THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



153 



BXtT tbe Amexlcaa Bee JoanuU. 



Tlie Wisconsin State Coniention. 



The Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at Madisou, Wis., on 

 Feb. 3, 1887, witlisome 60 beekeepers 

 in attendance. 



The Brst subject introduced was, 

 " How to sell honey V" upon which 

 Mr. E. A. Morgan, ot Columbus, read 

 an essay. He recommended selling 

 comb honey to grocery men by cooq- 

 mercial travelers, in a manner similar 

 to that in which other goods are sold. 

 He advocated selling extracted honey 

 in 5 and 10 pound pails direct to con- 

 sumers, and for this purpose going 

 around among consumers once a 

 month. He took strong grounds 

 against shipping to commission men 

 on account of their unreliability. The 

 discussion of this subject suggested 

 that we should not assert granulation 

 as a test of purity, for some kinds of 

 honey do not always granulate. Wild 

 bergamot honey and honey-dew 

 were said to be or this class. 



An essay on " Howshall we increase 

 our profits V" was presented by Mr. 

 Prank Minnich, who made the follow- 

 ing recommendations : 



1. An isolated place with plenty of 

 honey-producing plants. 2. Cheap, 

 convenient hives. 3. Not too many 

 bee-spaces for the bees to fill with 

 " mountains " of wax to climb over 

 in reaching the sections. 4. Plenty of 

 bees in the hive. 5. Small starters, 

 that consumers may not object to the 

 wax-centres in the comb. 6. Tiering 

 up sections. 



The statistics of bee-keepers pres- 

 ent, so far as collected, showed 1,866 

 colonies, spring count; 3,039, fall 

 count; -} 1.4-50 pounds of comb honey, 

 and 144,412 pounds of extracted. The 

 average yield percolonv, spring count, 

 was 99 pounds, of which about 28 per 

 cent, was comb honey. The amount 

 on hand yet was 10,440, being about 6 

 per cent, of the crop produced. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



President C. A. Hatch read his 

 annual address, after which Frank 

 McNay gave a talk on "Surplus re- 

 ceptacles." He recommended shallow 

 frames with separators for holding 

 sections ; also favored cases for hold- 

 ing sections, giving the bees but a 

 few at first, and increasing the num- 

 ber as the colonies became strong and 

 the honey flow increased. 



Mr. Gammon and a few others pre- 

 fer to dispense with separators, but 

 the majority favored their use. 



Dr. Vance read an essay on " The 

 value and uses of honey— its adapta- 

 tion to the human system," which 

 will be useful if published hereafter. 



Hon. George Grimm being intro- 

 duced, made a few very pleasant re- 

 marks, after which he was questioned 

 upon thesubjectof • Wintering bees." 

 He said that if other conditions are 

 all right, a cellar may be either wet or 

 dry. Pure food, a slight upward ven- 

 tilation of the hive, strong colonies, 

 and a proper temperature are the most 

 important conditions. 



" What causes swarms to issue late 

 in the fall V" Mr. Grimm said that it 



is sometimes caused by the bees 

 superseding their queens. Mr. Rob- 

 inson said that buckwheat blooming 

 late sometimes causes it. 



Mr. E. France read an essay on 

 "Controlling increase." He extracts 

 once a week, destroys queen-cells if 

 any are started, and divides the 

 strongest colonies by taking two 

 frames of brood with adhering bees, 

 to form new colonies. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The evening meeting was a very 

 pleasant one. The principal subject 

 discussed was " Marketing Honey," 

 upon which nearly every one had 

 something to say. Dr. Vance, Rev. 

 II. A. Winter and others advised the 

 distribution of small tracts or leaflets 

 calling attention to the purity, excel- 

 lence and cheapness of honey as an 

 article of food. Mr. Winter recom- 

 mended peddling it near home, and 

 showing it from house to house. Mr. 

 Wilcox approved of peddling, pro- 

 vided it should not be peddled at the 

 same price at which it is sold to re- 

 tailers. If wo sell small packages to 

 neighbors at the same price that we 

 sell it to grocerymen, we shall soon 

 destroy their retail trade. 



The convention did not think that a 

 honey-producers' association for the 

 purpose of fixing, controlling or regu- 

 lating prices of honey could ever be 

 made practicable. 



The following nflicers were elected : 

 President, C. A. Hatch ; 1st Vice- 

 President, H. A. Winter ; 2nd Vice- 

 President, George Grimm ; Secretary, 

 F. Wilcox; and Treasurer, M. J. 

 Plumb. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet at the call of the President, in 

 February, 1888. F. Wilcox. Sec. 



For tbe Amencan Bee Journal, 



Mom Bees before Winterini, 



THOMAS STOKES. 



The queries during the past year have 

 been a volume of knowledge, but none 

 of them more opportune than No. 31-5, 

 where the question is asked if bees 

 would be as likely to winter well 

 hauled 80 rods, or be picked up and 

 carried right into the cellar. 



As I was to move to another place 

 in the spring, I thought it best to dig 

 a cellar and over it build a workshop, 

 and move the' bees into it where they 

 would be ready in the spring. There 

 is no cellar here tit for bees, and for 

 three years I have wintered them in 

 clamps; but in this cold climate of 

 such severe changes, as we have sev- 

 eral times through the winter when 

 the mercury will go down from about 

 freezing to from UP to 20° below zero 

 by morning, it is too much for any- 

 thing but an underground repository, 

 and have them in first-class condition 

 in the spring. 



On Nov. 1" it was mild in the morn- 

 ing, and the ground was thawed about 

 an inch in depth. I drew them up in 

 a light wagon, taking the 48 colonies 

 in five loads, hiiving first securely 

 fastened them in their hives. In the 

 evening I took a lantern, opened all 



the hive-entrances, and the bees came 

 rushing out, but very few flew. After 

 opening all the entrances I darkened 

 the lantern and waited awhile; on 

 nearly all the hives they were hang- 

 ing out in front similar to the way 

 they do on a hot day in the summer. 



A few evenings afterwards I went 

 in again and found they had returned 

 to the hives, but a few of the most 

 populous were uneasy. The tempera- 

 ture was 47°, so I left the ventilator 

 wide open and let it cool down to 40°, 

 when they were all quiet. It still 

 keeps at that temperature with the 

 ventilator closed by filling with pea- 

 straw, although we have had much 

 severe cold weather. 



A few days ago I was in the cellar 

 and they were all quiet, with very 

 few dead bees scattered over the 

 cellar bottom. So it appears the 

 shaking did no harm in this case. 



Minesing, Out. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Cofflliiuations for Honey-Proicers. 



J. M. HICKS. 



On page 106 Mr. Jno. A. Buchanan 

 has given us something of practical 

 value. It seems to me, from a long 

 experience, that as a rule all combina- 

 tions and unions have proved to be of 

 very little value to the masses, but 

 often a bonanza to a few at the ex- 

 pense of the many. 



We also find that for several years 

 past the quotations of honey (not 

 glucose) has been very low by the 

 various commission men in many 

 cities, and especially in Cincinnati 

 and Chicago ; while at the same time 

 I was retailing honey of my own pro- 

 duction at 20 cents per pound for ex- 

 tracted, and 2-5 cents per pound for 

 comb honey. I have disposed of my 

 1886 crop of 4,000 pounds at 20 cts. per 

 pound, all of which has been sold 

 direct to the consumer, and not a 

 pound went into a grocery-store or to 

 a commission merchant. 



I have long since found that it takes 

 industry to produce as well as sell 

 honey at a paying price. The value 

 of industry is not very much known 

 by our commission merchants, except 

 at the expense of the producer ; hence 

 every producer should be his own 

 salesman, provided he always desires 

 good returns. 



It does seem to me, viewing it from 

 a practical stand-point, that we as a 

 class of honey producers cannot afford 

 to form an organization for the pur- 

 poses as stated by Mr. Baldridge, to 

 fix a price for honey. It seems to me 

 to be more like a gambling scheme, 

 and should not be tolerated by the 

 honey-produces. But as remarked by 

 Mr. Buchanan, I prefer to control and 

 sell my honey, when I have it, direct 

 to those of my immediate vicinity who 

 know me and desire a pure article ; 

 not to sell at an exorbitant, but at a 

 fair living price to the producer. I 

 have now been in my present location 

 for over 15 years, and I have never 

 sold a pound of honey for less than 20 



Battle Ground, to Ind. 



