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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



farmers and small producers will not 

 be slow in finding out that the large 

 producers have adopted new tactics, 

 and have quit fooling their honey 

 away for less than its true value. 

 They will not then be so anxious to 

 hasten to market and sell the " stuff" 

 at any price as now. The trouble at 

 present is, they are afraid the large 

 producers will flood the markets, and 

 thereby cause low prices, and this 

 simply makes them try to anticipate 

 such a state of things. Another 

 thing : Unless their honey is in 

 small packages, of good quality, and 

 in good condition, it will do no more 

 harm to the wideawake honey pro- 

 ducer than the poor or unsightly but- 

 ter made by farmers does to the gilt- 

 edge commodity made in factories. 

 But when the farmer and small pro- 

 ducer adopts the one-comb sections, 

 and has his honey in proper condition 

 for the retail trade, and we find that 

 their prices will do harm to large 

 producers, then we had better huy 

 their product. We can then place it 

 upon the market and have it sold for 

 us, by and through our agents, and at 

 a profit. 



Mr. C. seems to be afraid that the 

 farmers may turn their attention to 

 rearing bees and producing honey 

 when they find they can sell the 

 honey at good prices, and this will 

 " crowd an already overstocked mar- 

 ket." Such as his perhaps may be. 

 This he thinks will make matters 

 worse than they are at present. Now 

 the overstocking of the markets with 

 honey seems to be a great bug-bear to 

 many, but not so to me. I have been 

 too long in the honey trade to have 

 any such fears. I do not believe that 

 we can very well overstock the mar- 

 kets of the United States with choice 

 comb honey, in case we distribute it 

 properly, and see that it is kept on 

 sale and in sight at all times, and in 

 a presentable shape. The chief trouble 

 at present is, as the Editor says, un- 

 equal distribution— cow'pledi with the 

 fact that the majority of retailers are 

 entirely out of it nearly one-half of 

 the time. 



" There is," says Mr. C, " but one 



Sractical" way to accomplish "the 

 esired end," and that is for a few 

 rich bee-keepers to form a syndicate, 

 buy all the honey, and make a 

 " corner " on it. No, sir, we want no 

 " corner " on honey, in the sense he 

 indicates. Nor do we need a Vauder- 

 bilt. When our large honey producers 

 once make up their minds to organize 

 and pull in one direction, there will 

 then be members enough in each and 

 every honey-producing locality to buy 

 out the mischief-makers therein, or to 

 report such to head-quarters, when a 

 way will be provided for protecting 

 its members everywhere. I do not 

 apprehend much trouble in that direc- 

 tion—still I may be mistaken. Sup- 

 pose we give the plan a trial and find 

 out ! Reader, what say you 'i 

 St. Charles, 5 Ills. 



For tue AmerlcaQ Bue JournaL 



Norttern Illinois Conyention. 



C. M. HOLLINGSWORTH. 



All New Subscriptions will begin with 

 the year, and until further notice we will 

 eend the back numbers from January 1, 

 unless otherwise ordered. 



The regular annual meeting of the 

 Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation was held at Rockford, Ills., on 

 Jan. 18 and 19, 1887, and the writer 

 was appointed to prepare for the Bee 

 Journal a summary of the discus- 

 sions on topics of general interest. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller was present, and was 

 constantly called upon for his views 

 and experiences, which he gave in an 

 entertaining and instructive manner. 



BEES AND PLANTS. 



Mr. A. J. Swezey first read a well- 

 prepared essay on the agency of bees 

 and other insects in the fertilization 

 and cross-fertilization of plants. Mr. 

 S., who is a fruit-grower, had form- 

 erly believed that bees do some harm 

 to fruit-growers, without being in any 

 way beneficial. But investigation of 

 the subject by reading and observa- 

 tion had convinced him that the harm 

 they do is very trifling compared with 

 the good they do to the fruit interests. 



Dr. Miller asked if there was any 

 plant which was known to depend 

 solely on the visits of the hive-bee 

 for its fertility. 



Mr. Hollingsworth cited Darwin's 

 experiments with white clover. In 

 one case a number of heads that had 

 been protected by a net produced but 

 few seeds, and in another case, no 

 seeds ; while heads outside the net, in 

 both cases, which bees had been seen 

 to visit, seeded abundantly — bees 

 being the only insects mentioned by 

 Darwin as having been seen on the 

 plants. But experiment has also 

 shown that, even with plants which 

 are capable of self-fertilization, the 

 crossing of one individual with 

 another by the agency of insects is of 

 great benefit, causing them to pro- 

 duce more and better seed, larger and 

 sounder fruit, and more vigorous 

 plants in the succeeding generation. 



Dr. Miller said that he felt sure 

 that even bee-keepers themselves 

 were not fully aware of the impor- 

 tance of the office which bees perform 

 in this way. If it is a fact that white 

 clover depends as much upon the 

 presence of hive-bees as red clover 

 does upon the presence of bumble- 

 bees for the production of seed, the 

 fact is of the first importance to 

 farmers and dairymen. To take 

 away the bees would be to take away 

 the white clover from their pasture 

 fields. 



ITALIAN VS. BLACK BEES. 



It was admitted that the black or 

 German bees go more readily into 

 the sections and produce a fancier 

 article of comb honey. But Mr. Lee 

 thought that they carried too much 

 of the honey into the supers, leaving 

 the brood-chamter poorly supplied 

 for winter. He preferred to keep 

 Italians only, if for nothing else, on 

 account of their better disposition. 



"President Whittlesey said that the 

 Italians would gather the most honey 

 in a poor season. 



Dr. Miller, without attempting to 

 establish or maintain any particular 

 strain of bees, makes a practice of 

 buying, each year, one of the best im- 

 ported Italian queens that can be had, 

 thus constantly securing the advan- 

 tage of fresh blood, and the farther 

 advantage of pure blood, if there is 

 such a thing in bees. 



MARKETING AND SHIPPING HONEY. 



Mr. Highbarger had this season 

 sold 5,000 pounds near his home, by 

 taking it around in a wagon through 

 the country, and to the nearest vil- 

 lages. He sold comb honey at from 

 10 to 12 cents, and extracted at 8 cents 

 per pound. Mr. Hollingsworth, in the 

 village of Winnebago, had, by adver- 

 tising with postal cards, sold 1,500 

 pounds at the apiary, besides 600 

 pounds at the village stores, which 

 was a large increase over the home 

 sales of last year. 



Dr. Miller discovered a few years 

 ago that commission men in the large 

 cities made a practice of under-quot- 

 ing the market, so that their custo- 

 mers would be the better pleased with 

 the price obtained for shipment. This 

 often had the effect of fixing the price ■ 

 in the country markets below what it 

 should be. He further showed that 

 some producers make the mistake of 

 always putting the local price at the 

 price in the large markets less the 

 cost of shipment to those markets. 

 But in localities where there is a 

 deficiency, the local price should be 

 the city price plus the cost of ship- 

 ment. The idea that producers could 

 combine to fix the general price of 

 honey met with no support whatever. 



With regard to the shipment of 

 comb honey, the views brought out 

 were, that when sent by express it is 

 apt to be damaged by hurried and 

 careless handling ; when sent by 

 freight and transferred on the way, it 

 is liable to suffer from improper 

 packing in the car by those who make 

 the transfer ; and when properly 

 loaded and sent by freight without 

 transfer, there is very little risk. 

 Thus a large shipment can be sent 

 more safely than a small one. 



In an essay on " Bee-Keeping as a 

 Pursuit," Mr. Fuller said that he had 

 only followed it in connection with 

 farming, but considered it, when well- 

 managed, as profitable as other pur- 

 suits. 



HIVE BOTTOM-BOARDS. 



A distinction was made between 

 loose bottom-boards and those that 

 are not loose but movable. A vote 

 showed a large majority against hav- 

 ing the bottom-board nailed on the 

 hive. In moving hives with loose 

 bottom-boards, Mr. Gammon used a 

 large U-shaped iron clamp with a set- 

 screw at one end to clamp the hive 

 and bottom together. Mr. Rice used 

 two ropes and sticks and a wedge for 

 the same purpose. 



Mr. Hollingsworth had Langstroth 

 hives with bottom-boards that were 

 removable, but not loose. The bot- 

 tom of the portico is nailed on like 

 the top, and the two give the hive 

 stiffness. In its back edge are twa 

 small auger holes to receive project- 



