122 



TMM MMBKICMK WMM J©iafMIfMI<. 



pounds, and cast 2 large swarms. This 

 ended the honey season of 1886. If 

 the other 99 colonies had gathered the 

 same amount, the honey crop would 

 have been 13,500 pounds, instead of 

 1,000 pounds. 



If the flow of white clover honey had 

 been as profuse as the locust flow, my 

 crop would have been enormous. I 

 never saw honey come in so fast from 

 any other bloom, as it did from locust 

 bloom in 1886, in proportion to the 

 field-workers. 



On account of the dry fall and hard 

 winter, with a late spring and little 

 attention, our increase of 34 colonies 

 dwindled down to 22 tay April 1, 1887. 

 I moved my half home in a weak con- 

 dition, but by close attention, I suc- 

 ceeded in getting them built up so that 

 they gathered 250 pounds of clover 

 honey last June, and in October 500 

 pounds from aster. The entire time 

 required by me, including marketing, 

 was only ten days. 



To sum the bee-business up in its 

 entirety, I am forced to conclude that 

 it pays me as well, or better, than any 

 other business that I can engage in, as 

 regards the time and capital invested. 



Cornishville, Ky., Jan. 21, 1888. 



WISCONSIN. 



Report or the State ConTention 

 at mLadisoii, on Feb. 8. 



Written for (he American Bee Journal 

 BY F. WILCOX. 



At the recent Wisconsin State Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention, four essays were 

 read, followed by short discussions. 

 President C. A. Hatch read an address, 

 recommending among other things the 

 use of small kegs for extracted honey, 

 In preference to tin or glass packages. 



Mr. Putnam asked, "Would not 

 small packages, like tumblers, be 

 better ?" 



Mr. Bishop said that small packages 

 increase the cost of the honey by the 

 extra cost of the packages. Customers 

 do not wish to buy tin or glass by the 

 pound. Five or ten gallon cans, or 

 kegs, are preferred by his trade. Kegs 

 are preferred to cans, because the 

 honey can be more easily gotten out bj' 

 retailers. He found that many cus- 

 tomers wished to get good honey in 

 the cheapest form possible. 



A. E. Cooley — Honey in glass is 

 looked upon as a luxury. 



C. A. Hatch — Honey in glass bears 

 a higher rate of freight than in kegs. 



A. V. Bishop — There is a prejudice 

 in cities against what appears to be 

 adulterated. Honey in small glass 

 jars or tumblers is more likely to be so 

 regarded. 



Mr. Bishop read an essay on " The 

 relations of producers to the commis- 

 sion merchants." He recommends 

 shipping honey by freight, and thinks 

 that the demand for extracted honey is 

 increasing. Large barrels or kegs 

 may be used for dark honey, and 

 small ones for light honey. Large or 

 full-sized starters are sometimes found 

 in comb honey while eating it, and 

 give rise to a fear of adulteration. It 

 is better to use them as small as 

 possible. 



W. H. Putnam stated that in a bee- 

 cellar under his shop, with the temper- 

 ature about 42'3, the moisture con- 

 densed on the ceiling, though venti- 

 lated by two pipes, and wished to 

 know how it could be prevented. 



A. V. Bishop and F. Wilcox said, by 

 making the floor above of the same 

 temperature as the cellar. 



Mr. Hoxie — Let one ventilator ex- 

 tend to the floor of the cellar, and the 

 other just through the ceiling. 



Secretary F. Wilcox then read his 

 essay as follows, entitled. 



Notes from the Chicago Convention. 



On the morning of Nov. 16, 1887, I 

 went to Chicago to attend the annual 

 meeting of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society. Having an hour or 

 two to wait for the opening of the con- 

 vention, I visited the honey houses near 

 bj'. I was pleased with the quantitj' 

 and fine quality of honey seen. One 

 thing I saw which I did not expect, 

 namelj-, the shipping-crates were badly 

 bedaubed with a composition which 

 looked like coal dust and kerosene. 

 Now what is the use of buying clear 

 lumber, and keeping it perfectly clean 

 and white, if when shipped it arrives 

 at its destination in such a filthy con- 

 dition ? 



A full report of the essays and dis- 

 cussions makes quite a little pamphlet, 

 which can be had at the oflice of the 

 American Bee Journal, for 25 cents ; 

 and it is well worth more than its cost, 

 to anj' who will read it. 



The question of re-organizlng the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Society 

 so as to make it a representative body 

 is being considered. The best place to 

 discuss it is in these State and district 

 conventions. The plan proposed, as I 

 understand it, is that the inter-national 

 association shall be composed of those 

 who pay annual dues to the associa- 

 tion, and such others as may be sent 

 to I'epresent State and district associa- 

 tions ; these bodies to become afiiliated 

 by the annual payment of a sum of 

 monej'. The association thus organ- 

 ized would consist of one grand body, 

 with subordinate bodies in the difi'er- 

 ent States. It may well be supposed 

 that if the bee-keepers of the country 

 were thus thoroughly organized, they 

 would possess a power for doing good, 



or for the suppression of any evils that 

 might bear unjustlj' on the pursuit. 



At the present time, our associations 

 are little else than mere annual gath- 

 erings of bee-keepers for the purpose 

 of discussing the best methods of pro- 

 ducing and marketing honey. 



Desirable as it may be, there are 

 some difliculties in the way of eftecting 

 such an organization. One is, the 

 difiiculty of organizing the local socie- 

 ties, and inducing them to send dele- 

 gates. Another is, the payment of ex- 

 penses of delegates from distant States. 

 Whether such an organization is ever 

 efi'ected or not, it is well that bee- 

 keepers should think of it, and be pre- 

 pared to act as thought best at our 

 next meeting. 



Mr. Thos. G. Newman, of Chicago, 

 was appointed a committee of one to 

 try to secure a more reasonable rating 

 of freight charges for extracted honey 

 in barrels or kegs, as first-class freight 

 is neither just nor reasonable. 



Perhaps the most valuable work 

 done at that convention was to propose 

 two practical methods of collecting 

 statistics of the honey crop, one or 

 both of which may be carried into 

 efiect. One plan is to have Mr. A. I. 

 Root employ three or four special re- 

 porters in each State, each one to re- 

 port the crop for his portion of the 

 State, which, in addition to the indi- 

 vidual reports usually given, will give 

 us some means of knowing whether 

 the crop of the country is good, very 

 good ; poor, or very poor. Even 

 though we should not know the exact 

 number of pounds produced, we would 

 know where there is an overplus, and 

 where there is a shortage. Knowing 

 this, we will better know what price to 

 fix o5 our honey, and where to look 

 for a market. 



The second plan was for several 

 members to wi-ite to the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, requesting him to col- 

 lect and publish statistics of the honey 

 crop in connection with the statistics 

 of farm crops. In accordance with 

 this plan I wrote and received the 

 following reply : 



Sib :— Tour letter of Dec. 23, addressed to 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture, has been 

 referred to me for answer. We have now 

 under consideration in this Bureau a plan 

 for the gathering and publishing of infor- 

 mation relative to bee-keeping, once or per- 

 haps twice a year. In order to carry out 

 this plan, it will be necessary to have a 

 special corps of correspondents among those 

 directly interested in the industry. It is 

 desirable to have the names of one or two 

 of the leading men in each county where 

 apiculture is of any comparative impor- 

 tance. Can you assist me in obtaining such 

 a list for your State ? Very respectfully, 

 J. R. Dodge, Statistician. 



From the above it seems that the 

 Agricultural Bureau is willing to un. 

 dertake the work of collecting statis- 

 tics of the honey crop, which the bee- 

 keepers of the country have so long 



