THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



^^MIPMIO^S^,,^^ 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN. 



yoinill. May 4, 188]. No. 18. 



May shall make the world anew ; 

 Golden sun and silver dew — 

 Money, minted in the Bky, 

 Shall the earth's new garments buy. 



May shall make the orchard bloom ; 

 And the blossoms' fine perfume 

 Shall set all the honey-bees 

 Murmuring among the trees. 



May shall make the bud appear 

 Like a jewel, crystal clear, 

 'Mid the leaves upon the limb 

 Where the robin lilts his hymn. 



May shall make the wild-flowers tell 

 Where the shining snow-flakes fell ; 

 Just as though each snow flake's heart, 

 By some secret, magic art. 



Were transmitted to a flower 

 In the sunlight and the shower. 



Is there such another, pray. 



Wonder-making month as May ? 



—St. Nicholae. 



IQons. Eagene Francois Jonas, father 

 of the late celebrated Leon Jonas, died at 

 Amiens, France, on March 27, and was 

 buried on the 30th. He was the oldest mem- 

 ber of the Apicultural Society of the 

 Department of the Somme, France, and is 

 deeply mourned by his numerous friends 

 and acquaintances In Northern France. 



Promptnens and Regularity.— Mr. 



Charles Soiveson, of Nashotah, Wis., on 

 April 24, 1887. writes us as follows : 



Last week's Dee Journal was lost in the 

 mails. Please send another. It is the first 

 one that failed to arrive at our oBiee in time 

 during the past six years. It is the most 

 •'regular' periodical to arrive, of all that 

 I ever subscribed for. 



Should a number fail to come on time, we 

 hope our subscri'bers will notify us at once, 

 and we will with pleasure send another copy. 

 If this is neglected for months, we may not 

 have any left to send another. 



Our systematic care in mailing, and 

 promptness in putting them into the post- 

 office here, are the causes of every copy 

 arriving by just the same train on the same 

 day, every week. Our subscribers know 

 just when to expect them, and are but rarely 

 disappointed— once in half a dozen years or 

 80 I We do not think that one in a thou- 

 sand goes astray or is lost 1 So perfect are 

 the postal facilities in America. 



Price Iiiots are received from J. P. 

 Moore, Morgan. Ky. (Bees) ; J. B. Hains, 

 Bedford. 0.(Bees and Supplies) ; A. G. Hill, 

 Kendallville, Ind. (Bees and Supplies.) 



Not Over-Productlon ! but imperfect 

 distribution, is the cause of low prices and 

 slow sale of honey 1 1 This we have many 

 times stated in these columns, and we do 

 not fear any coutradlctlon of the position 

 we have taken. As corroborative evidence, 

 we would ask the reader to refer to the 

 article of Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, on pages 

 280 and '281 of this issue. 



In reference to our suggestion to defer 

 the proposed convention on marketing our 

 crops of honey, until early in the fall, Mr. 

 H. says : 



I think that Mr. Newman's suggestion, on 

 page 227, is a good one, viz : to defer hold- 

 ing a convention until the meeting of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Society, next 

 fall, in Chicago. As Secretary of this 

 Society. I would suggest that at least one 

 day (and the best day at that) be devoted at 

 the next meeting to a discussion of this 

 vital topic. 



We fully endorse this suggestion, and 

 refer it to the President, Dr. Miller, who, in 

 the absence of any objection, we think will 

 " declare " that to be the decision of the 

 Executive Board of the society, and provide 

 for the full discussion of the items named 

 by the Secretary, viz ; " the cost of produc- 

 tion, prices at which honey can be sold at a 

 profit, methods of putting up honey, com- 

 mission men, cash buyers, home markets, 

 city markets, foreign markets, development 

 of markets, distribution of our products, 

 associations, corners, etc." 



Then let us have a full attendance of 

 representative apiarists, and give the matter 

 an exhaustive discussion. There is time 

 enough between this and the meeting, for 

 every one to perfect plans of thought in 

 order to present matured projects for 

 deliberation. 



Dispensing: ^vltli mddle-nien.— At a 



recent meeting in London, Mr. Jones opened 

 a discussion upon the co-operative distribu- 

 tion of the products of the farm. 



Mr. Jones, like others who deal with the 

 subject rationally, did not call for the ex- 

 termination of ail present distributors ; but 

 he contended, and with reason, that there 

 was a superfluity of middle-men, and that 

 the producer and the consumer stoodat the 

 opposite ends of a line of persons who 

 handed the goods from one to the other, 

 each taking a bite on the way. The conse- 

 quence was an enormous disparity between 

 the price paid by the consumer, and the 

 price the producer got for it. 



Apiarists should place themselves in a 

 position where they can use the middle-men 

 to their own advantage— not allowing them 

 to mufte prices for honey, or compete with 

 one another to break down rates already 

 established, but to handle the product under 

 the supervision of competent apiarists who 

 are cognizant of the amount produced, the 

 state of the market, and the prices it should 

 bring at wholesale and retail. The pro- 

 ducers of the world seem to be awaking up 

 to the magnitude of the work before them. 

 "Let there be light I" 



" I Want to look at a pair of eyeglasses, 

 sir. of extra magnilying power." Dealer— 

 "Yes, ma'am: something very strong?" 

 " Yes, sir : while \i8iting in the country last 

 summer I made a very painful blunder, 

 which I never want to repeat." "May I ask 

 what that— er— blunder was?" "Oh, yes; I 

 mistook a bumble-bee for a blackberry." 



Falsely Accused.- The poor bees seem 

 to be arraigned almost daily upon some 

 trumped-up charge. While it is annoying 

 to have it so, yet it Is in the interest of the 

 pursuit, rather than otherwise. Any attor- 

 ney will admit that he enjoys the work of 

 proving that a charge made against his 

 client is "false and malicious." So is it in 

 the case of the bees— the more unreasonable 

 the things charged against them, the better 

 does the case appear to all thinking and 

 honorable persons I 



In the Bee Journal for April 20, page 

 243, we recorded the charge made by Dr. B. 

 F. Dunkley, that the bees ate out the hickory 

 pins with which he secured the combs to the 

 frames. Now, on page 279, some malicious 

 person has charged the bees of Mr. Clark, 

 in Arkadelphia, Ark., with eating up hig 

 young ducfcs .' ; as well as eating up the 

 peaches I 



This is making the thing ridiculous 

 enough I Were It not for the friendly 

 action of insects to fertilize the flowers of 

 fruit trees, there would be no fruit I Bees 

 are the fruit-growers' best friends ; but 

 instead of appreciating their services, some 

 of them are abusing the bees, and trying to 

 prejudice mankind in general against themi 



middle-men are getting into disrepute. 

 The peach-growers as well as honey-pro- 

 ducers are now wrestling with the subject 

 of marketing their products without the aid 

 of commission men. The peach-growers are 

 to meet at Dover, Del., on Thursday, May 

 12, 1887. The call sets forth the object of 

 the meeting thus : 



There is now a prospect of a most abund- 

 ant crop of peaches, and it behooves us to 

 use timely action to have it properly dis- 

 tributed throughout the country. If sent to 

 a few large cities a glut In those markets 

 must necessarily ensue. We are as com- 

 petent to place our fruit in the right market 

 as the city commission men, and by a wise 

 and judicious distribution to avoid the dis- 

 astrous evils of low prices by overstocking a 

 few places. Many other questions con- 

 ducive to our interests will come before this 

 convention, such as the invitation of dealers 

 to buy directly of us at home, the establish- 

 ment of a fruit market of our own in New 

 York and other places. 



We must have lower freights. We must 

 develop more new markets. We must 

 imitate all the great and successful indus- 

 tries of our country by cooperating with 

 each other for our own good. We must 

 cease shipping at hazard. We must have 

 system. 



Men of Honor.— An old mercantile 

 authority says that a man violates the laws 

 of honor when he takes advantage of 

 another's unskillfulness or ine.isperience, or 

 the technicalities of the law, to impose on 

 him. A man acts dishonorably when he 

 does not make sacrifices to pay his debts 

 promptly ; when he sells below the market 

 price to get away his neighbor's customers ; 

 and in all cases in which he does acts which 

 if thoroughly understood, would tend to 

 lower him in the estimation of his custo- 

 mers, or any good man. 



Tried by this standard, how many dis- 

 honorable persons exist, oven in apiarian 

 circles, and yet, is it not a fair statement of 

 the case? Men of honor and sterling in- 

 tegrity are always at a premium in every 

 pursuit I Their opinions and advice are 

 ever of value, and worthy of the generation 

 and country in which they live I 



