THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



73 



Is it profitable to use foundation in 

 the sections V Yes. How much V A 

 small amount if thick, and more if it 

 is very thiu. 



"What is the best height from the 

 ground to place hives ? For the ac- 

 commodation of the bees, 4 inches. 

 For the accommodation of the opera- 

 tor, 2 feet. It would also be varied 

 by the exposed or windy location. 



Is it advantageous to use the sec- 

 tions of old comb left over from the 

 previous year V Not always. 



Will the clipping of queens' wings 

 affect their progeny y No. 



What about the large reports in the 

 bee-papers V It was observed that 

 they are of sudden appearance and of 

 short duration, often misleading, and 

 a damage to the pursuit. 



Thirteen hundred colonies were 

 represented, and 72,000 pounds of 

 honey had been produced in the api- 

 aries of those present. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet again before the time for pro- 

 curing supplies for the apiary for the 

 coming se;vBon, according to the orders 

 of the Executive Committee. 



C. \V. Dayton, <Sec. 



For tlie Amencan Bee JoumaL 



Our Neigiors anil onr Bees. 



DIl. A. B. MASON. 



In reading Rev. W. F. Clarke's 

 article on the Canadian bee-lawsuit, 

 on page 823 of the Bee Journal for 

 1886, I notice the following from Mr. 

 Harrison: "So you may judge in 

 some measure what sort of people I 

 have had the misfortune to live 

 among. It is a deplorable state of 

 things for the I9th century." This 

 reminds me of something I read when 

 a boy, and I often tell it as I remem- 

 ber it, although it may not be as I 

 read it. It is as follows : 



A man was moving from one region 

 of country to another some distance 

 away, going from '-Down East" to 

 "Out West," I believe, and spending 

 the night at a public house, was tell- 

 ing " mine host" what had neighbors 

 he had, and how glad he was to leave 

 them ; and the " good man of the 

 house " told him he would find just 

 such neighbors where he was going. 



In a short time another man was 

 moving from the same neighborhood 

 left by the other, and going to the 

 same neighborhood the former had 

 gone to, stopped at the same public 

 house for the night, and his only 

 or greatest regret at moving was, that 

 he had to leave such good neighbors. 

 But he was told that he would find 

 just such good neighbors where he 

 was going. 



Mr. L. C. Root cut the grass for his 

 neighbor, to prevent his getting stung 

 by Mr. Root's bees. I wonder if Mr. 

 Harrison ever offered to help make 

 that objectionable pig-pen any less 

 offensive. I do not believe that it is 

 necessary to have trouble with our 

 neighbors about our bees. Last sea- 

 son I helped to gather the asparagus 

 near my bees for a neighbor gardener, 

 and occasionally sent them honey to 

 : put on their warm biscuits, and they 



did not " kick up a fuss" about being 

 stung, but laughed at their own 

 swollen cheeks. 



At a bee-convention recently, I told 

 how a bee-keeper in Cincinnati got 

 the " right side " of a neighbor. Their 

 lots joined, and there was likely to be 

 trouble about the bees, and the bee- 

 keeper came to me for adyice. It 

 l)eing near swarming time I advised 

 him {unknown to his neighbor) to try 

 and get one of his swarms to cluster 

 on one of his neighbor's trees, and 

 see that they found it there. It 

 worked " like a charm," and the bee- 

 keeper lent them a hive to put the 

 swarm in, and the trouble was over. 



Try some such way, those of you 

 who are likely to have trouble with 

 your neighbors ; keep them sweetened 

 up, and see if it does not pay. 



Auburndale,x3 O. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Dispsiiig of tlie Honey Crop, 



J. W. BITTENliBNDER. 



I do not think that we can get com- 

 plete control of the honey market, as 

 all have a perfect right to keep bees, 

 and in this way we get a class of bee- 

 keepers that we cannot control or 

 influence. If we organize under a law 

 that every one who wishes to keep 

 bees must get a license and give a 

 bond for the faithful fulfilment of his 

 agreement, then we could elect a 

 board to make our prices, and all bee- 

 keepers would have to sell at one 

 price. But in these days we have too 

 many second-class bee-keepers who 

 keep a few colonies of bees ; this is 

 the class that injures our honey mar- 

 ket, as they have not enough honey 

 to bother with, and as a general thing 

 they have a poor grade of honey, 

 poorly gotten up, in large boxes, or in 

 untidy packages. They think that it 

 does not pay to be so particular, and 

 do not have time to care for their bees 

 properly. This class is also equally 

 slow and careless about creating a 

 market for honey. 



As a rule, a first-class bee-keeper 

 aims particularly to get his honey up 

 in nice shape, has the honey trade ot 

 the city, and the merchant and the 

 consumers look to him for honey, 

 if he has enough to supply them. 



Now what will the second-class 

 bee-keeper do V He has not enough 

 honey to trouble with it much, and he 

 has no money or credit, or other pro- 

 duce to sell. Now what will he do V 

 He is compelled to sell his honey. He 

 takes it to town and offers it at a 

 price which the merchant sells his, 

 but gets no buyer. He puts the price 

 down, down, down, till he gets some 

 one to buy it. This is generally at a 

 very low price. He then succeeds in 

 getting a crowd around his wagon, 

 and he is doing a large business on 

 cheap honey. 



In a day or two a customer calls at 

 a store to buy a pound of honey. He 

 asks the price, and is told 15 cents. 

 " Why," he says, " the other day a 

 man sold a wagon-load at 15 cents per 

 pound." He leaves the store, and 

 soon another customer enters with the 



same story. Now, if the store-keeper 

 is a commission merchant, he will 

 drop the price down, and the producer 

 will be the loser. If he bought the 

 honey, he will hold the price up until 

 the cheap honey is all consumed, then 

 he will generally get his price. Now, 

 to whom shall we sell, the commission 

 men, or the retailers ? 

 Knoxville,? Iowa. 



For tlie Amencan Bee JournaU 



SelliiiE tlie Honey Crop, 



O. N. BALDWIN. 



We cannot afford to do it, nor is it 

 right to give the commission men free 

 what those in other branches of in- 

 dustry have to pay for. It seems to 

 me that the publishers should publish 

 the correct quotations for honey in all 

 the principal markets, and then 

 charge commission men the same rate 

 they charge others for advertisements. 



I went to St. Louis last year and 

 sold honey at 18 cents per pound, 

 when the commission merchant 

 quoted it at from 10 to 12 cents. I 

 also shipped honey to Kansas City, 

 and obtained through the commission 

 merchant 13 to 14 cents per pound. 

 While I was satisfied with the re- 

 turns, how do I know but what he 

 sold it at 20 cents per pound, and still 

 got his commission out of my 13 to 14 

 cents y By having the markets re- 

 ported by disinterested parties, it 

 may be possible to realize a better 

 price ; at any rate, I believe it would 

 give better satisfaction. 



As regards class legislation, es- 

 pecially for bee-keepers, I do not 

 think that we could do anything that 

 would reward us for the trouble of 

 obtaining it. We, as a class, ought 

 to rejoice that we have already so 

 many privileges, and still our bees 

 are not subject to the tax imposed on 

 other property from which we re- 

 ceive a less proportionate income. 



I would like to have a bee-keepers' 

 honey-association to keep up the 

 price of the products ot our labor, but 

 you might just as well try to make 

 wheat bring $1, or corn 50 cents a 

 bushel. It all depends upon how 

 badly a man wants a thing and the 

 quantity in market, what he will pay 

 for it. We now get, on an average, 

 12}4 cents per pound for white clover 

 comb honey, and we can buy the best 

 granulated sugar for 6J| cents per 

 pound ; and every thinf, else, or 

 nearly so, is in proportion. Ought we 

 not be able to produce,honey as cheap 

 as the best grades of sugar, by using 

 the same capital, energy and skill in 

 production V The time is not far dis- 

 tant when the apiarist must accom- 

 plish the most with the least labor 

 and expense, and be faultless in the. 

 way he prepares his packages of 

 hoiiey for market, or his competitors 

 will leave him with the sack to hold, 

 while they are reaping the harvest. 

 Clarksville,CK Mo. 



fW The Fremont ProKressive Bee-Keepera' Ab- 

 Bociation will hold its semi-annual meetinK In con- 

 junction with the Farmers' Institute, at Fremont, 

 Mich., on Fob. 4, 1H87. OEo. K. Hilton, Sec. 



