled, scrape off all 

 propolis, and then the lioney would 

 be V)eautiful in its simplicity. 



Hundreds of people, upon seeing 

 my exhibit of comb honey at the 

 State Fair, exclaimed : " Tliat is the 

 finest lot of honey that I ever saw !"' 

 Tliat the honey was nice, is a fact, 

 but there was an added attention of 

 which, perhaps, no one tliought, and 

 that is, the honey was stored in 

 smooth, white sections, crated in 

 crates made from smooth, white 

 lumber, and the reflection of the light 

 from the smooth white surface of the 

 surrounding wood, gave to the honey 

 an added whiteness. There was an 

 entire absence of labels, and. as the 

 cases were piled up, tier ujion tier, in 

 the form of a pyramid, the exhibition 

 was grand and beautiful in its sim- 

 plicity. 



Pure, white comb honey cannot be 

 adorned, but if any producer desires 

 to have consumers know whose honey 

 they are eating, and hopes thereby to 

 gain fame and sell much honey, let 

 iiim use a small, neat, unobtrusive 

 rubber stamp bearing his name and 

 address, and stamp each section before 

 ]3utting it upon tlie hive. 



How about extracted honey V Well, 

 if it is put in glass, and kept in a 

 liquid state, what is the first thing 

 that a would-be purchaser does ? He 

 holds the package up to the light and 

 exclaims: "'Ah, how fine!" That 

 is, he does if the package is not co-\-- 

 ered with a gaudy label, if so, how- 

 can he V A neat, attractive, but small 

 label is the liest for glass packages. 

 When lioney is put up in tin. there is 

 some excuse for adornment by the 

 way of labels, but even then I do not 

 approve of highly colored, flaming 

 labels ; they give to the honey a tin- 

 can, bar-soap, groceryfied appearance. 

 Let the packers of fish, fruit, and 

 vegetables adorn their wares with 

 gaudy " chromos " if they please, but 

 the product of the apiary requires 

 nothing of the kind. It is beautiful 

 in itself. " Beauty unadorned is most 

 adorned." 



Rogersville, Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



ftueen Cages, Introducing, etc. 



W. DEJIAUEK. 



While reading Mr. Doolittle's article 

 on page 511, Weekly Bee .Journal. 

 concefning " sending queens by mail,'' 

 it occurred to me that those persons 

 who have received queens from my 

 apiary, tlirough the mails, in the past 

 season, and have read Mr. Doolittle's 

 description of the cage used by him, 

 will be puzzled to know which has 

 stolen ■■ tother's thunder." Mr. D. or 

 myself. Tlie cage described by Mr. 

 J)', is •' point blank '" the same in 

 ever\' substantial feature as the one 

 I ha've used for sending (lueens by 

 mail for more than a year past. In 

 September, 1882, 1 sent a queen and 

 her suite of l)pes to Rev. E. h. Briggs, 

 of Iowa, and he returned the cage to 

 me witli a iiueen and liev escort fi'ora 

 his apiary without replenishing t!ie 



