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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one, I think, will deny that there are 

 thousands. These thousands, as well as 

 thousands of others who are interested 

 in the product of the apiary, or in the 

 bee as a valuable friend to agriculture 

 and horticulture, need educating. 



Bee-keepers need educating along the 

 line of uniformity of package and price. 

 They need to know the magnitude of 

 the industry which they represent. They 

 need to know when, and where, and 

 how to sell their product. They need to 

 know honey-dew from the product of 

 white clover, and the dangers to the 

 business from putting it on the market. 

 In short, they need educating along all 

 lines in order to make the industry of 

 bee-keeping respectable and respected. 



Until all bee-keepers know how to 

 utilize to the very best advantage the 

 product of their field ; until they know 

 worthless patented clap-traps from 

 valuable essentials in the apiary, and 

 until we are able to extract from nature's 

 laboratories, with the least labor and 

 greatest profit to ourselves, the sweets 

 now wasted, the mission of these socie- 

 ties is not accomplished. And until the 

 people are educated to know that bees 

 are friends, and not enemies ; that they 

 aid in fructifying the labors of the agri- 

 culturist, horticulturist, and market 

 gardener ; until they know that honey 

 cannot be made by the grocery man, nor 

 comb-honey by machinery, our work is 

 not ended. 



I, therefore, exhort you to renewed 

 interest and devotion to the only society 

 in Iowa which has for its object the 

 protection and culture of insects friendly 

 to man, and the utilization of a natural 

 product which enriches no man unless 

 gathered. 



I have not at hand the Eleventh 

 Census Report, but in the one published 

 in 1880, the product of honey for the 

 year 1879, in the United States, was 

 given at 25,748,208 pounds, and of 

 wax 1,105,689 pounds, aggregating 

 nearly four and one-fourth millions of 

 dollars' worth of product. I think the 

 year 1879 was not a good one for the 

 bee-keeper in many parts of the country. 

 I expect to see a much better report for 

 the year 1889. 



Regarding this report, I quote from 

 the Annual Report of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture for the year 1889. J. R. 

 Dodge, Statistician, under the head of 

 bee-keeping, says : "Among the minor 

 branches of rural industry, bee-keeping 

 is one of the most important, though its 

 prominence is not generally recognized, 

 from the fact that it Is almost every- 

 where carried on as an incident of 



general agriculture, and but rarely as a 

 leading rural occupation. Every State 

 and territory reports bees and more or 

 less honey, usually a hive or a few colo- 

 nies for each farmer, rather than 

 extensive apiaries and large production. 



" In some localities, as in portions of 

 New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Califor- 

 nia, where existing conditions are par- 

 ticularly favorable, apiculture is more 

 prominent, dominating other industries, 

 perhaps, in a neighborhood, though very 

 rarely the leading branch of agriculture 

 over any considerable area. The value 

 of the annual product of honey and wax 

 is not generally realized ; they are pro- 

 duced more or less extensively in every 

 section of the country, and the aggre- 

 gate value is large — much larger than 

 that of other crops of which more notice 

 is usually taken. It almost equals the 

 value of the rice or the hop crop, falls 

 but little short of the buckwheat pro- 

 duct, exceeds the value of our cane 

 molasses, and of both maple syrup and 

 sugar. It largely exceeds the value of 

 all our vegetable fibers excepting cotton, 

 and in 1879 was half as large as the 

 wine product of the year." 



The time is drawing near when the 

 appropriations will be made to represent 

 our State at the World's Columbian Ex- 

 hibition. The different State societies 

 will undoubtedly present their claims to 

 the proper authorities, that the indus- 

 tries which they represent may not be 

 forgotten or neglected. 



I recommend the appointment of a 

 standing committee to meet the Iowa 

 Columbian Commission, or such other 

 committee or body as shall have a voice 

 in distributing among the organized 

 industries of the State, the appropria 

 tion which shall be made by the next 

 General Assembly. 



Whether it will be wisest to confine 

 our bee and honey show to the building 

 to be erected by the State, or to exhibit 

 all apiarian products and appliances 

 from all the States in one of the Govern- 

 ment buildings, thus bringing together 

 in one grand exhibit, the honey produc- 

 ing possibilities of our country, I am not 

 fully convinced, but in either case we 

 ought to have the means provided, and 

 the services of an expert to collect and 

 arrange the exhibit from this State. I 

 trust you will heartily co-operate in this 

 needed action. 



This country has made rapid strides 

 in art, in invention, and in material 

 prosperity in the last hundred years. As 

 we measure off one cycle of apiarian 

 progress, the opportunity is presented to 

 us to exhibit to the world what American 



