WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE. January 1IUJ

Wisconsin beekeeping

H F. WILSON. Editor

President................Janies Gwin. Gotliani

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Ocon mowoc

Secretary.................Malftta I>. Fischer

Renew Your Membership

About 200 of our members have already sent in their renewals for 1923. Every member who renews voluntarily saves postage expense and time for the secretary. We have set our goal at 1000 paid-up members for 1923. DO YOUR DUTY AS A BEEKEEPER TO DA y, send in you dollar.

While you are thinking about sending in your renewal to the state association, include another dollar for membership in the American Honey Producers’ League. We had an affiliated membership of 117 last year, let's do better for 1923. Send your League dues to your Secretary.

Bee Journals at Reduced Rates for Our Members

The regular subscription price of the American Bee Journal is $1.50 per year and of Gleanings in Bee Culture is $1.00 per year. If you send your subscription to your Secretary, you may secure American Bee Journal for $1.00 per year and Gleanings in Bee Culture for 85c per year. Members, take advantage of this reduction and send subscription fees to the Secretary.

44th Annual Convention WISCONSIN STATE BEEKEEPERS’ * ASSOCIATION

Milwaukee Auditorium, Milwaukee, December 15 and 16, 1922.

The annual meeting of the Board of Managers was called at 2 p. m. December 13, Committee Room A. Milwaukee Auditorium. Our President, Mr. F. F. Stelling, being in Europe,

Association—A. H. Seefeldt.

• 5.  Milwaukee County Beekeepers Association—John Kneser.

• 6.  Shawano County Beekeepers’ Association—William Hanneman.

• 7.  Dodge County Beekeepers’ Association—A. A. Brown.

• 8.  Baraboo Valley Beekeepers' Association—Frank Hanley.

• 9.  Fond du Lac County Beekeepers’ Association—William Sass. Jr.

The Board of Managers voted to have Mr. Mangin act as a representative for the Brown County BeekeeaJ ers’ Association and, since no^etw gate was present for Data: cH»t’ the Board also voted to haw*vP?bfes-sor Wilson act as delegate ror Dane County. A little later Mr. George Jacobson, representing Fox River Valley Beekeepers’ Association; A. E. Jaeger, representing Jefferson County Association, and William Procknow, representing Northeast Wisconsin Beekeepers' Association, and Alvin Schneider representing Wood County, arrived, making a total of fourteen delegates present. Other beekeepers present, but not acting as delegates, were A. J. Schultz, Fond du Lac; Edw. Hassinger, Jr., Greenville, and E. S. Hildemann, Belle Plaine.

Because of the large amount of business to be acted upon, it was voted to dispense with the reading of the minutes, with the exception of the recommendations made by the Board at the 1921 Convention.

After careful consideration and lengthy discussion the Board of Managers voted to make the following recommendations to the State Association:

• 1.  We recommend the adoption of a uniform standard label and uniform lithographed pail for members of the State Association to contain the very best fancy Wisconsin WHITE honey.

• 2.  We recommend the adoption of a standard honey poster for members of the State Association.

• 3.  We recommend the adoption of a uniform honey booklet for members of the State Association.

• 4.  We recommend the carrying out of the plan as presented by the Legislative Committee through their Chairman, Mr. James Gwin, and urge that every member and local association make a special effort to help the committee in this work.

• 5.  We recommend that the annual convention for 1923 be held at Milwaukee in connection with the Products Exposition, 1923, Dec. 1 to 8, and that our annual summer meeting be held in connection with the Chautauqua as arranged by the University.

• 6. We recommend that our association send a delegate to the American Honey Producers’ League meeting. Feb. 6, 7 and 8, at St. Louis, the selection of the delegate to be left to the officers of our association.

• 7. We recommend that the Governor, Hon. J. J. Blaine, be asked by our association to declare a HONEY WEEK next Fall, the time to be set by our Label and Lithographed Container Committee.

• 8. AlMjyecommend that those affili-atiMyW^ls who have sent in their an-

and whose membership is )>Oow the required ten be retained on rhe files of the State Association: second, that those affiliated associations who failed to report be asked to send in their annual report not later than a certain time, the time to be specified by the secretary, and if they fail to make such a report in due time, that their affiliated privileges be taken away'.

• 9.  We recommend that the secretary’s salary be increased to $250 a year.

• 10.  We recommend that the secretary be authorized to make immediate reservation for a HONEY BOOTH for the State Association at the Products Exposition in 1923.

• 11.  We recommend that the secretary prepare a directory for 1923, including a constitution and by-laws, and that a committee be appointed to secure advertising to finance the directory, such a directory not to be published until the advertising finances have been collected.

• 12.  We recommend that a minimum price of $2 for a 10-inch lithographed honey pail and $1.15 for a 5-inch lithographed honey pail be established.

• 13.  We recommend that the officers of the association and the Executive Committee co-operate with the Label and Lithograph Container Committee and that all of these officers and committees be allowed to take whatever steps are necessary to carry out plans for establishing these prices, drawing up of contracts, including in the work of these people the carrying on of correspondence with members

using glass jugs and bottles with the hope of establishing a uniform price for glass containers as well as lithographed containers.

• 14.  We recommend that the State Association make an annual donation of Ten Dollars ($10) to the Miller Memorial Library.

• 15. We recommend the adoption of Mr. Bishop’s plan to publish an eight page journal for the members of the State Association, providing this plan can be worked out so that it will not cost more than 50 cents per member.

The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p. m.

Thursday Morning

The Convention was called to order at 9:45 a. m. by Vice President Conrad Kruse. The minutes of the previous convention were read by the Secretary and approved by the Convention. The Secretary’s report, including reports of the affiliated associations, Secretary’s correspondence, and the Honey Booth, were read and approved by the Convention. (These reports will be included in detail later.)

The report of the Legislative Committee, given by James Gwin, Chairman, was as follows:

Your Legislative Committee, after looking into various legislative matters in which the State Association is concerned, has the following report to make.

There are four matters in which the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association is concerned:

• 1.  The development of the Association itself.

• 2.  The Apiary Inspection Department of the State Department of Agriculture, which includes eradication of bee diseases.

• 3.  The marketing problems and enforcement of the honey grading regulations as carried on by the State Department of Markets.

• 4. The Beekeeping Department of the State University, including Extension, Research and Educational work.

State Beekeepers’ Association. Up to the present time, our organization has never received any appropriation from the State to promote its welfare. Investigations show that other agricultural organizations on the same basis as our association In Wisconsin are receiving grants from the State. For your information we will include facts concerning these associations. In checking over this list, you will note that our organization has a greater paid-up membership than all but three of these associations, and that some associations with much smaller paid memberships are receiving appropriations of some kind.

Your committee recommends that the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association make every effort to have

a bill presented at the State Legislature at the coming session, asking for $1,500 for the development of our organization. Upon investigation we find that the proper plan of procedure to follow will be to pass a resolution requesting such a grant and present this resolution to the members of the legislature. It will then be necessary to have someone introduce the bill. (Bill 175A introduced by Assemblyman Perry during 1921.) The Legislative Committee asks each member individually and every local association to write his Senator and Assemblyman to support this bill. If you do not know who your Senator and Assemblyman are, stop at the Secretary’s desk, where there is a list of all Senators and Assemblymen.

The State Department of Agriculture. Our main support has been given to the Department of Agriculture because of the eradication of bee diseases. We all have benefitted by the disease control work carried on through the State Apiary Inspection Department by Dr. Fracker and his assistants, and your committee suggests that this association inform the members of the Legislature that it is in favor of continuing the appropriation for bee disease control work. We also believe that the change in the law, which Dr. Fracker will explain, will be made.

The Department of Markets. We believe the Department of Markets has been doing very good work in enforcing the honey grading rules and regulations and should notify our Legislature that this organization feels it highly important that this work be continued. Every member of this State Association should give his moral support to this work and notify the State Department of Markets of any violation of the rules.

The State University. A large part of our program during the past six years has been due to the assistance rendered by the University officials and the clerical service provided for the organization work of our association. The Beekeeping Department of our State University is one of the most important in the United States and we should be proud of the progress it has made. Complete projects in beekeeping extension, beekeeping research and beekeeping instruction have been carried out for our beekeepers and a very full line of equipment has been provided for this work. However, we do not believe that the present housing quarters are at all adequate for our beekeeping department Three states received appropriations for this purpose the past season. Wisconsin should provide a suitable building for the beekeeping work and your Legislative Committee recommends that the State Association take immediate steps to ask the Legislature at the coming session to appropriate sufficient funds for a new beekeeping building at the University.

This report was accepted by the Convention and all members in attendance pledged their support to help the Committee carry out their program.

The Treasurer’s report was read by Treasurer C. W. Aeppler, and was referred, with the Secretary’s financial report, to the Auditing Committee, the members of which were Miss Jennie Matzke, Mr. F. J. Mongin and Mr. A. E. Jaeger.

The Chairman appointed at this time A. A. Brown, Ivan Whiting, Edw. Hassinger, Jr., and James Gwin as a Resolution Committee.

The first address given was that of the Chairman of the Convention, Mr. Conrad Kruse. (This paper will be published later.)

Mr. E. R. Root, Medina, Ohio, then gave a vivid account of the beekeepers’ meeting in North Dakota, which he attended on December 10th. The beekeepers of North Dakota organized a state association at that meeting and notes taken of Mr. Root’s talk will be published later.

Attendance at this session—65.

Afternoon Session

This session was opened at 1:50 with a paper on the “Value of Cooperation,” by A. A. Brown, Secretary of the Dodge County Beekeepers’ Association. Mr. Brown outlined clearly the beekeepers’ present troubles and ended with the following story:

“After all has been said concerning the beekeeper I am reminded of the story of two colored fellows who got into a wrangle over the sale of a mule. It seems Moses sold Rastus a mule. In about two weeks Rastus came to Moses and demanded he take the mule back and give him his money he paid for the mule.

“Moses said, ‘See here, Rastus, wha’ fo’ you want your money back?’

“ ‘Ah wants ma money back ‘cause that mule’s blind.’

“ ‘When ah lets him out ’o de stable, he walks right onto a big pile of stone and nearly breaks his laig befo’ I’se could extricate him. Then he walkB straight into my barb wire fence, he did, and cut he’s self most to pieces. I’se no mor’n got him straightened about an' he walks right plumb against the basement wall of my barn. I tell you’se that mule am blind, and I wants back my money.’

“ ‘Say, Rastus,’ said Moses, ‘Dat mule ain’t blind, he just don’t give a dam.’ ”

(Watch for this paper; it will be printed in one of the future issues— it will help you.)

Mr. C. D. Adams then gave the report of the Label Committee’s work during the past year. Mr. Adams pointed out the absolute necessity of a trademark carrying a guarantee that would gain the consumers’ confidence. He told of his experiences with the bottling concerns, and of the little faith these companies have in Wisconsin beekeepers, due to the fact that our beekeepers do not fill orders true to sample. If ever we are to demand the confidence of the bottlers, brokers and consumers, it must be through a guarantee backed not only by the individual, but also by a cooperative group of individuals. The Label Committee, after carefully considering all labels submitted, felt that the one now used by C. W. Aeppler was most satisfactory from all angles —distinctiveness, advertising value and attractiveness—and recommended the adoption of this label. (The complete report of the Label Committee will be published later.)

Professor H. F. Wilson, in his talk, “A Standard Honey Container for the State Association,” presented a plan for a standard lithographed container to be used by the members of the State Association. He pointed out that a lithographed pail would cost several cents more than the ordinary tin pail but the fact that it bore a label which could not be torn or washed off and would remain on the pail indefinitely was worth the difference. He also stated that the advertising value alone of such a container would more than offset this difference. Blanks containing prices of these containers were distributed and members were given an opportunity to state how many pails they could use. A detailed account of this plan will be printed later affording members unable to attend the convention an opportunity to order lithographed pails.

Mr. Aeppler was then called upon to explain the condition under which he would be willing to give his label to the State Association. Mr. Aeppler stated: “The actual cost to me for plates, engravings, copyrighting and registration was $120. The engraver did all the work under a magnifying glass, spending two days in picking out the cells under a microscope. I am glad to donate my time, idea and personal work on this label if the State Association feels it wants this label as its trademark, providing they allow me $120, which I have actually paid out. You may have the label, which I have registered and copyrighted, with the good will of the originator.”

The meeting was then thrown open to a public hearing conducted by Mr.

• B. B. Jones of the State Department of Markets to decide whether or not the beekeepers of Wisconsin shall use standard sized containers. The paper presented by Mr. Jones at this time will be published later.

(Similar hearings for beekeeperB will be held at Appleton, January 16; Eau Claire, January 17; Lancaster, January 22; Madison, January 31; and the final results will be published in this paper as soon as all recommendations have been made.)

Mr. Allen Latham of Norwichtown, Conn., gave a very interesting talk on his honey candies and honey sandwiches. His “Yankee” style combined with a pleasing personality afforded the beekeepers an entertaning, as well as valuable hour. The recipes given by Mr. Latham were secured and will be included in a later issue.

Since Mr. Norgord was compelled to leave Milwaukee early Friday morning, he was called to address the beekeepers at this hour. Our members enjoyed his sincere remarks and expressed by a resolution their appreciation of the generous sympathy and support he has given to the beekeeping problems of Wisconsin. Mr. Norgord showed his genuine interest in the work when he stated, “We want* to make this state SAFE for honey producers and we believe we shall accomplish this task. The State Department of Agriculture stands ready to help the beekeepers in every way it can. I am glad to be with you today and I hope you will have a successful beekeeping season this coming year.”

The following telegrams were received and read to the convention: “To the members of the Wisconsin

State Beekeepers’ Association:

“Fond du Lac extends cordial invitation to your Association to select Fond du Lac for 1924 summer meeting. Will do anything reasonable to further its success. (Signed) “FOND DU LAC ASSOCIATION OF

COMMERCE.

“E. T. Markle, Secretary.”

“To the members of the Wisconsin

State Beekeepers’ Association:

“Deeply regret cannot be with you. Family ill. Urge standard pails. Go forward together. United we stand, divided we are stuck (Signed)

“I. C. PAINTER, “Wausau, Wis.”

Attendance at this session—152.

Evening Session, December 14

Beekeeping Movie. The film on bees, prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, was kindly loaned to us by the G. B. Lewis Company and it with a film of the Lewis plant were shown to about 50 beekeepers and 200 persons visiting the Exposition. (Because of the interest shown by the public in these films, they were run each night during the Exposition.)

Morning Session, December 15

The meeting was called to order at 9:15 a. m.

The first paper, “Box Hive Beekeeping and the Marketing of Apiary Equipment,” by Dr. S. B. Fracker, emphasized the important relation of the distribution points of equipment to bee disease control. (Dr. Fracker’s paper will be published later.)

Mr. H. C. Dadant then, in his talk on “Comb Building,” carefully traced the evolution of the manufacture of comb foundation, and illustrated different types of comb. (Mr. Dadant’s complete paper with pictures will be published later.)

For the benefit of students from the Milwaukee County School of Agriculture, Mr. Aeppler was asked by the chairman to give a talk on beekeeping as a profitable business. (Notes on this talk were taken and will be published later.)

Dr Fracker then gave an outline of the work being done by the National Honey Producers’ League. (This paper will be included in a later issue.)

Professor H. F. Wilson in his paper on the Miller Memorial Library expressed his appreciation of the interest shown by Wisconsin Beekeepers and the financial help they had given in securing the library. He also explained how it would be possible for beekeepers to secure books from this library.

In his paper, “Past, Present and Future of Beekeeping,” Mr. E. W. Atkins gave many interesting historical references. (We are glad to have a copy of this paper on file to publish for our members.)

Mr. Ivan Whiting gave some interesting observations in his talk, “Some Data on Spring Brood Rearing.” Mr. Whiting illustrated his notes with charts. (We hope to get a copy of this paper for publication.)

"Plans for 1923 Extension Work," by L. P. Whitehead, Extension Apicul-turist at the University, was the next paper on the program but because of lack of time, this talk was not given. Mr. Whitehead has filed a copy of this paper with this office and it will be published later.

Attendance—112.

Afternoon

This session was called to order at 1:55 p. m.

The first number was a talk by E. R. Root, “Reinforcing Foundation Brood Frames.” (Mr. Root has promised us a paper on this subject for publication in our journal). In addition to his talk on the subject of brood frames, Mr. Root made the following remarks:

“I would like to endorse what Mr.

• C. W. Aeppler has said. The most serious menace today is the fact that honey is not selling at a fair price and there is danger of the price going down due to the beekeepers’ unbusi-nesslke policy. The producers must join with the supply men because if you producers fail, we supply men fail. It is true your problems are our problems and whether supply manufacturer, honey bottler or honey producer we must join hands and work together. I like your Mr. Gwin’s term U S and Company and that is what we must work for. Unless you cooperate, you will be forced out of business. Beekeepers, you must recognize the different trade channels, you must make a distinction in wholesale quotations, brokers’ quotations, and the retail market. The supply manufacturers are advertising but we can only scratch the ground. Every individual beekeeper must co-operate In advertising if we are ever going to place our industry on a solid foundation. I believe you will be taking a good step by adopting the standard lithographed container for your members.”

Mr. Allen Latham at the request of the beekeepers then explained his method of rearing queens. (An abstract of this talk will be included in a later issue.)

The report of the Auditing Committee was as follows:

“We have looked over the financial statements of the Treasurer and Secretary as well as the record books and find them O. K.”

The convention accepted the report of the Auditing Committee.

A motion was then made and carried that each recommendation of the Board of Managers be considered separately.

The secretary then read:

Recommendation No. 1. “We recommend the adoption of a uniform standard label and uniform lithographed pail for members of the State Association to contain the very best fancy Wisconsin "White Honey.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 2. "We recommend the adoption of a standard honey poster for members of the State Association.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 3. "We recommend the adoption of a uniform honey booklet for members of the State Association.”

Professor Wilson was asked to explain this recommendation and he gave the following: “In connection with a uniform container and poster for the members of our association, we thought it would be advisable to also have a honey booklet issued as an organization booklet, such a booklet to contain recipes, facts concerning honey, and any other information that the members might feel was desirable. The printing of such a booklet would be taken care of by the State Association and members could secure copies at cost through the secretary’s office.”

Mr. Gwin: “I would like to add in this connection, members, that it is not compulsory for you to use either the uniform container, poster or booklet, but it is a PRIVILEGE.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 4. “We recommend the carrying out of the plan as presented by the Legislative Committee through their Chairman, James Gwin, and urge that every member and local association make a special effort to help the committee in this work.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 5. “We recommend that the annual convention for 1923 be held at Milwaukee in connection with the Products Exposition, 1923, December 1 to 8, and that our annual summer field meet be held in connection with the Chautauqua as arranged by the University to be held at MADISON, AUGUST 13 TO 18."

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation. (The dates for next year’s convention will be DECEMBER 6 AND 7.

Recommendation No. 6. “We recommend that our association send a delegate to the American Honey Producers’ League meeting, February 6, 7 and 8, at St. Louis, the selection of the delegate to be left to the officers of our association.”

Mr. A. A. Brown explained by request this recommendation, stating: “In previous years, members, although our organization is affiliated with the American Honey Producers’ League, we have never sent a delegate to but one of the meetings of the League. Your Board of Managers felt that we should send a delegate this year and thus we made the recommendations you have just heard.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 7. “We recommend that the Governor, Hon. J.

• J. Blaine, be asked by our association to declare a HONEY WEEK next fall, the time to be set by our Label and Lithographed Container Committee."

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation

Recommendation No. 8. “We recommend that those affiliated locals who have sent in their annual report and whose membership is below the required TEN be retained on the files of the State Association; second, that those affiliated associations who failed to report be asked to send in their annual report not later than a certain time, the time to be specified by the secretary, and If they fall to make such a report in due time, their affiliated privileges be taken away."

The secretary offered the following explanation concerning this recommendation since a number of members did not understand what it covered: “You will recall that all affiliated local associations are required to file an annual report with the secretary’s office about fifteen or twenty days previous to the annual conven

tion to permit the secretary to check over the membership standing of the various locals. In the report of affiliated locals, you will note (this report published in this issue) that five locals failed to make any report and nine locals are below the required rating (each affiliated local is supposed to have ten of its members on the state association membership roll.) To give the secretary some power in this connection, your Board made the recommendation you have just heard.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 9. "We recommend that the secretary’s salary be Increased to $250 a year,”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 10. “We recommend that the secretary be authorized to make immediate reservation for a HONEY BOOTH for the State Association at the Products Exposition in 1923.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 11. “We recommend that the secretary prepare a directory for 1923, including constitution and by-laws, and that a committee be appointed to secure advertising to finance the directory, such a directory not to be published until the advertising finances have been collected.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 12. "We recommend that a minimum price of $2 for a 10-lb. pail of honey and $1.15 for a 5-lb. pail of honey be established for association members using the State Association lithographed container.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 13. “We recommend that the officers of the association and the Executive Committee co-operate with the Label and Lithograph Container Committee and that all of these officers and committees be allowed to take whatever steps are necessary to carry out plans for establishing these prices, drawing up of contracts, including in the work of these people the carrying on of correspondence with members using glass jugs and bottles with the hope of establishing a uniform price for glass containers as well as lithographed containers. We also recommend that the present Label Committee be continued for another year as the Label and Container Committee.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

The convention after adopting this recommendation passed the following motion: “We have confidence in our Committee and Officers and will be satisfied with their judgment in this matter.”

Recommendation No. 14. "We recommend that the State Association make an annual donation of $10 to the Miller Memorial Library.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 15. “We recommend the adoption of Mr. Bishop’s plan to publish an eight page journal for the members of the State Association, providing this plan can be worked out so that it will not cost more than 50 cents per member.”

A motion was made and carried to adopt this recommendation.

A motion was made and carried that the election of officers be taken up before the reports of the various committees since a number of members were forced to catch trains Friday afternoon.

The Nominating Committee, which consisted of the delegates of the local affiliated associations, nominated the following members for the office of president:    I. C. Painter, Wausau,

and James Gwin, Gotham. A proper vote being taken, Mr. Gwin was found to be elected.

A motion was made and carried that the secretary be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for James Gwin as president.

The Nominating Committee then named A. A. Brown, Juneau, and Wm. Sass, Jr., Fond du Lac, for the office of vice president. A proper vote being taken, Mr. Brown was elected vice president and a motion was duly made and carried instructing the secretary to cast a unanimous ballot for Mr. Brown as vice president.

A motion was made and carried that a unanimous ballot be cast for

• C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc, as treasurer, and Miss Malitta D. Fischer, Madison, as secretary.

A motion was made and carried that the present Label Committee act as the Lithographed Container Committee for the following year.

Although the members had adopted a uniform container, they had not decided as to the colors for their lithographed container. Considerable discussion followed in this connection and there was a great variation in opinion as to what color combination would be most distinctive.

A motion was made and carried that since the Label Committee had thoroughly investigated all types of labels during the past year and felt that Mr. Aeppler’s label was most satisfactory, that the members adopt this label as their State Association label and have confidence in the committee, authorizing the same committee to make the selection of colors. of engravings, plates, copyrighting and registration of trademark, which amounted to $120.

A motion was made and carried that the Label and Lithographed Container Committee go to the extra expense of trying out several different color schemes in working out a satisfactory combination for the lithographed container.

The Resolution Committee then gave the following report:

Resolution No. 1. "Whereas, Many beekeepers in different parts of the state have suffered because fruit trees have been sprayed in full bloom, thereby killing the bees visiting the trees and depleting the colonies below honey gathering strength; and

"Whereas, The bees are known to be of GREAT VALUE to the growers of pollinators; and,

“Whereas, No schedule of spraying calls for spraying while the trees are in full bloom, but distinctly warns against such spraying; and,

"Whereas, It seems advisable to attempt to remedy this condition by educating the fruit grower;

"Be It Resolved, That we petition the Wisconsin Horticultural Society to use its good offices in co-operating with the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association in educating and persuading the fruit growers not to spray trees in full bloom.”

Resolution adopted.

Resoluton No. 2. "Whereas, The State of Wisconsin is one of the best honey producing states in America; and,

"Whereas, There is being created, through extension work from the College of Agriculture, through the state and local beekeeping associations, and through the apiary inspection work of Wisconsin, a thirst for beekeeping information, and keen desire for assistance from our Beekeeping Department at the College of Agriculture; and,

"Whereas, The State of Wisconsin is rapidly forging ahead in its disease eradication work, thus making beekeeping safe in Wisconsin, and therefore creating a greater number of potential beekeepers; and,

“Whereas, The University of Wisconsin has been selected as the home of the Dr. C. C. Miller Memorial Library, thus nationally recognizing Wisconsin as a leading honey producing state, by conferring this honor upon her; and,

"Whereas, The Beekeeping quarters at our State College of Agriculture are wholly inadequate, for proper instruction, research and laboratory work;

"Therefore, Be It Resolved, That w'e, the Wisconsin State Beekeepers* Association, in its 44th Annual State Convention assembled, earnestly re

quest the Wisconsin State Legislature, the University Board of Regents, and Dean H. L. Russell of the College of Agriculture, to seriously consider the needs of the beekeeping industry and the needs of the beekeepers of the State of Wisconsin, and we pray that immediate action be taken by the proper authorities to provide a beekeeping building at the University of Wisconsin to meet the needs set forth in this resolution, and doing credit to our State.”

Resolution adopted.

Resolution No. 3. “Whereas, There is no uniformity throughout the State as regards prices charged by beekeepers for honey; and,

“Whereas, This big discrepancy in prices throughout the State has a demoralizing effect upon the industry as a whole; and,

“Whereas, There seems to be a desire among our beekeepers to have our established and uniform price throughout the state on the several grades of honey;

“Therefore, Be It Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to work out a plan tending to carry out the above provisions of this resolution.”

Resolution adopted.

Resolution No. 4. “Whereas, Miss Malitta D. Fischer has given the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association most efficient and faithful service as its Secretary; and,

“Whereas, Her salary does not begin to compensate her for the services rendered and being rendered;

“Therefore, Be It Resolved, That we, the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association, extend a vote of thanks to her for this service, and that we collectively and individually pledge our support and co-operation to enable her to carry out the duties of the office”

Resolution adopted with a unanimous rising vote of thanks.

Resolution No. 5. “Whereas, The beekeeping Industry is making rapid strides and honey is an important agricultural crop in this state; and,

“Whereas, The honey bee is our most important pollinating insect, thereby being an important factor in fruit production, clover seed production as well as in the production of other agricultural crops; and,

“Whereas, The beekeeping industry being fostered by the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association, is hampered in its development for lack of financial assistance; and,

“Whereas, Other agricultural organizations in this state are receiving state aid for the development of their particular industry; and,

“Whereas, The State Beekeepers’ Association has a paid up membership of 755, and an affiliated membership in county locals of 584, being surpassed in membership by only three of our agricultural associations receiving state aid;

“Therefore, Be It Resolved, That we, the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association, in its 44th Annual Convention assembled, request our 1923 State Legislature to GRANT OUR ASSOCIATION $1,500 State Aid per year for the promotion of bee culture, and the welfare of the beekeeping industry in Wisconsin.”

Resolution adopted.

A motion was made and carried that the secretary take immediate steps to send resolutions to the proper parties at the proper time.

The matter of establishing prices for members of our association was again considered and Mr. Aeppler presented the following plan: “All local associations should hold a special meeting at a time specified by the Price Committee. The secretary will notify the secretaries of local asoscia-tions of the time for holding such a meeting, which will probably be during the middle of July. At this meeting, the local associations will gather information concerning prospects for a honey crop, local conditions, and use this as a basis to determine prices. The local secretary will wire these prices to the state secretary, who will compile the reports which will be presented at the meeting of the Price Committee of the State Association. The members of this State Association Price Committee will meet just as soon as the secretary has the local reports compiled, the time of this meeting being preferably around July 22. The Price Committee of the State Association will after carefully considering the recommended prices of the various county associations, recommend a set of prices for all members of the State Association. It is absolutely necessary that all delegates present at this meeting pledge their full support to this plan if it is going to succeed.”

A motion was made and carried that the State Association adopt this plan and allow the expenses of the members of this committee to be taken from the treasury of the association.

That this convention go on record as urging the Division of Markets to discontinue the use of the word ungraded in the honey grading regulations was the next motion made and carried.

A motion was made that a vote of thanks be given to Mr. Kruse for his splendid help and work as chairman during the convention. The members expressed their appreciation by a unanimous rising vote.

Gwin, who addressed the members as follows:

“Your President is happy to have the opportunity to stand before you and feels honored not in holding this position but in the confidence you have bestowed upon him. I want you to know that I will do all in my power to promote beekeeping as a business for state association members. U S and Company. But I ask a few favors of you. I ask that you be more careful in piling up work for our secretary, make more of an effort to relieve her of some of the distressing work she has been doing and you can do this by giving more rapid response and co-operation. You all know, if you don’t you had better find out, what she is doing. Before you leave this meeting today, say to yourself, ‘I am going to get at least one new member to join our organization.’ Take that determination home with you and keep it with you until you have sent in at least $1 to our secretary.

“The convention has taken away the appointive power of the Chair so far as the Label Committee is concerned and the present Label Committee will be the Label and Lithographed Container Committee for 1923. This committee, C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc; Dr. Robt. Siebecker, Madison, and C. D. Adams, Wauwatosa, as appointed last year, will therefore continue for 1923.

“The Executive Committee as appointed last year, I believe, will serve our organization this year, and I therefore reappoint L. T. Bishop, Sheboygan; I. C. Painter, Wausau, and A. H. Seefeldt, Kewaskum.

“As a Uniform Price Committee, I will appoint C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc; F. J. Mongin, Green Bay ; Edw. Hassinger, Jr., Greenville; A. A. Brown, Juneau, and our Secretary, Miss Fischer, Madison.

“As the committee to carry out the work of securing advertising to finance our new directory, I appoint A. A. Brown, Juneau; E. W. Atkins, Watertown, and Mrs. Martha White, Pewaukee.

“Now that all the committees have been appointed, I would like to say a few words, not as your President, but as Chairman of the Legislative Committee. All you delegates here representing local associations, should as soon as you return, urge your local to draw up resolutions concerning the needs of our state association and Wisconsin beekeepers, get all of your members to sign such resolutions, petitions or whatever you choose to call them, and then see that those resolutions are sent to your representatives and senators. Get your members to send in resolutions individually. Make up the resolutions as you please, write 

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, February ll>23

Our Honey Booth at the Wisconsin Products Exposition 1922

Our members will recall that last September an appeal was made to all members, local organizations, and supply companies to donate money and honey for the purpose of permitting our association to maintain a booth at the Wisconsin Products Exposition. Those of our members who attended the convention will remember having seen the state association booth; but since only about 12 per cent of our members w’ere present at the convention, a picture of the booth is included in this issue. I believe the members as well as visitors at the exposition will agree that this picture does not do our booth justice. The color was yellow and white, which blended very well with the golden honey. In arranging the exhibit it was found that the display was much more effective when not so many jars were used. The jars were so arranged that an electric light was directly back of the group of jars, showing very well the beauty and color of the honey. Many persons who passed the booth made remarks admiring the clean, distinctive and dignified appearance of the exhibit.

About forty-five members submitted samples of honey they wished to sell. Whenever an interested buyer visited the booth, all samples were submitted, the only identification mark on each sample being a number. The buyer did not know whose honey he was buying, but made his choice entirely according to the flavor he desired. If the buyer selected No. 10, No. 10 was looked up on the records, the price stated, and if satisfactory to the buyer, the honey was sold. You will find in the financial report the exact amount of honey sold at the booth. All display jars were sold at Milwaukee, since the committee in charge did not feel it practical to ship the honey back to Madison, pay express charges and then sell it at Madison. The samples of honey are still on file and whenever we learn of interested buyers, samples are submitted bv mail. You will be interested to know that arrangements have just been completed for a sale of 15,000 pounds of extracted honey to one of the Milwaukee dealers. All commissions received on honey sales will be reported from time to time in this paper.

It is impossible to distinguish between the advertising value and educational value of such an exhibit of honey, as any honey display that enlightens the public advertises HONEY. An attractive display of honey will do a great deal to put the public straight concerning honey. Space will not permit the including of all questions asked by the people who passed the booth, but the number of questions certainly indicated that our beekeepers have a big problem to solve in educating the public to eat more honey. Someone that was capable of answering such questions was at the booth most all of the time, enabling our association to give those interested true answers to their questions. There should be no (Continued on page 55.)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, February ltl.13

"Wisconsin beekeeping

H F WILSON. Editor

President.................Janies Gwin. Gutliam

Vice President............A. A. Brown, Juneau

Treasurer......W. Aeppler, Ocon miowoc

Secretary.................Malitta I>. Fincher

The 1923 State Fair

Now is the time to make your Ilians for the season of 1923. If you have never exhibited at the state fair, now is the time to make a start. Write to Mr. Gits Dittmer. Superintendent of the Bee and Ho;ey Exhibit. Augusta. Wisconsin.

Beekeepers’ Summer Meeting

Plan now to attend the Beekeepers’ Chautauqua and field meet to be held at Madison on August 13 to 18. 1923.

This will be one of the most important meetings ever held in Wisconsin. During this week we will dedicate the Miller Memorial Library. which will make this meeting a rational event.

Miller Memorial Library

We are proud of the splendid manner in which our Wisconsin beekeepers have given to the Miller Memorial Library, but now and then we learn of some beekeeper who has sold a lot of old journals to the junk man or else has burned them up. We hope that our beekeepers will in the future send these to the Miller Memorial Library instead of throwing them away. If you will ship bv express or freight collect, we will pay the charges.

Legislative Committee

Your legislative committee held a meeting, January 20th, to formulate a definite plan for securing $1,500 state aid for the welfare of this association and petitioning the board of regents and legislature for ;> building at the university that will I _• satisfactory for the proper development of beekeeping instruction and research.

Local associations that have not already done so should get out resolutions being sure to have as many individual beekeepers as possible sign these petitions. Send them to your legislators just previous to the time our bill is brought up.

Label and Lithograph Container Committee

Your label and lithograph container committee held a meeting, January 6th. and definitely decided on the color scheme for the new lithographed honey pail. The background will he a pearl white, the word HONEY will appear in red. all other printing in black. If the cost is not too great, the flowers and leaves will appear in natural colors.

1'he following clippings were made from the January issue of the American -Bee Journal:

Fruit Growers Demand Bee Inspector

The fruit growers around Yuba City. California, have requested County Horticultural Commissioner II. 1’. Stabler to try to get a bee inspector for their county and also to get a more liberal distribution of bees throughout the county for pollination of fruit.

Honey Week

Salem, Oregon, recently observed "Honey Week” with special displays in the local store windows and with honey on the menu of the noon luncheon of the Chamber of Commerce. The object was to increase public interest in the best of sweets. Western newspapers gave considerable space ta the event.

Report of Honey Sold Through Secretary’s Office

Our members will-remember that a “Have You Any Honey to Sell” report blank was included in the August number of Wisconsin Beekeeping. About seventy of our members took advantage of this service and reported the amount of honey they had to sell. A list was compiled and all members desiring to buy honev were furnished with the names of members who had honey to sell. As a result of this one member purchased 5.520 pounds extracted honey from five members. This same member purchased 8 cases of comb honey. Another member purchased 120 pounds, another 2,580 pounds from two members, another one case of comb, another 32 cases of comb, and another 1,500 pounds.

This makes a total of 9.720 pounds of extracted and 41 cases of comb honey.

About thirty copies of the list were sent to interested buyers, and. although we have not received reports from a number of members who sold honey, we have heard indirectly that several thousand pounds of honev was marketed as a result of this plan.

State Association Letterheads and Envelopes

All members who are interested in securing letterheads and envelopes should write the secretary's office for sample copies if they have not already seen the new stationery. We can make the following prices:

LeTTEKHE M'S

Imprinting

The cost of imprinting the individual member's names will run about lc per sheet and per envelope in small quantities. In lots of 500 we can get this imprinting done for about $3.00 and for lots of 1.000 about $4.50 or $4.00, depending on the amount of imprinting.

The following quotations are approximate and will vary, depend-

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, February 1923

many of our prominent beekeepers, men and women, at this convention.

Our state association, if I am correctly informed, has lived through 44 (1878) seasons of sunshine and rain and from a very small beginning has grown through the proper guidance of its leaders and splendid cooperation of its members to almost a thousand strong. The pioneer builders have certainly laid the foundation well or it could never have supported this grand superstructure that our organization now is. Though our membership has soared to near the thousand mark (750), and the membership of the locals is well-nigh double that number, there still remain si$ or eight thousands of Wisconsin beekeepers who are verily strangers within our own doors.

Surely it behooves each and every one of us to not sit here in blissful contentment, but to pray and work for and with that brother or sister beekeeper until they are one among us. The fact that most of the nonmembers are beekeepers with but a few colonies, notwithstanding, let us remember our own “first time.”

Constructive Expansion—The Honey Flora

Though the possibilities of growth for this organization are great indeed, the possibilities for expansion of the beekeeping industry in Wisconsin are all but limitless. Due to the foul brood and a few bad winters, the average increase for the past ten years has been but 1,200 colonies annually, which is not by any means keeping pace with the number of acres of land being cleared.

Within the past few years, since more funds are available. Dr. S. B. Fracker’s department, in cooperation with Professor Wilson’s department, is doing splendid work which goes far toward making beekeeping safe in Wisconsin.

There is great need for more bees in Wisconsin to gather up and store nature’s most wonderful delicacy.

The amount of nectar wasted for want of bees to gather it amounts almost to a crime and at the present rate of increase of 1.200 colonies per annum, allowing six acres of clover and pasture per colony, it will take us 750 years to stock up Wisconsin's clover and pasture alone. I’m going to repeat J. J. Wilder's words from “Dixie Beekeeper,” November, 1922: "Bovs, we must increase this business a thousand colonies next year !”

It is true that a few localities are now stocked apparently to the limit and expansion would mean out-yards at a considerable distance over dirt roads, which is seldom satisfactory unless the roads are patrolled.

The beekeepers in such a locality still have recourse to Hubam.

The sweet clovers growing along roadsides and in waste places may or may not amount to more than “a drop in the bucket,” but Hubam grown as a clover crop in orchards and in all cornfields certainly gives wonderful results. Personally, I can say that my own bees gathered Hubam honey from my own four-teen-acre cornfield on Armistice Day, November 11th. This can only be possible on well-limed soils and it behooves all of us who are farmer-beekeepers to actually prove to our neighbors by demonstration the value of lime on acid soils for sweet clover.

Also we can demonstrate the value of a legume cover crop in corn for next year’s oats seeded to clover.

This new seeded clover in oats can withstand any amount of drouth and will bloom the first season. The question of soils and liming is of paramount issue and every beekeeper should familiarize himself and his community with this all-important subject of liming.

The Bees Themselves

Great as is the need for the liming of our soils for clover insurance, and the study of our honey plants in general, it is hardly overshadowed by the need of improvement among the bees themselves.

With honor and all due respect to the master minds that are now’ and have given their all to our cause. we often speculate as to whether bees see and smell and hear, but do not know much about it.

Bees are geologically as old as we are, and they are among the highest forms of the invertebrates and they may have developed a sense or senses of which we know no<.iing. We cannot measure them by anything we know. We have too long talked and written of bees as though they necessarily have the same senses and means of communication w’hich we have. The fact remains that the bees today are identically the same as they were in the days of Samson.

The amount of nectar lost annually just because it is a few millimeters beyond reach of the Italian bee’s tongues is a stupendous’ amount. Certainly, a long lasting crown of glory awaits the Christopher Columbus or the Luther Burbank of beedom.

Markets

With a systematic expansion of our industry and the consequent increase in production, we must very soon be brought face to face with a huge marketing problem and some think we already have quite a problem before us to market the honey now produced.

I am not here to say whether the price of honey is too low or too high, but I will say that some of us beekeepers are not entitled to a reasonable profit above the cost of production. Are all of us entitled to the cost of production, plus? Emphatically, no! Any man that does not keep the cost of production within reasonable bounds need not look for any profit.

Too many of our bright and shining stars of beedom devote their entire time to the caring for a hundred or less colonies and then cuss and damn their neighbor because he doesn’t sell at their so-called living price. I thoroughly believe that every able-bodied and able-minded man should do a man’s work and not charge up a full year’s labor bill to a hundred or less colonies when three or four times that many could have been well cared for.

(To be concluded in March.)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, March, 19>.i.

Renew Your Membership

About 400 of our members have sent in their renewals for 1923. Every member who renews voluntarily saves postage expense and time for the secretary. We have set our goal at 1,000 paid-up members for 1923. Do your duty as a beekeeper today. Send in your dollar.

Dr. Phillips Talks by Radio

While at St. Louis attending the league meeting, Dr. Phillips gave a talk on “Bees and Honey” at a local radio station. Several Madison beekeepers reported that they heard Dr. Phillips.

Apis Club Show

The beekeeping students at Madison staged a bee show at Agricultural Hall on February 17th. Moving pictures, a skit in which the hoys attempted to rob a farmer of his bees, a honey exhibit, and a honey candy and honey sandwich booth were included. Demonstrations showing the use of modern bee equipment were also given.

Beekeepers’ Chautauqua and field meet, Madison, Wisconsin, August 13th to 18th.

Miller Memorial Library

I lave you shipped those old bee books and journals to this library? I )o this today. Address to H. F. Wilson, freight collect.

Some valuable collections of journals were recently received from two of our members, F. B. Sherman, Edgerton, and B. J. Thompson, Rock Elm.

Reports indicate that bees in general throughout the state are wintering in good condition.

State Fair

The Wisconsin State Fair will be held August 27th to September 1st, inclusive. The premium list for the Bee and Honey Department is nowready and all beekeepers should prepare row to exhibit. The Wisconsin Bee and Honey' Department of the state fair offers $1,517 for this year, the largest amount of premiums offered for bee and honey exhibits in the United States. Write to Gus Dittmer, Augusta, Wisconsin, for a copy of the 1923 premium list.

American Honey Producers’ League Convention Held at St. Louis, Feb. 6, 7, 8

Seven state associations sent official delegates to this meeting and beekeepers from three other states attended, the total registration being 42. Prof. H. F. Wilson was reelected president and the executive committee reappointed Dr. S. B. Fracker as secretary for 1923. Your association was represented by your secretary, who was forcibly impressed with the program the league has outlined for 1923. It is a program that every member of our organization should back. Here are a few of the things the league is planning to undertake:

• 1. Preparation of a series of articles concerning the value of honey, such articles to be furnished to members at cost of mimeographing. It is expected that the members will have these articles inserted in their local newspapers. Many newspapers would be glad to publish without charge educational articles concerning honey and bees could they but secure the proper material. In this manner the league hopes to carry on a nation-wide advertising campaign to secure greater distribution of honey.

• 2. Through its legal bureau it will continue to help beekeepers solve their legal problems.

• 3. The league will continue to furnish warning signs to its members. Several cases where these signs were of considerable value were reported and in one case the thief was caught and sent to jail for a period of ninety days. The claim for the $100 reward was filed and has been paid by the league. The protection afforded through this department is alone worth membership fees and every Wisconsin beekeeper should take advantage of it.

• 4. One of the most important problems brought before the convention was the discussion of national color grades for honey, to be based upon definite description as to what water white, white, light amber and dark grades actually are in trade channels. Dr. Phillips presented the matter exhibiting some three hundred samples from the very lightest to the darkest honeys found in the United States. The beekeepers present were asked to decide the number of color grades and the following were selected: Water white, white, light amber, amber and dark; two additional supplementary grades, extra white and extra light amber, were included for optional use in western states. After setting these colors, each beekeeper was asked to examine all samples and to group the samples according to the grades decided upon. An average of opinions given was taken and the government departments will use this average as a foundation for determining a set of national color grades.

A copy of the league bulletin is sent to all league members monthly and a report of the St. Louis convention will be sent as soon as issued.

The Wisconsin section has 70 paid-up members for 1923 in. the league. Every one of our members should be a member in order to make beekeeping a truly national industry. Join today. Send your dollar to the secretary.

Melitta Fischer, Secretary.

Secretaries of local associations should report change of officers immediately to the state secretary.

The members of the Texas Honey Producers’ Association received rebates of $2,000 on their purchases during 1922. Wisconsin beekeepers could do equally as well if they wanted to.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, March, 1923.

Wisconsin beekeeping

H. F. WILSON. Editor

Officer* of The Wisconsin State Beekeeper* Association

President.................lames Gwin, Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Ocon->mowuc

Secretary.................Malitta 1>. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee, 11.00 Remit to M. F. Fischer. Secy.. Madison, Wis.

Address of Vice-President at the 1922 Convention (Continued from last issue) There are many, many ways of keeping down the cost of production ; labor I have mentioned; foulbrood is an item to be reckoned with, but by far the greatest factor is winter losses. From scientific data now available, we know that every factor contributing toward winter losses is absolutely controllable by the beekeeper.

Standardized containers and labels for the entire association would go a long way in the right direction. This also would have a great tendency to standardize prices throughout the state.

Then the buying of supplies through local organization saves a considerable amount. Advertising collectively would be much more effective and certainly much more efficient than advertising as individuals, and, by the way, how many individuals advertise at all ?

Organize

This brings us right to the climax of organizing and building together. “United we stand, divided we fall” applies just as well in beekeeping as anywhere else.

The local gathering of beekeepers is the first step in the direction of better organization and cooperation of those engaged in this line of industry.

From this stepping stone the effort should go on up through county, district and state associations, all affiliated with one strong central head such as this association now is.

If you want to sell your honey at a remunerative price, organize 1

It you want to do away entirely with foulbrood the country over, organize!

Not only can you secure greater discounts from dealers by clubbing orders and buying through your locals, but also save considerably on freight. A properly functioning organization will prevent the glutting of markets in certain sections, which has been our greatest weakness in marketing so far. Fortunately many beekeepers are learning to feed the market instead of dumping. As Mr. George W. York says, “There is never overproduction, but there is underdistribution.”

W'e have the greatest potential honey-producing state in the Union. Let us burn no bridges behind us. We have a perfect assortment of the finest grade of raw materials. Wisconsin’s dairy industry, and consequently, the clovers, and our fine climate. So, let every member of a local consider himself a builder of our growing industry.

Yes, we are all builders, bridge builders, improving the wav for those that come after us like the Aged man on a lone highway That came one evening cold and grey,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

For the roaring flood had no terror for him,

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide, i “Old man,” said a fellow traveler near,

“Why waste your time in building here ?

Your journey will end at the close of day,

You never again will pass this way. You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide.

Why build this bridge at eventide?”

But the builder lifted his old grey head:

“Good friend, in the way I come,” he said,

“There cometh after me today, A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

That roaring flood that is naught for me,

To that fair youth may a pitfail be. He, too, must cross in the twilight dim,

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

Conrad L. Kruse, Loganville, Wisconsin.

Members wishing to advertise in the 1923 association directory should write the secretary for details. Space will be sold at from $7 for quarter page to $20 for full page (inside pages).

Value of Cooperation

A. A. Brown, Juneau, Wis.

Fellow Beekeepers, Ladies and Gentlemen :

The subject of cooperation is the most important one occupying the minds of the agricultural producers in this country today. The deplorable conditions they have been forced to face has caused, the thinking ones at least, to take a look beyond their line fences to see what is wrong, or at least to see if his neighbor is in the same fix. He finds that conditions similar to his are universal in the agricultural world. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that he alone cannot solve the producers’ problems ; he sees it is a he man’s job, and one that requires careful study. The future of any industry is assured success when the producers therein stop long enough to study their problems and unitedly set out to solve them. That is what is happening today. A few years ago the raisin growers of California found themselves facing bankruptcy, when the regular marketing system failed to find an outlet for 7,000 tons of raisins, 2,000 tons in excess of average normal demand. What happened? The price knocked them down, but not out. When they hit the ground they were forced, as producers, to stop, to think, to study, and fight for their existence. They found all had the same problems. They found they were the victims of a decadent marketing system. They united and cooperated to solve their own raisin problems and as a result they produced and 

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, March, 1923.

found a profitable market for over 150,OCX) tons of raisins last year, not because of prohibition, as some would have us believe, but because they all cooperated and solved their problems by proper application of business principles.

The above citation could be duplicated with a dozen or more agricultural commodities and with every manufactured article you buy. What do we find in the beekeeping industry today? Producers disunited, facing the same problems, and very few looking over the line fences. Ours is an infant industry when you stop and consider what it would amount to if we all were united and applied business principles as did the raisin producers of California. As beekeepers we have not learned our A. B. C.’s. Look back ; what has been accomplished ? Then look forward, make comparisons. and see what lies before us. What a contrast!

Since you are now in a thinking mood let me guide your line of thought along several lines, and discuss the value of cooperation to the beekeeping industry.

The first topic I wish to discuss is Education

Education in the beekeeping industry is of two kinds; one is education of the beekeeper along all lines concerning him as a profitable producer of honey, the other is the education of the fellow who is not a beekeeper.

Education in the first instance is bringing to the beekeeper every kind of information to make him a better beekeeper, while education of the other fellow requires effort on our part to acquaint him with the economic value of honey bees to agriculture, and the value of honey as a human food.

There are numerous agencies working for our interests, yet a large majority of the beekeepers fail to appreciate their efforts in our behalf. Were it not for a few progressive beekeepers we would be without this help. The agency nearest us for education of the beekeeper is the county association. Through the local association we come in contact with our neighbor beekeepers across the way, and discuss beekeeping problems. It gets us to looking over our line fences, and starts us to thinking along similar lines—a healthy state of affairs. Through it we learn the other fellow’s point of view; his successes; his failures. His experience may benefit us, and our experiences may benefit him. At our local meeting we are able to bring to our beekeepers speakers of wide experience, technically and practically trained in the science of beekeeping. Individually, we could not hope to get this valuable assistance. We find experts available to answer our thousand and one questions if we but make an effort to avail ourselves of the opportunity, at our colleges of agriculture, the country over, made possible only through some type of cooperative effort of a few of our best beekeepers. At these institutions we find research going on to find new truths concerning beekeeping practices. They publish their findings, which come to us in bulletins and circulars. Through the local associations the names of beekeepers are supplied these institutions and the state association for their mailing lists, to whom are mailed beekeeping literature. Thousands of beekeepers are sent information in this way.

We likewise find our national government concerned about our problems and carrying on research work of a national nature for the benefit of our industry, besides preparing bulletins for free distribution on every phase of practical and scientific beekeeping. All these bulletins have reached everyone in my county known to have bees, through the local association.

Statewide beekeeping problems are looked after by our state association, the beekeeping departments at our colleges of agriculture and the departments of economic entomology in our state departments of agriculture. It is through these agencies we get assistance in our educational work, in our disease eradication work, our marketing problems, and any other beekeeping problem we set out to solve.

None of these agencies were created without the cooperative effort of some of our beekeepers. They all deserve our united support for what they have done, and for more effective work for our benefit in the future. With a united backing of all the beekeepers you have a big enough imagination to appreciate what tremendous good could be accomplished by all these agencies for our good and the good of the beekeeping industry. We cannot expect something for nothing, hence these agencies need our financial as well as our united active cooperation and moral support.

The next topic I have in mind is Production

Production of honey is in a large measure out of our control. The good Lord looks after the weather conditions and nectar secretions of our honey plants.

Greater returns in honey production are possible in two ways, namely, increased production or cheaper production. Through cooperative buying we are able to take advantage of discount prices on supplies. Likewise, through cooperation are we able to assure ourselves of a greater supply of nectar by appealing to proper authorities to refrain from destroying honey plants along highways and railway right-of-ways. Furthermore, through cooperation are we able to introduce the growing of honey plants, such as Hubam and sweet clover, into our communities for bee pastures. Through cooperation in our local and state associations we are able to bring to our beekeepers better beekeeping practices which increases production and lowers the cost. Through proper cooperation the commercial beekeepers are able to take advantage of all the bee pastures available and not overstock some and understock others—a vital question with many.

The next topic for discussion is Marketing

This subject is the one that is receiving more attention by our agricultural producers today than heretofore. Seems queer, but the agricultural producers are the only ones

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, February 1923

that turn the fruits of their labor over to someone else to market for them. You do not find this true in the commercial world. Henry Ford markets his own car. John D. Rockefeller markets his own products. Every producer of a commercial article sees to it that he gets all the profit accruing from the manufacture and sale of that article. Why the farmer, who is the greatest producer in the world today and the producer of products we all must have, necessities of life, should allow such a state of affairs to exist is beyond my comprehension. He gets the small share of the consumer’s dollar, from 35 to 50 cents, due to his own fault, for in Denmark the farmers who cooperatively market their products get from 65 to 90 cents of the consumer's dollar. Quite a contrast. Something for the farmers in America to study.

What is true with the farmers in general is true with our beekeepers. Get a crop of honey larger than local consumption, what happens? Underbidding and underselling the other fellow, driving the price of honey down below the cost of production. No industry can exist under these conditions. Don’t misunderstand me as condemning our present marketing agencies. They grew up to meet a need that the producers themselves fail to supply. I hate to think what would happen to us as beekeepers were they to suddenly quit handling honey. I do helieve, though, that the honev producers can evolve a more efficient marketing system for honey than now exists. How much concerned is the jobber, or broker, about your business as a beekeeper? He does not care particularly what you get for your honey. He is concerned about his profit for handling it. If he does not get honey to handle he will handle something else. Honey is far from being the only product handled by jobbers who assist you in marketing it. Don’t you believe a marketing system that is vitally-concerned about your welfare as a beekeeper will do you more good than the one you now have? What would come nearer to such a system than one belonging to and developed by the honey producers themselves ? 1 don’t advise knocking the other system in the head and dragging it out body and soul, for it is impossible to build a permanent structure on an old foundation. Set about laving your own foundation ar.d building your own marketing structure and soon the old one will crumble from disuse. That the honev producers of this country are in need of a marketing system for the good of the industry is beyond question. They are sorely in need of a commodity marketing organization, supported and controlled by the producers themselves, patterned after the successful commodity organizations we have operating today, selling raisins, oranges, grapefruit. cherries, cranberries, wool, tobacco and other products. I am not here to present such a plan nor even suggest one, but with such a plan and all united I do wish to further discuss what could be accomplished in a cooperative way in marketing. I think marketing the biggest problem and the most vital one to the welfare of agriculture. As producers of honey we get along fairly well with the help of fate and the good Lord, but when it comes to marketing our products we know nothing; probably because the good Lord has laid down on the job. If we will look about us and see what successful commercial concerns are doing we can get some idea what we. as honey producers, must do to push our industry. The first thing we note is

Standard Packages

Nothing goes so far to sell an article as the attractiveness of the package or container it is in. I wonder how much gum Mr. Wrigley would sell if he was as careless about putting it on the market as we beekeepers are with our honey. Would the United Raisin Growers of California have sold 150,000 tons of raisins last year if they had not put same up in an attractive package? An article well packed is half sold. The looks or the appeal to the consumer’s eye is a psychological factor we cannot get away from in the sale of anything. I am interested in an orchard as well as bees, and I find a poor apple, red in color, sells much easier than the best green apple ever grown. The consumer seems to think good looks is associated with other good qualities. They forget the old saying that “beauty is but skin deep,” which is as true with apples as with anything else.

(To be continued in next issue)

Meetings in January

l'he extension apiculturist at the beekeeping department, University of Wisconsin, held the following meetings during January :

Attendance Jan. 2  Black River Falls

Jan. 3  Whitehall

Jan. 10  Madison

Jan. 13  Juneau.......................22*

Jan. 15  Greenwood

Jan. 17  Wausau

Jan. 18  Clintonville

Jan. 19  Shawano

Jan. 25  Milwaukee

*At this meeting the Dare County Beekeepers’ Association voted a donation of $25 to the Dr. C. C. Miller Memorial Library.

**Dodge County Beekeepers Association voted to donate $10 to the Dr. C. C. Miller Memorial Library.

Premium Lists for Local Fairs

Mr. L. P. Whitehead, beekeeping specialist, has prepared a list of premiums for bee and honey exhibits at county fairs with suggestions for arranging such exhibits. Local secretaries who have not received copies of these premium lists and beekeepers who may be interested should write this office for sample copies.

Have you ordered your letterheads and envelopes? Prices were given in the February issue.

Attention Beekeepers: Why not advertise in Wisconsin Horticulture? It reaches every member of your association and two thousand others, all good prospects. Rates $1.00 an inch, $10.00 a year. Try it. Send copy to Frederic Cranefield. Secretary. 701 Gay Building. Madison, Wis.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, April,

Do Not Forget

• 1. That you are expected to prepare an exhibit for the Beekeeping department at the Wisconsin State Fair. Write to Gus Dittmer, Augusta, Wisconsin, for details and list of premiums.

• 2. Those old bee journals and books you were going to pack up and send to the Miller Memorial Library, Madison, Wisconsin. Do it today.

• 3. '1 hat row is the time to make your plans to attend the Beekeepers’ Field Meet and Chautauqua to be held at Madison, August 13 to 18. This will be the best and biggest meeting ever held. We expect more noted beekeepers to be present than at any previous meeting.

• A. I. Root is planning to be with us. Judge George Grim, Jefferson, Wisconsin, son of Adam Grim, is going to tell us about his father’s experience in the early days.

• 4. To get that new member. We are still four hundred members short of our thousand for that new directory. Will you help ?

• 5. To send in your order at once for labels.

• 6. That your state association can supply you with letterheads and envelops bearing the new state association trademark at very reasonable prices.

• 7. To get a permit from Dr. S.

• B. Fracker, State Capitol Annex, Madison, Wisconsin, in case you want to move or sell your bees.

Cooperation Will Sell Honey

Since the report given in the February issue the following commissions on honey sold through the secretary’s office have been received :

Commission pounds of extracted honey and 9 cases of comb honey. Not one pound of this honey was sold for less than lO^jc per pound wholesale, f. o. b. shipping point. We have received a request for 10,000 pounds of honey and are now making an attempt to complete this order. We are continually receiving reports that some of our beekeepers are retailing their honey at 12c a pound. Is there any excuse for this?

Mr. C. D. Adams Reports

“Mr. Whitehead and myself have conducted about forty county beekeepers’ meetings. The beekeepers at almost every meeting were enthusiastic about the lithographed honey pail and there is no question about the success of this venture. There unquestionably will be orders received from 90 per cent of the counties visited.”

“The State Department of Agriculture is being petitioned by a number of counties to include them in the foulbrood clean-up area. The Washington County Board has appropriated money to help defray the expense of the clean-up and Ozaukee County Board is expected to do likewise in the near future. Both local associations have been quite earnest in their requests.”

Mr. L. P. Whitehead, extension apiculturist reports:

“The beekeepers of Juneau county met at the Court House in Mauston. March 13, and organized a county association. The following officers were elected: President, Frank Riley, Elroy; Vice-President, Louis A. Loboda, New Lisbon; Secretary-Treasurer, Willard Franke, Mauston. The association voted to affiliate with the state association. This is the 45th local association to be formed in Wisconsin and the 34th local to become affiliated with the state association.

"The Baraboo Valley Association is receiving splendid support from their county fair officials. In addition to the competitive bee and honey exhibit which pays cash premiums, the association is to receive $50 for exhibiting in a separate booth an educational display of bees and honey.”

Members having any honey to sell should write the secretary for a “Have You Any Honey To Sell” blank. Fill in the blank and return to the secretary, who will help you sell your honey, if possible.

Notice

Members of the State Beekeepers Association should write to M. F. Fischer, Secretary, Madison, for samples and price list of Association labels.

Honey Sandwiches and Honey Candies

An outlet for a small percentage of the honey crop is in the sale of candies into which honey enters as an ingredient. It is difficult to cook honey without ruining its flavor. Some varieties suffer less under heat than others. By a few experiments one can find whether his own brand of honey will stand heat sufficiently well to use it in cooked candies. A delicious pulled candy can be made with a honey flavor as follows: Put two cups of white sugar with a generous half cup of water and a small pinch of cream of tartar to boil. If a thermometer is available, boil it till the temperature is nearly 300. If no thermometer is available, boil it until it begins to turn yellow, but do not burn it. Now without removing from the stove stir in half to one cup of heavy honey and cook until-dropped into water it forms a firm ball. Stir constantly with an egg-beater while the candy is boiling with the honey in it. This keeps down the temperature and protects the honey. It is hot work and requires watchful care.

Pour the candy when done into (Continued on page 2.)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, April. l'J’.l.

Wisconsin beekeeping

H. F. WILSON. Editor

Officers of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association

President.................James Gwin. Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown, Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Ocon unowoc

Secretary.................Malitta 1). Fischer

Annual Membership Fee, SI.00 Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy.. Madison, Wis.

League Pays Reward

The treasurer of the American Honev Producers League was authorized by the league convention at St. Louis to make payment of $100 reward offered by the warning posters for those who maraud apiaries. Miss Edith Saunders secured evidence which resulted in the conviction of a man who had stolen a gasoline engine from the honey house of an apiary in New York. The honey house and apiary were posted with American Honey Producers League signs offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone molesting the apiary in any way whatever.

Many members of the league at the meeting expressed their opinion of the value of these posters in preventing depredations. In some cases a series of robberies of supers and other materials had stopped immediately after the putting up of the signs. The New York case is the first one in which a claim for a reward has been made.

It was found necessary by the league to place the warning poster fund on a self-sustaining basis. Hereafter members of the league may secure these warning posters in which a reward is offered for two years from the date of purchase at one dollar each. In case the apiary is molested or supers disturbed and someone besides the owner presents evidence which leads to the conviction of the party molesting the yard the league pays $100 reward to the person providing the information. These posters may be secured from the American Honey Producers League, Secretary’s Office, Capitol Annex, Madison, Wisconsin.

Dr. S. B. Fracker.

Honey Sandwiches

(Continued from page 1.) buttered tins and begin to pull as soon as it can possibly be handled. Do not let it get hard before pulling. It pulls into a creamy candy of delicious texture and flavor. Cut and wrap in waxed paper, or dip the pieces in chocolate coating.

Dipping honey candies of any sort into chocolate yields a most delicious confection. Incompleted sections can be used up to great advantage. Slice the combs into thin slices being careful to allow one uncut row of cells to the slice. Cut the comb vertically and on a slant so that the cells on one side will not be cut to leak. Cells are not opposed exactly, but offset each other. Hence the need of the slanting cut. Let the slices drain over a rack and then dip in chocolate setting to cool on waxed paper or oil-cloth. These honey bars are very rich and make an excellent addition to the school lunch. Get the grocer next the school house to sell them for you.

Candied honey, especially if finegrained can be made into delicious candy by cutting into small pieces and coating with chocolate. Roll the cut pieces in powdered sugar to help in the handling of them. Stir the honey when it is ready to candy to make it grain smooth. Pour it into shallow boxes made of clean boards screwed together and coated inside with melted parafme. W hen the honey is hard, remove the screws and take off the sides and ends of the box and slice the honey with a sharp thin knife. Some New England beekeepers are selling a lot of this candy. They make a variety by mixing chopped nuts with the honey, and also by placing half nut-meats on the dipped pieces.

One can use only a small amount of honey in candy-making, but the prices obtained for the products make that part of the honey crop bring in a good profit.

If a beekeeper lives within reach of the State and County fairs he can dispose of a good lot of honey by setting up a stand at the fairs. If you fail the first time do not give up. There are many kinks to be learned and one of them is the picking of the site for the stand. If possible pick a stand under a tree or in.the shade of a building, where the crowd is always moving. Don’t let your stand be placed in a stagnant corner, nor between objectionable faker stands. < lutside is better than in a building, but one may run up against bad weather. I prefer the outside even to chance a rain.

Whatever form of stand you contrive, make it clean. Cover with white enameled cloth and have clean white pieces of linen to cover your goods, exposing only enough to advertise the wares. You may have to use netting to keep off flies and bees. Keep your person clean, shaving each morning and using clean linen daily. Have aprons made of good white duck ar.d put on a clean one each day. Make the very cleanness of your stand invite the best trade.

The honey-sandwich so far as I know is an invention of my own. which like all good things went through an evolution. I first sold honey at fairs back in the late eighties before my college days. At first I sold honey to be eaten plain. I simply sliced the sections from corner to corner and sold honey on a stick. So many people expressed the desire for something to go with the honey that after a year or so I bought crackers by the barrel and let anyone who wished have two crackers with his honey.

Crackers go well with honey but both are dry eating and really need something to thin them down. It occurred to me that soft rolls would be much better than crackers and so I next essayed using rolls. The experiment was crowned with success. Of course my first attempt at honey sandwiches was crude and *it was two or three years before I got them to the stage of perfection I desired.

The frankfurter or weiner roll is too long and rather narrow. It 

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, April, IP!.!.

also has pointed ends. The ideal roll is shorter than the weiner roll, has blunt ends and is slightly wider. Bakers use a tin or sheet iron which holds five rows of twelve rows each of the weiner roll. By placing on this sheet iron six rows of ten rolls each, seeking to make the rolls of uniform width, the resultant roll is ideal for honev sandwiches. The rolls should bake with their sides grown together so that they can be handled bv tens. When broken apart they have soft sides. The best weight of rolls comes front using about one pound of dough to the dozen, rather less than more. Fourteen ounces of dough make a very decent roll. The roll must be of sufficient body to hold well a slice of honey and yet not make so thick a sandwich that it is difficult to eat from the hand.

Rolls left over must be repacked using good clean cloths, slightly moistened. It is not wise to use rolls over three days old. better take them home and feed them to the live stock.

The honey-sandwich is the greatest thing in the world to use up unfinished section honey. A section of honey netting 8 or 9 ounces will make seven good sandwiches. A full weight section will make ten or eleven good sandwiches. It is not wise, however, to skimp on the honey and when a customer says he is fond of honey cut him a double thick slice. He will come back several times during the fair.

Cut from thick pine a block of wood eight inches long and four wide, then another four inches square. Nail the smaller to one end of the larger so that you have a block with two steps. You can thus have two cakes of honey on the block one set higher than the other. You can thereby have two grades of honey ready, and it will surprise you to find how many people will ask you to make the sandwich from the darker honey.

One cannot learn the kinks of honey-sandwich selling all in one day, but can inside of two or three years become fairly expert. I have made and sold in one day 3,600 sandwiches, and would never think of starting in at a large fair with less than 100 dozen rolls. A crowd of 40,000 will usually mean that you must have at least 100 dozen. 1 once sold 100 dozen to a crowd of only 8,000. Unless you live where honey-eating people dwell you will have to teach people to eat honey sandwiches. If there are lots of honey lovers in the crowd all you will have to do will be to make the sandwiches.

I believe that it will pay to run hot coffee with the honey sandwiches. Get a good grade of paper cup so that no dishwashing will be necessary.

Previous to the war the honey sandwich sold for five cents, but for the past eight years it has sold for ten. One can make good money now selling at five, but if the market stands for ten one can make more money with less work. The beauty of the whole thing lies right here — the beekeeper by means of the honey sandwich gets more for his low grade sections than he gets for his fancy sold in the usual way.

Allen Latham.

Value of Cooperation (Continued from March Issue.) What we have got to do as beekeepers is to unite back of a cooperative selling plan and put our product upon the market in a uniform, neat, attractive container. Such a container may cost more than the ones you are now using, and others may say the prices of honey will not stand added burden of the cost of a good container, but I say and am convinced in my own mind that you will not have to pay for the container you use if it is a good ore; the consumer will be glad to do so. You put up a ton of honev in every conceivable kind of container and let me put up a ton of honev of like quality in a neat, attractive container, and I will sell my ton of honey at a better price than you will, do it quicker, and with less effort. In your case, the consumer buys your honey and gets the container; my consumer buys both my honey and my container, because both appeal to him.

Along with a uniform attractive container, we must have uniform quality of the product; the product must be standardized, so the consumer can be assured of the same quality at all times. We must teach the consumer to associate quality with the style, size or color of container. After we have done this the package will do most of the selling.

Closely associated with quality and package is a uniform brand or label. This assists and is a powerful influence in selling.

No one beekeeper can accomplish this single handed. We must all get together. By cooperating in the purchase of our standard containers I am satisfied they will cost us less than we now pay.

After we have the quality honev neatly put up and labeled we must advertise; not just honey, although that will help, but Wisconsin honey. We must convince the people honey is a good human food. All the honey producers will assist in advertising honey, but our job is to convince the consumer that Wisconsin honey is THE best honey. After they once taste it they will know it is. Just get them to taste our honey; that is the big job. We have got to advertise, and do it collectively. Mr. Wrigley spends twelve millions of dollars annually advertising his little insignificant stick of gum. One electric display sign in New York City costs him $106,000 a year. He has done more to keep the jaw joints of our American people in good working order than any man I know. When we aren’t chewing Mr. Wrigley to fortune we are chewing money into the pockets of several other gum companies. When advertising will build an immense fortune for anyone out of a stick of gum, made from the sap of a tree or a waste material, having no food value, what would it do for as good an article as is honey? Do you know we produce very little more honey now than we did thirty years ago? This is true in Wis

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, April. 1U>1.

consin as well as in the United States as a whole. Was honey any better then than it is now? No, probably not as good. Why did not honey production and consumption keep pace with the increase in population ? Advertising. I believe, did it; advertising of syrups, candies, jellies, fruits, ice cream and other forms of sweets that have replaced honey.

Do you know why there is such a tremendous consumption of hen eggs while ore hardly ever eats a goose egg? Because the goose covers her egg as soon as she produces it and says nothing about it. while the hen leaves hers exposed to view and cackles about it. She advertises. It is about time the beekeepers quit playing the role of a goose.

About one-third of our honey crop leaves home. Our per capita consumption of honey is about two pounds. Think of it. Yet we come here and kick about not being able to move our crop. If cooperation and advertising has increased raisin consumption in this country from 5,000 to 150,000 tons in less than ten years, what could be accomplished for honey under similar plans ? I f we doubled our consumption the drones would have to go to work. Even then we could not meet home demand and the outside market would have to go without. We would then have no serious market problem. One cent a pound on honey would give us an advertising fund in the United States of upwards of $750,OCX). We as honey producers would have to advance this money until consumption increased, then the demand for honey would be so great the consumer would reimburse us in increased price he would be glad to pay. Mr. Wrigley doesn’t spend twelve million dollars of his money to get you to chew gum. He adds this advertising to overhead and you pay to induce yourself to chew gum. We can convince the consumer he wants more of our honey and make him pay for the convincing. We must, however, loan him some money to put into this convincing or advertising fund. Later we take the pot as fast as he antes.

Through a commodity marketing organization, we, as producers, could regulate the flow of honey on the market as the market demanded it. This would prevent flooding of the market at any one time, and instead of selling our honey seasonally, as is now done, we could distribute our production over the entire year. By feeding the market as consumption absorbed it, we would be able to keep up the price and prevent speculation which is like a two-edged sword injuring the producer as well as the consumer. It is the small quantity above the demand that lowers the price. By controlling the movement of honey, as demand required you would put yourself in a position of quoting the price on honey, while now you are obliged to take what the other fellow has a mind to give. You aren’t in a position to do otherwise. Y'ou can always strike a better bargain if the other fellow comes to you.

With all the honey under control of our own marketing organization, we would be in a position to supply demands anywhere with honey, direct. thus cutting out the excess transportation burdens now accruing. when honey follows a zigzag route from producer to consumer. Besides, we would be in a position to cut down overhead by shipping in carload lots. The cost of disorganized economic distribution of honey is a burden that could be saved through an efficient system. Honey can be more efficiently marketed and distributed than is now the case, as the Texas beekeepers have demonstrated.

Through cooperation we would be in a position to have reports on honey production the world over assembled, compiled and interpreted for us, thus keeping us posted on our own business ourselves and not being dependent upon the other fellow not particularly concerned with our business and apt to misinform us for his own selfish ends. In this way we could get our probable production. the probable production of our competitive countries, the probable demand here and abroad, thus enabling us to quote fair prices on honey for our own lookout and the interest of the consumer. We should not be too selfish; we should always see the consumer gets a square deal; we need him.

The last topic, though not the least important, is the question of the control and eradication of disease. Individually we cannot hope to conquer disease; especially is tins true with American foul brood. We cannot keep our bees in the straight and narrow path, for they will rob. Disease is another cause for our decreased honey production in Wisconsin and elsewhere. United effort of all beekeepers is essential to wipe out disease. Seems funny we must have a law and police powers to compel a beekeeper to protect his own business.

The recert action of congress of prohibiting the importation of bees likely to have Isle of Wight disease, due to pressure brought upon it by beekeepers the country over, is but one example of the enormous value of cooperation.

After all has been said concerning the beekeeper I am reminded of the story of two colored fellows who got into a wrangle over the sale of a mule. It seems Moses sold Rastus a mule. In about two weeks Rastus came to Moses and demanded he take the mule back and give him his money he paid for the mule.

Moses said, “See here, Rastus. what fo’ vou want vour monev back ?”    '

“Ah wants ma money back ’cause that mule’s blind.’’

“When ah lets him out _t o’ de stable he walks right onto a big pile of stone and nearly breaks his laig befo’ I’se could extricate him. Then he walks straight into my barb wire fence, he did. ar.d cut he’s self most to pieces. I’se no morn got him straightened about he walks right plumb against the basement wall of my barn. I tell you’se that mule am blind, and I wants back ma money.”

"Say, Rastus,” said Moses, “dat mule ain’t blind; he just don’t give a damn.”

A. A. Broun, Sec.. Dodge County Bee Ass’n.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, May, 1923.

Things You Should Remember

• 1.  The Wisconsin State Fair and the preparation of an exhibit. Write to your Superintendent, Gus Dittmer, Augusta, Wisconsin, for details and a list of premiums.

• 2.  To pack up those old bee journals and books for the Miller Memorial Library.

• 3.  Wisconsin Beekeepers’ Field Meet ard Chautauqua, August 13 to 18, at Madison.

• 4.  That if you are a 100% member, you will get a new member.

• 5.  That the State Association has labels, letterheads, envelopes, and lithographed pails to sell to its members. Write the secretary for samples and price list.

• 6.  That you must have a permit to move bees or used beekeeping equipment. Write Dr. S. B. Fracker, State Capitol Annex, Madison.

Wisconsin Is on Its Way

With the proper cooperation on the part of the members, the State Association can do a great deal to help dispose of the honey of our members. In going over the reports of the honey sold through the association we find that in 1921 several thousand pounds of extracted and comb honey was sold for several of the members. During the past season a greater amount has been moved for members. Our records show that 12,720 pounds of extracted and 9 cases of comb honey were sold, for which the association received $63 in commissions. In addition, 9,720 pounds of extracted honey and 100 cases of comb honev were reported by members to have been sold as a result of the work-done through the secretary’s office in sending lists of members having honey to sell to interested buyers and for which no commission was received. The commissions received from members have been placed in the association treasure with the hope that this fund will become sufficiently large to permit a state advertising program.

Just the other day one of the members wrote this office asking for a list of brother members who still had honey to sell. The list was sent him, and what was the result? Within six days after he had received the list, he reported having placed an order with a brother member. We do not know exactly how many of our members have purchased honey from one another through this exchange of names, since not all of our members have cooperated in sending in reports, but we do know that the amount reported sold is only a small fraction of the amount moved through this plan.

Cooperation will sell honey— there is no question about it. Read what the manager of the Texas Honey Producers’ Association says in the following news item we have taken from the April News Letter of that organization:

“The demand for honey is growing every day and very little remains on hand among Texas beekeepers. Nearly every other state, especially those having no cooperative associations, have a large carry over stock. Wyoming and California especially have a large surplus and are hunting a market. Few actually realize the marvelous work accomplished by such organizations as the one in Colorado and our own. You may not feel the good that the Association does you, but when you compare the fact that Texas raises more honey than any other state and is the only large producing state that has cleaned up its crop, you will begin to see the value of such work as ours.

“Prices are ruling higher and we want to warn every one against selling his honey or making contracts until the Association names its price. The directors expect to meet on April 24th for this purpose.”

What the Texas organization has accomplished a Wisconsin organization can also accomplish. How ? Not by beekeepers continually talking about working together, talking about cooperation here and cooperation there, then turning right around and cutting prices on a neighbor beekeeper, but by beekeepers actually doing wltat they say should be done. We can have a marketing organization, we can have a proper means of distribution of honey in Wisconsin, we can have stabilized markets, standard prices, uniform containers, and we can carry on an advertising program. When? Just as soon as the larger producers of Wisconsin are ready to back such an organization as our Texas and Colorado beekeepers have. Our beekeepers must not only back such an organization with their money, but also with their moral support. The following poem should have carried the title, “A Cooperation Truth!”

A Cooperation Fable

(By the Apiary Department Bussaw, The Diamond Match Company, Chico, Calif.)

Said a wise old bee at the close of day,

“This colony business doesn’t pay. I put my honey in that old hive That others may eat and live and thrive;

And I do more work in a day. by gee,

Than some of the other fellows do in three.

I toil and worry and save and hoard,

And all I get is my room and board. It’s me for a hive I can run myself. And me for the sweets of my hard-earned pelf.”

So the old bee flew to a meadow lone,

And started a business all his own. He gave no thought to the buzzing clan,

But all intent on his selfish plan. He lived the life of a hermit free, “Ah. this is great,” said the wise old bee.

(Continued on page 66)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, May, J023.

Wisconsin ^eekeqping

H. V. WILSON. Editor

Officers of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association

President................James Gwin. Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc

Secretary.................Malftta D. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee, 11.00 Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy., Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin Is on Its Way

(Continued from page 65.)

But the summer waned and the days grew drear,

And the lone bee wailed as he dropped a tear;

For the varmints gobbled his little store,

And his wax played out and his heart was sore,

So he winged his way to the old home band,

And took his meals at the Helping Hand.

Alone, our work is of little worth;

Together, we are the lords of the earth;

So it’s all for each and it’s each for all—

United stand, or divided fall.

News Items Taken from the Bulletin of the G. B. Lewis Company

In 1922, the Texas Honey Producers marketed $95,601.08 worth of honey and $16,660.58 worth of beeswax. They purchased $23,-345.40 worth of equipment at a saving to the beekeepers of $2,674.44, and $18,548.63 worth of glass jars with a saving of $2,165.59, according to the report of E. G. LeStour-geon.

The General Superintendent of the Post Office Department rules, “Comb honey as well as extracted honey is considered a liquid and must be so packed that if the honey becomes detached from the wooden frame none of it can escape from the container.”

They that will not be counselled cannot be helped.—Franklin.

Comb Building

H. C. Dadant, Hamilton, Illinois.

The most important requirements for successful beekeeping are : The beekeeper, acting with understanding and alertness, the queen and the population of her colony, a good nectar secreting location, and the modern beehive with well built nearly all-worker combs. The building of comb has always been a source of great interest to honey producers, even before comb-foundation came into use. Little was thought at first, however, of the great advantage of taking a hand in the building of the comb, since the bee alone seemed capable of building it. The first comb-building in which man took part was when he began to realize the uselessness of a large number of drones in the hive and the advantages of reducing the drone comb space to a minimum, securing in its place worker size comb. It is within the memory of some of us that, when transferring bees or removing undesirable combs, almost every square inch of good worker comb was saved and many combs were repaired or built up by a patchwork process, cutting out the drone comb and inserting pieces of the desirable worker cells. Occasionally we still practice this method when transferring bees to the modern hive from the common box or from other locations.

• The habits of bees have not been changed by domestication or modern equipment and comb-building is not entirely within our control, even with the best equipment and practice. We will continue to find an occasional undesirable built comb, regardless of our efforts and aid to the bees. In nature, bees fasten combs well at the top or upper sides, and seldom at the bottom or lower corners. A rectangularly shaped comb, -with square corners, fastened to the bottom-bar, does not conform to their nature. They do not like the regularity in the shape and arrangement of the frames. Drone comb can hardly be entirely eliminated from a colony for more than a period of time and passageways and holes through and around the comb, so undesirable to the beekeeper, will continue to be made. A swarm, given its freedom, will first build worker combs but as soon as the bees reach a certain stage in comb building, the comb area increases too rapidly, the laying queen does not keep pace with it and drone cells are built. The use of burr-combs and propolis, the clogging of the entrance, and minor manifestations of their nature will continue to be expressed. Yet. with a knowledge of the behavior of bees and from examples of their comb building, we can now almost control the combs within the hive.

Frequent examples are found of worker cells being built on one side of a comb and drone cells on the other, while in the small sample I have here the bees did not build the cell bases regularly, nor to conform with the cell walls of the opposite side. This demonstrates that it is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules regarding the minor details of the honey comb.

The securing of combs entirely of straight worker cells, which will not sag and will be well fastened in the frame, is an important problem. Since the busy farmer or business beekeeper can make the best financial success only through the greatest possible production with the least labor and by making use of the best equipment he is interested in the solution of a problem of this kind. In fact, during the past few years a demand has come from honey producers for a more convenient and effective comb base or foundation. Artificial combs of foreign material of any sort have always proven costly and objec-tional to the bees. The resulting combs are sometimes good but the percentage of good combs is not large enough. The bees naturally persist in showing an aversion to any material except pure beeswax and beeswax must be carefully boiled and refined to retain its natural colors and properties to make the comb foundation most acceptable to them.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, May, J923.

Although bees have been building combs from time immemorial, very little was done to guide their work until the movable frame hive was invented by Langstroth in 1851. It was several years later before comb-foundation was invented and not until about 1875 that A. I. Root and others made comb-foundation mills which led to the popular and profitable use of the beeswax honey comb base. Where formerly the beekeeper practiced cutting and patching combs to get more nearly 100 per cent worker cells, we now melt up undesirable combs entirely, substituting full sheets of foundation.

This has presented a new problem since the full sheet of foundation, it has been necessary to evolve a satisfactory reinforcement. Instead of allowing the bees to build combs from the top downward, adding a little at a time, we now give them several square feet of comb base upon which they work simultaneously throughout much of the area, and the rapidity with which this is usually done during a honey flow, together with heat and weight, calls for a reinforcement which will strengthen every square inch of the surface and prevent breaking down, stretching and the common sagging and other damage, and thus secure the greatest percentage of good combs, so much desired.

Looking back through the old issues of the bee journals animated expressions can be found on the use of comb-foundation. While the most successful bee men strongly and rightly advocated its use others practiced false economy in using a narrow starter instead of a full sheet. During those years and up to the present day many styles of frames and methods of reinforcement have been used. Today we require simple and effective methods.

There being no question about the value of good combs the problem is how to get the largest percentage of them, properly reinforced to avoid the common sag which occurs most frequently in the upper one-third of the frame and to do so by a convenient method. Here the physical properties of beeswax are to be reckoned with. It melts at about 145 degrees and is soft and subject to distortion quite readily at a minimum of 90 degrees. In order to ascertain the best methods of reinforcement under field conditions, I tried, during the season of 1920, more than 100 combinations of vertical, horizontal and diagonal reinforcements in various styles of frames. From 50 to 100 frames of each kind were used for the tests carried out in the 9 Dadant apiaries during the spring, summer and fall honey flows. Records were kept of all of these. I have spent more time, probably, than necessary trying many materials and ways finally to prove the principles already demonstrated and partially practiced, in Dr. Miller’s idea of vertical reinforcement. There are some objections to his little wood splint, which is made one-sixteenth inch square, placed vertically from top-bar to bottom-bar. No method of reinforcement, however, is entirely devoid of all objections. What we desire is the most simple and effective method, with minor objections reduced to the minimum, which will produce good combs in the largest percentage of cases. The principal objections to the splints are their size and the fact that they cannot be placed by hand or machined into the mid-rib of the comb-foundation, consequently there is oftentimes some bulging of the comb surface over them. Other minor objections to vertical reinforcements, when a steady honey flow or good comb building conditions are not present, are the occasional gnawing away of the foundation along wires or splints and some lack of brood rearing in those cells the reinforcing bars cross. However, longitudinal wiring methods are subject to those small objections also. These faults result in a certain percentage of undesirable combs but Dr. Miller said he preferred an occasional imperfection of this nature to the greater labor required and the very objec-tional and prevalent sagging that results by the common longitudinal wiring methods. This conclusion is well taken and highly important.

Wood splints are porous and prevent a good adhesive surface. Following out this idea, wires were tried and adopted having irregular yet rigid shoulders of support. Hand made wired foundation was not difficult to construct in carrying our experiments on a few thousand sheets but proved expensive and commercially impossible. The securing of machinery and trained labor which would produce combfoundation as good in every way as before and still have the desirable reinforcing wires built in the midrib of the sheet, was the greatest difficulty to overcome. It has been overcome, however, and wired foundation has been made adaptable to the style frame commonly used. Finally the frame itself has been modified to give the highest possible convenience and efficiency.

In circulars advising the use of the Wired Foundation which I have produced it is shown that no combfoundation will produce good combs under all conditions. Comb-building under unfavorable conditions should be avoided, especially during a dearth or lack of nectar in the blossom or during a light, irregular honey flow. In fact, to quote Langstroth, “Honey gathering and comb building go simultaneously, so that when one stops, the other ceases also. As soon as the honey harvest begins to fail so that consumption is in advance of production, the bees cease to build new combs, even although large portions of their hives are unfilled. When honey no longer abounds in the fields, it is wisely ordered that they should not consume, in comb-building the treasures which may be needed for winter use.”

Let us summarize the necessary conditions and requirements considered and found good practice, under which good comb building will take place.

• 1.  Hives should be nearly level.

• 2.  The sheet should hang 

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, May, 1923.

smoothly in the central plane of the frame. With a little practice and care this is easily and quickly secured. A convenient assembly board is advisable. The sheet should at least be supported by a board or cardboard about one-half inch thick inside the frame which should lay horizontally during assembly.

• 3.  Foundation should be well fastened in the frame and where no longitudinal wires are also used with wired foundation the top fastening should be secure. This top fastening is obtained by driving several two penny fine cement coated nails from the side deeply into the wedge, firmly pinching the upper edge of sheet and wires in the topbar, from which the weight of comb hangs until built out. The new style frame with heavy wedge cut from top-bar is preferable. Sheets made large enough to project into a slotted or split bottom-bar are very effective and generally preferred. Old style frames with one piece bottombars require one or two longitudinal wires. In hot weather, especially in southern climates, when desiring to haul, ship or extract freshly built combs of honey or brood, more reinforcement is needed than under ordinary conditions. Combs freshly built are always tender and should lie handled with care. Combs 30 to 60 days old become much stronger and improve with age.

• 4.  Foundation should be kept in the box until needed in the hive, if possible, and not handled when very cold or warm. When the large beekeeper must put up frames with full sheets of foundation ahead of time they should be carefully stored, hanging in a vertical position where the temperature will not reach rear 90 degrees or more. This heat causes the foundation to soften and stretch between wires, causing a wavy or washboard effect which does not contract when cooled again. I have here samples of this sort of trouble (show here frames as examples). Slight waviness is not bad, however, as it disappears after the comb is in use a time.

• 5.  Foundation should rot be furnished to bees faster than they can make use of it for good combbuilding. Before or during a small irregular honey flow or as soon as the honey flow slackens, bees stop normal comb-building, and sometimes gnaw away foundation along the wires, the bottom-bars and other places for dry comb building or burr-combs in other places. The places cut away are usually afterwards filled in with comb, especially drone comb, which proves the honey flow was not good when the damage was done. The beekeeper running out apiaries sometimes finds it impossible to reach all apiaries at the proper time for starting new combs and may resort to a little feeding of sugar syrup or honey or the furnishing of a little surplus beeswax made available to them in thin flakes or shavings, or the painting of liquid beeswax in a few places on the foundation.

• 6.  There appears to be a difference in the work of comb building among colonies under the same conditions. Cross or nervous colonies seem to produce the majority of imperfections in combs.

• 7.  There is an advantage of having combs drawn out in supers or above the brood nest. This is not necessary, but will increase the percentage of good fastening to the bottom-bar. In a bee tree, or under natural conditions, combs are not fastened to anything by bees at the lower edge and it is no wonder they like to make a passageway above the bottom-bar.

• 8.  The use of well made, full print, worker cell size foundation sheets made of pure, clean beeswax, with as little reinforcement as possible, is important. Sufficient reinforcement to make for convenience in assembly and a good non-sag comb is all that is necessary.

• 9.  Medium brood grade foundation is generally much preferred to light brood. Medium brood, although a little more expensive in first cost than light brood per frame, saves the bees secreting much wax. which is returned to the beekeeper in more honey ten to one, as it is estimated that 10 pounds or more of honey- is consumed to produce a pound of wax. It is seldom that bees secrete a surplus of wax, and judging from the fact that or.lv about 12)4% of the total brood foundation used is light brood and that many beekeepers specify not more than six sheets per pound, there is no real economy in light weight foundation.

There has been one additional convenience tried and found useful in the make-up of the foundation sheet. This is a square hook or right angle bend of the upper one-eighth inch edge of the sheet and ends of wires. This has not proven necessary, although at an additional cost of one cent per pound in manufacture would make the assembling and fastening to the top-bar simpler and fool proof. This idea has been submitted to several beekeepers, but not considered necessary.

Comb-building in comb-honey or chunk honey production needs little attention here. Foundation made of pure, well cleaned beeswax is. of course, required and a full sheet, well made, fastened in the honey section or frame by well known methods produces desirable results and no further improvements are demanded or can likely be made. (This paper given at annual convention)

Dr. Fracker Reports

“'About sixteen men took the examination for Deputy Apiary Inspector on January 27 and fourteen passed and have been certified for appointment. This is about twice the number of available vacancies for summer.”

“The Executive Committee of the American Honey Producers’ League has approved a design for a trademark and plans for its use on labels, bottle caps, etc., are going, ahead rapidly.”

“The League is working up a card index to the big producers and buyers of honey in the United States and names of about 300 producers of honey in ton lots and over have alreadv been received."

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1923.

Have You Made Arrangements:

• 1.  To attend the Beekeepers’ Conference and Dedication of the Miller Memorial Library, August 13th to 18th, at Madison? Programs will be mailed about the 20th of July and if you do not get a copy, write this office.

• 2.  For your Bee and Honey Exhibit at the State Fair, August 27th to September 1st? If not, write Gus Dittmer, Augusta, Wis.

• 3.  To send those old bee journals and books to the Miller Memorial Library, Madison, Wisconsin.

The secretary’s office can still furnish letterheads, envelopes and labels to members. Get your orders in early.

• A. I. ROOT

Many of our readers who do not take one of the bee journals will be sorry to learn that Mr. A. I. Root died at his home in Medina on April 30. Mr. Root was America’s greatest pioneer in the development of mechanical beekeeping devices. Being far-sighted and quick to accept and experiment with everything new that seemed to give any chance of success, he has brought to the beekeepers much of their equipment that is in use today. A useful life is the greatest gift one may give to the world and Mr. Root’s gift was immeasurable in its fullness. ■

“Preserving Time Soon Here”

Beekeepers who have not had their family try out the use of honey in place of sugar for preserving fruits, should interest themselves in this now.

Honey is used for the preserving of fruit in the same quantity as sugar. A most excellent jelly can be made by the use of honey and fruit juices.

Learn from the spider and the bee Two styles of business strategy: Alone, the spider spreads his snare. If business comes, he gets his share, Together, bees far better thrive, They bring the honey to the hive.

—June issue of The Besto Bee.

To the Exhibitors at the State Fair

By A. C. Allen

Judge of Apiary Exhibits

Each year as I have gone over the exhibits at our fair I have seen where some, and perhaps all might have improved on their exhibits, thus making a better showing for themselves, a more pleasing aspect to the village, and less work for both the superintendent and judge.

It is with a desire to.help those contemplating making an exhibit this fall that I write these lines.

The beekeepers of Wisconsin are a wide-awake lot, as is evidenced by their commendable efforts and beautiful displays of honey which has made that department of our fair the leading one in the United States and we must not only keep it so, but make it much greater than it now is. Nothing worthy of note is accomplished without painstaking effort, advance planning and sacrifice, and this is especially true of an exhibit worthy of space in our crowded building at the State Fair. And, inasmuch as this is expected to surpass any local or county fair, nothing but the very best, best quality, best arrangement, proper quantity for your particular booth, should be given consideration. Your exhibit speaks for what you yourself are.

It seems to me that each ore participating should feel a measure of true pride in assisting in putting up the largest apiarian exhibit in this country and may I not say in the whole world ?

I want to impress upon each one the importance of beginning early. It is none too soon to start laying plans now. This month, before the busy season with the bees begins, while you have time to calmly plan out just how you want your exhibit to look, you should not delay. If you have never made an exhibit, or even if you have, you can get many helpful suggestions from the views of exhibits given in past numbers of your bee journals. Try to vary your arrangement from what it has previously been without spoiling its harmony and beauty. Bring the harmony of poetry into your exhibit. Make your decorations and arrangements in keeping with your location in the building, space you have, light, etc.

Just a suggestion about decorations. They are all right and we want them, but even that can be overdone. And as decorations can be given only ten points in scoring, no matter how many you have, you should aim to have them as effective as possible with a minimum of labor and devote the greater part of your time and energy on the exhibit proper. Also do not let the decorations hide the real goods. And would it not be well to have more of the honey bearing plants in evidence? Boxes of moist earth or vases of water containing clover, goldenrod, hartsease plants and leafy limbs from basswood, etc. These all can be kept fresh during the entire week and you can explain to visitors that the honey is secured from such plants. Views of prominent beekeepers, your own apiary and home, manufacturing plants, bee books and journals. We hope also that you are securing the best labels obtainable, which do perhaps as much as any other one thing to show off your booth.

Study your fair book and try to comply in every respect with the rulirgs. Every year something has to be ruled out because some have not been careful enough in this matter, thus causing themselves labor and expense which brings them nothing. A judge always regrets having to rule anything out, but he. too, must comply with the rules.

Prize No. 5 calls for twelve sections of honev only. Bring only twelve. Some have brought twenty-four in a twenty-four section case, expecting the judge to sort out the best and decide from these. He has

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 11)23.

Wisconsin 33echeeplng

H F WILSON. Editor

Offlcen of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association

President................James Gwin. Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc

Secretary.................Malftta D. Fiacher

Annual Membership Fee. S1.00 Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy., Madison, Wis.

no time for this, and please do not bring any more twenty-four section cases. They are too wide to go on our shelves without projecting in the way and if you cannot obtain the proper size you can easily cut down the larger size to hold just the proper number. Sand paper your cases and do not allow a particle of propolis to remain on any sections.

Extracted honey bottles with screw caps are better than those with corks.

Let all empty extracting combs be returned to the bees to be dried off before bringing them to the fair, as wet combs daub the shelves and hands and attract robber bees.

Please fasten your entry tags and recipes on to the plates of baking with cords so they may not get lost or misplaced while being judged. This has sometimes happened, causing confusion and loss of time.

We believe fruit cakes should be given a separate number from other loaf cakes. That we should have an entry for Honey Candies and Winter Packing Cases, also for Devices for Spring and Fall protection of hives and we had hoped to make these additions to the premium list for 1923, but the list went to press before we knew it. so these will have to wait another year, but it will give you the more time to prepare these things. If you have never made an entry or exhibit at the State Fair, why not plan for it this year. Do not fear that you will not get a premium. With our allowance of $1,500 you can hardly fail of it, and this liberal sum should encourage a large number to enter the contest and advertise your horey. We should draw out every dollar of this money. The more we draw of it the more favors will be granted us in the future. Once more I ask you to begin now and keep your exhibit in mind all summer and come and enjoy the fair.

Portage, Wis.

Notes on Northern Wisconsin

C. D. Adams

The writer spent three weeks in the northern part of the state investigating two recent outbreaks of American foul brood. As near as we were able to discover in Bay-field county the disease is now eliminated from all but one apiary. As this is a good sized commercial apiary the treatment was left in the hands of Inspector Louis J. Peterson. The entire out apiary is to be shaken in clean hives on foundation and immediately moved to a new and safer location.

In Douglas county an area equal to a township was thoroughly inspected and every one of the fewremaining colonies of bees and hundreds of empty hives and combs were destroyed. In every case this was done at the suggestion of the owner. Such whole-hearted cooperation has seldom been equaled in the clean-up work in Wisconsin.

An unusually severe winter loss was sustained in the north central part of the state. In several commercial apiaries it ran over 50 per cent. The cause seemed to be the combination of a poor crop last season with the unusual late date for taking bees out of the cellar.

One of the best examples of good management overcoming these difficulties was found in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. Claud Moll of Ashland. Of 64 colonies wintered in quadruple packing cases out of doors only one colony died and four weak colonies were united with stronger ones.

Of 35 wintered in Buckeye hives in the cellar there were no losses. Yet the honey flow lasted only one week in early June in their locality and the winter was no shorter there than elsewhere. But the reason for such “good luck” is easily understood by anyone who has seen this enthusiastic pair at work in their yard. To those who exclaim. “May their tribe increase!” I can say, “It has increased.” Their two oldest daughters take the place of M r. Moll when he is away at work at his trade, as he is so much of the time.

At Dancy, I stopped to see how our friend Francisco was faring. He took me to his outyard where 80 colonies were packed in quadruples packing cases with one of the new fangled ideas that has recently been talked of some, usually with a smile. Every one of these winter cases have the opening at the top of the hive, and Mr. Francisco is smiling, for the bees were alive and in good condition in every hive but one. This one was somewhat weak, but will probably build up later.

The owner of this yard says he will never winter bees out of doors any other way, but he does not like the top entrance during the summer. He says the bees make the change fall and spring without any apparent confusion.

‘There Are Men Like This”

“One of our beekeepers recently took issue with us regarding our endeavors to get our members to pull together on cooperative betterment.

This man goes about with a frown on his face and every new ideal is pooh-poohed and called a lot of bunk. He never forgets another’s little failings.

Now, he doesn’t believe in cooperation.

All right, old friend, if you don’t think cooperation necessary just watch and see what happens to a wagon if one wheel comes off.

Don’t get the idea that this association is the steering gear of the universe. Watch the bees and you’ll find that the one that gets the honey doesn’t hang around the hive.”

I hope we have none of these in Wisconsin.—Texas Honey Producer.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1923.

What He Thinks of Co-operation

Osseo, Wisconsin, March 29, 1923.

Professor II. F. Wilson,

University of Wisconsin.

1)ear Sir:

Have just finished reading the Beekeeper’s Supplement to Wisconsin Horticulture.

For quite a while have been wanting to write to you regarding the marketing question in a different sense from my previous letters, but the reading of the article on marketing in the course of paper, by A. A. Brown, seemed to set a spark to the notion and here we are.

Why do so many write on the marketing question finding fault with the present system and marketing in general when they can not or will not even offer a suggestion ? That is getting the problem nowhere. Why don’t some one get out and do something instead of letting the other fellow do it? How soon do you think it will be done that way? Why don’t someone or a few, at least, offer some ideas on how to accomplish greater distribution of honey? It means hard work to buck the breakers before getting to smooth riding. Also, poor pay.

Doubtless quite a few beekeepers have tried to put across a system of marketing cooperatively but have given up discouraged. Why ? I believe because of the class of beemen that cannot distinguish between the wholesale price and retail price, and also because of the fact that they think the man. that wants to push a new idea is going to make more than he, or a fortune out of the venture. That is human nature. At least that is my experience. To illustrate:

(fur local association has been talking cooperative marketing for quite a while, but that is as far as it went because we had not enough honey to start a venture and because we were too far from the markets. However, I decided to put honey in glass and see how the buying public like it. This on my own. Along in the fall when my honey was about sold I mentioned the fact to Mr. A. Well, he wanted to know how it was accomplished. I told him. and asked him if he would not fill my orders when my honey was gone. Giving him the net wholesale price, he was quite enthusiastic and said he would. But, upon calling him on the phone to fill an order for forty dozen jars of honey, he refused. He wanted more money. I was giving him the net price that I myself was receiving, just to get the orders filled. The price may seem low to some, but when taking the price of advertising off, in the form of lower selling price and then receiving more than the market. I thought the price good for the first year.

Mr. A. no doubt on thinking the matter over thought I was making some easy money. I wasn’t. Not one cent.

I took the car and saw a few beemen who had honey and bought the honey outright for less than Mr. A. would have received. Also, my orders took the crop of two men and now I am helping a third.

Mr. A. on hearing that I was filling my orders as received and he still having honey grew uneasy, for he needed to change his honey into money. He came to see me again and wanted me to give him a chance again. He received no satisfaction. He did not deserve any, for three reasons: 1st, he broke his word. Who could depend on him? 2nd, for implied accusation of profiteering ; 3rd. because there was lots of honey to be had besides his.

Just before Christmas he started out to peddle. He sold from the car to any one who would buy at 85c per two quart glass mason jar, and quarts correspondingly low. Same to the stores, trading it out. Taking cost of delivery, jars and labels into consideration, he was selling for price he would have received wholesale in large lots. That is the kind of men the cooperative movement has to deal with. Why the price cutting?

Do farmers try to undersell their neighbors on eggs and butter ? Why should the farmer beekeeper try to undersell his beekeeping neighbors? Because he does not find a market outside of his locality. Does not even try. In other words, under-distribution is the cause of under selling in most cases.

THE REMEDY

Will This Start Something?

First. Wisconsin has four large markets for her honey within easy reach.

Second. Wisconsin produces as good a honey as can be found. No need of blending with cheap honey. Let that be a selling point.

Third. How to appeal to the people in the markets, that is, container. My solution would be the glass jar. City people buy small quantities. Why try to go against that tendency? Taking for granted that the cities are the chief markets, many small sales, small profit, in aggregate are large.

Fourth. Establish a bottling and packing plant in at least two of the markets. Saves freight. Need be small at first, but will need beekeepers in back of it to supply the honey as needed. A real sales manager in charge of each. A packing plant will produce a more uniform grade of honey than if packed by individual members.

Fifth. Sales. What is the most efficient method of calling the housewife’s attention to something good to eat that is also a real food for her growing children and herself. I have in mind the city house sampler or grocery store demonstration booth where the ladies can have a good taste. There are many ways to call attention to the above facts once you are in the position to supply the goods. That is the main point, to be able to supply the goods.

Sixth. Honey in tin in large quantities. Use every possible means of securing a large mailing list of good prospects. Then work it.

Last but not least, is a good, strong corporation to be able to carry on over the lean months and to store the honey from abnormal 

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1923.

yields until it is needed, and still give the beekeeper some money for the honey until it is sold. Then he can get the remainder.

The above is my idea of a good embryo marketing plan for the beekeepers of the state. There are many details, needless to say, that will require working out. The main idea, though, is to have all the honey in the state under the control of the one or more marketing organizations.

Mr. Brown refers to the California Raisin Growers and like organizations there, while a little further back he speaks of Mr. Ford and Mr. Rockefeller. There is absolutely no connection or comparison. Mr. Ford and Mr. Rockefeller have their own marketing systems, as is said, but the California producers have not. All they did out in Ca i-fornia was to get together and adopt a brand and trade-mark, together with a package, when needed, put all their products behind those brands and trade-marks, and then advertised those products. Did they overturn the regular trade channels whereby they received great distribution? They did not. They ask higher prices and inform the grocer that amount of money invested in one box of oranges if sold at ten per cent profit, one box a week, the grocers’ profit will be in one year—-figure it out! That is what they advertise to the storekeepers, small profits with large turnovers. Why not the same with honey? I mean in the city markets.

I forgot to mention above for the marketing plan, that a trademark or brand must be adopted and that mark or brand advertised; it must mean to the purchaser that all honey under that mark or brand is the best that Wisconsin has and consequently the honey to buy.

Caution: I find that Minnesota consumers do not respond to Wisconsin Honey No. 1 as printed on the labels, as do the Wisconsin people. Interstate trade will require some other distinction, if any amount of honey is to be sold. It must be to state pride that they do not buy as readily on the other side of the river.

Respectfully,

(Signed) Henry A. Schaefer, President Trempealeau County Beekeepers’ Association.

Standardizing Honey Labels and Packages

B. B. Jones

In Charge Standardization and Inspection, Wisconsin Department of Markets.

That great progress has been made in the marketing of honey in the state during the last three years is. I believe, the general concensus of opinion among the progressive beekeepers. Much of this general improvement can properly be attributed to the work on honey grading done by the Department of Markets after it has been requested by this association to establish standard grades for the product. This general improvement, however, has not brought us to perfection, for there is much yet to be dore along the line of marketing honey. I shall discuss two ways in which there is room for a decided improvement, these two relating to the labeling of packages and the standardizing of the packages that are now used in marketing honey.

When the Department of Markets first started the enforcement of its honey grading regulations the matter of labeling was not given very great consideration, as it seemed that it was not the general practice amongst beekeepers to label their honey. The regulations provided that rubber stamps furnished by the Department should be used in marking packages, which practice the beekeepers generally followed. During the past year, however, it has been noticed that there is a desire on the part of a great many beekeepers, especially the larger and more progressive ones, to use labels in the place of the rubber stamps. This practice is heartily approved, as there is no doubt but that labeling honey packages is much to be preferred to stamping them with a rubber stamp. Of course, it will not pay the small beekeepers who have only a small amount of honey to market each year to buy labels for their packages and therefore the rubber stamp system will have to lie continued. It is hoped, though, that the number of those turning from the use of the rubber stamp to the use of labels will increase in the future as rapidly as it has the past two seasons.

With the more widespread use of labels, however, a new problem has been brought before those who have to enforce the grading and marking regulations. I refer to the numerous types, colors, sizes and shapes of labels that are now being used. In the bulletin issued by the Department on September 11th of this year there were outlined certain requirements for the printing on labels giving the information required by the standards for comb and extracted honey. In some cases these requirements have not been properly followed, but in most cases the regulations have been complied with. The Department asked that beekeepers send in sample copies of labels they were about to secure in order to have them checked over to see whether or not they complied with the regulations. When the many various types of labels came to the attention of those carrying on the work it was at once apparent that sooner or later it would be necessary to recommend and possibly adopt some type of a standard label to be used by the beekeepers of the state.

The adoption of a standard label will not be advocated by the Department at this time, as it intends to study the matter more thoroughly before issuing recommendations. The Department is watching with great interest the proposal of your association for the adoption of a standard label to be used by members of the state association in marketing their honey and believes that such action is a step in the right direction. It is sufficient to say at this time that more attention from now on will have to be given to labeling and that beekeepers and others using labels in marketing their 

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1923.

honey should take extreme care to see that their labels meet all regulations. It is recommended that in case any beekeeper or dealer is not quite sure about his label he should submit a sample copy to the Department for their suggestions.

The more important question that I want to discuss is that of the apparent need for the standardization of packages in which honey, especially extracted honey, is now being marketed. No consideration will be given at this time to a standard comb honey package, but the Department feels that there is need for the standardization of extracted honey containers. What are the reasons for standardized containers? is the question which is often brought up. This can be answered by stating that they eliminate fraud and deception and reduce marketing costs. These are the two main reasons which the federal government recognizes in its work of standardizing containers for fruits and vegetables. The standardization bere-fits will be felt by producer, dealer and the consumer and because of this the interests of each should be equally considered in deciding the question.

In past years fraud and deception have been freely practiced in the marketing of products that are sold in containers. The consumer is usually the one who suffers from this deception, and the interests of consumers demand the careful attention of the beekeepers. The need for package standardization is illustrated in the work the federal government is doing in its package stardardization project. Their investigations have clearly shown that there are altogether too many types, sizes and kinds of containers used in marketing products Consumers are deceived by the large number of packages used which hold different amounts, Take, for example, the hampers which are used in marketing fruits and vegetables. The govern ment has collected samples of seventy-five different kinds and sizes of hampers, which they propose to reduce in number to five by the passage of the Vestal package act, which has already passed the lower house in Congress, and is now in the Senate Committee on Manufactures. Many of the various containers were about the same size and the average person by looking at them could not tell the difference between them, yet by actual measurement it was found that these containers varied as much as two quarts in capacity. The buyer was deceived and received less than he actually thought he bought.

This can easily be the case in honey, for with numerous different kinds and shapes of containers, varying from three ounces to sixty pounds in capacity, the consumer is often misled. It is possible to pick out from fifty to seventy-five different kinds and sizes of honey containers now on the market. How much better it would be for the beekeeper, the dealer and the consumer if these were standardized and only five to ten containers used. This can be done by the Department establishing certain packages as the standard packages for the state and requiring that no packages other than those promulgated in the standards can be used.

If standard packages are used marketing costs will be reduced. At present package manufacturers are required to make and carry large stocks of many different kinds of packages and containers. Some of these are widely used, while others are used only occasionally, and the cost of carrying the less widely used packages must be carried by the packages which are widely used. Thus by eliminating many useless packages the package manufacturer and dealer is able to reduce costs. Your state association can supply you with packages at a lower cost if they standardize on three or four containers, for if they are forced to furnish a large number of various types of containers it will mean added expense which must be borne by the purchasers of the standard packages. If costs are reduced all along the line the consumer will be in a position to purchase more honey and will be better served if he can be assured that he can always get honey in certain standardized packages.

The university has collected specimens of the various kinds of containers now on the market which are shown in this picture. How much better it would be if a few standard packages were adopted and the rest eliminated. The beekeeper would be greatly benefited, the dealer would be helped in carrying on his business and the consumer, on whom the beekeeper and dealer both depend, would be protected. 1 he interests of all three classes are affected by standardization and anything that will work to the benefit of ore will work to the benefit of all. Standardization of packages for marketing must come, just as the standardization of packages for fruits and vegetables is about to be accomplished. The question before the members of this association and the beekeepers of the state is whether or not this progressive step is to be taken now or whether the honey marketing industry of the state will be held back by the con-tiruing of the present practice of marketing honey in fifty or seventy-five different kinds, types and sizes of containers. A discussion on this question by those present is requested by the Department, as this will constitute one of the public hearings which are to be held in various parts of the state to determine whether or not the Department shall adopt certain standard containers to be used in marketing extracted honey.—This paper given at state convention.

The American Honey Producers’ League

S. B. Fracker, Secretary.

(This paper given at State Convention.)

A letter received from a western state a few days ago, speaking of the American Honey Producers’ League, said, “I believe there should be more definite information sent out to us so that we may know more

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 19,18.

about our relations with the League as members. Professor Wilson wrote and asked me to write an article stating what the American Honey Producers’ League had done. I f he will write the article and swear to it before a notary, I will sign it.”

()ne of the biggest difficulties faced by the new officers of the J.eague, who were only elected a few months ago, has been the fact that the members of this national organization knew very little about what was being done. A recent manager of a well-known advertising exchange in the United States said. “The beekeepers are so busy talking to each other that they have no time to talk to the public.” Meaning that that was the principal reason for the continued weakness of the honey market. The American Honey Producers’ League has perhaps gore to the opposite extreme and has talked to the public exclusively, neglecting its members to such an extent that by last summer support had almost disappeared.

This was in no way due to failure on the part of the League to make progress along the lines for which it was established. In fact, as I have gone over the accomplishments of the League since its establishment I have been surprised at the amount which has been done in such a short time. On January 6, 1920, a little group of twenty-four met at Kansas City, adopted a constitution and agreed to try to make the new organization one of national importance. The executive committee elected at that time met again in December, but the first general meeting of the organization was not held until less than two years ago on February 15, 1921. at Indianapolis. During 1921 the League developed from a little group of twenty-four to an organization of almost 2,500 members. During that year it handled over eight thousand dollars in cash, about half of that being in the general fund and the remainder in an advertising fund, secured largely from dealers in honey and bee supplies.

This rapid development was apparently somewhat too fast, for some of the affiliated organizations have been unable to continue membership on account of the high cost. Certain adjustments are being made this year which it is hoped will reduce the former difficulties and put the League on a permanent foundation rat Iter than one which depends on the temporary enthusiasm of a "boom.”

Ir. organization the League differs from former national associations in being built up exclusively of other societies and having no individual membership of its own. A source of extensive correspondence from the secretary’s office this fall has consisted of explaining to beekeepers in Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, West Virginia, California and other states the necessity of their joining affiliated organizations before they could become members of the League, except at the commercial rate of $10 per year. It is believed that the experience of the National Beekeepers Association, with a rapidly changing membership, shows that the United States is too large a tract of country to make practicable an organization of individual beekeepers, scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

There are now seventeen organizations affiliated with the League and the monthly mailing list of the League bulletin includes about eighteen hundred names. It is, in truth, a national organization, for it is represented on the Pacific Coast by state associations of Oregon and Washington, in the Rocky Mountains by Montana and Colorado, in the Mississippi Valley by nearly all the strong state beekeepers’ associations and in the east by the Empire State Beekeepers Federation, Incorporated, which is a group of the various local beekeepers’ associations of the state of New York. The objects of the League, as stated in the constitution, are remarkably inclusive, but the work itself has been confined largely to certain specific lines to which a national federation is especially adapted. According to its founders, the purpose of the League is “to foster and promote better methods and systems of marketing; broader education in apicul-tural and research along the lines of interest to beekeepers; to provide legal aid to beekeepers and affiliated organizations; and to assist in the passage of reasonable and proper legislation; to assist in the standardization of bee equipment, containers and grading of honey; and to provide boards and committees of arbitration to settle or decide disputes involving affiliated organizations and members or subscribers.”

As shown by its work up to the present the primary value of the League has come from its work in increasing the demand for and sale of honey, the arbitration of business disputes and influence on legislation.

I^ast fall the League expended over five thousand dollars in advertising, most of that being used for space in the “Good Housekeeping Magazine.” As a result of the direct requests which came from readers of the magazine who read the advertisement over eighteen thousand copies of honey recipe booklets were mailed out to individual consumers, mostly in the United States, but some of them in other countries. Requests came in from practically every country in the world, including all those of Europe, several in Africa and Asia, as well as South America, Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. Several thousand additional booklets have been sold to beekeepers for distribution in their own localities, some of which have had printed on them the name of the beekeeper distributing the booklet, others bearing the name of the League.

Another very important work for which the League is alone responsible was its influence with Congress which resulted in the increase in the tariff on honey from less than one cent a pound to three cents a pound. As the beekeepers of the West Indies can afford to ship honey to the 

WISCON SIN BEEKEEPIN G

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1!)2J.

United States when they receive only two cents a pound at the point of shipment, this increase in the tariff is just large enough to divert practically all of the dark honey of the West Indies to Europe, making a place for the American product with our own manufacturers. When we realize how small an amount has to be imported at a low price to result in displacing the market in this country we realize what an important factor this may be in the future honey market.

One of the least advertised activities of the secretary’s office has been that of arbitrating possible disputes. The nature of this work is such that it has not been proper to publish the details. One hundred and fifty cases were submitted to the secretary last year in which the buyer and seller of bee supplies or bee products were unable to agree on the price to be paid or the time it was to be paid, or adjustments for loss in transit, and similar matters. Practically all of these have resulted satisfactorily to both parties and an immense amount of time, energy and disagreeable and expensive litigation has been saved. A case in which the League is assisting state officers in making an adjustment at the present time consists of that of a beekeeper who made a shipment of $430 worth of honey to another state and then received a check in payment which was returned marked “no funds.” In spite of the fact that the victim in this case seems to have been dealing with a man who has been responsible for serious losses to others in former years, arrangements have been completed whereby the beekeeper will secure payment in full.

As cities become more congested there are increasing numbers of people who object to the idea of bees within the city limits. Half a dozen places of considerable size have had ordirances prohibiting keeping of bees in town within the last two years. The legislative committee has in every case, we believe without exception, presented such strong evidence against the constitutionality of ordinances of this type that the study has been abandoned.

State organizations in previous years have held conventions at such irregular times that it was almost impossible for prominent members of the trade and of the United States Department of Agriculture to attend more than a few of them. In Wisconsin we have been been particularly fortunate in hearing a large number of prominent beekeepers during the past ten years. Many other states were in a less fortunate position, however, and due to repeated conflicts and the necessity for long trips to address one meeting it had been impossible for speakers to attend. Under the present arrangement the schedule committee of the League is securing the cooperation of more and more state and district associations, so that the beekeepers of the United States are getting in touch with the leaders of thought and action in honey production to a greater extent than they have ever done before.

One of the troubles which beekeepers in all parts of the United States have in common is that of depredations and molestation of out-yards while the owner is a long distance away. Sometimes entire colonies of bees are stolen, but more often the supers of honey are removed after the honey flow is over. It has been difficult to put a stop to this, but the League is distributing warning posters at twenty-five cents apiece which are being placed in apiaries in many parts of the country. The funds being accumulated in this way are being laid up to provide a reward for the arrest and conviction of the people who molest bee yards.

The most recent undertaking of the League is the publication of the monthly bulletin, in which the activities of the organization are explained to the individual members throughout the United States. This is mailed without charge to all supporters of the League, whether they are patrons giving $100 a year and more or individual members of affiliated organizations at the $1 rate.

The individual beekeeper, then, can see the results of his $1 investment in five or six important particulars.

1st—The free subscription to the monthly League bulletin.

2nd—The right to use warning posters offering a reward for the arrest of people molesting the apiary.

3rd—The opportunity to buy honey recipe booklets from the League at a discount.

4th—In the future, as soon as the honey label is fixed, as it probably will be at the St. Louis meeting of the League, the members will have the right to use this label and will also have the right to use honey advertisements prepared by advertising experts, the beekeeper placing these advertisements in his local paper in connection with his own name.

We may therefore summarize the work of the organization as follows: It has distributed about twentythousand honey recipe booklets in various parts of the United States, has advertised honey in national publications, has assisted state organizations in arranging their schedule so that speakers of national prominence could visit them in rotation, has been responsible for an increase in the tariff on honey from less than one cent a pound to more than three cents, has arbitrated over ore hundred and fifty business disputes, has been instrumental in preventing the enactment of objectionable ordinances in half a dozen cities and is now distributing warning posters to assist beekeepers in preventing losses from theft, is cooperating with the federal department of agriculture in fixing standards and grades for honey, is keeping the beekeepers in touch with each other and with national apicul-tural interests through the publication of a monthly bulletin and is organizing a new advertising campaign which is to be placed on a permanent basis.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, June, 1923.

The Nutritive Value of Honey and Its Value as a Food

Miss Adele Koch

Extension Specialist in Home Economies,

M. A. C., East Lansing, Michigan

Honey is a sirup with a distinctive flavor and aroma made up of four parts sugar to one part water. There are several kinds of sugar present in honey—cane sugar, grape sugar and fruit sugar.

There are present in honey magnesia, lime, phosphoric acid, and iron. Since in making up a day’s menus the lime and iron content may be difficult to maintain, the presence of these two mineral constituents is worthy of notice.

Since the principal ingredient of honey is sugar, it is obvious that it should be classed with the fuel foods which supply the body with the energy it needs for the various tasks it performs rather than those whose function is to build and repair the body—that is, the “tissue formers,” as they are sometimes called. In placing it in the day’s meals it should be used as a sugar.

Because the chemical change effected by the bee in the sugars of the nectar is the same as that effected by digestive ferments, and the principal sugars may therefore be considered to have undergone the first step in digestion, honey is often said to contain predigested sugar. It should prove valuable for children who experience difficulty with cane sugar which causes acid fermentation in the stomach.

Honey is said to have a mildly laxative effect. L. Luttinger reports that honey contains all three vitamires, which means the growth producing vitamin, the antinuritic and the antiscorbutic, and that he substituted honey for orange juice and cod liver oil in the feeding of babies. He found that it did have ' laxative effect. This information is of value to mothers, since in many Michigan homes honey is much more easily obtained than either orange juice or cod liver oil.

The presence of all three vitamins makes honey a more valuable sugar than cane sugar. Besides the food value—honey is very desirable because of its flavor.

For honey to compete with sugar as a source of energy it would have to sell at 6 cents a pound when sugar is selling at 7 cents.

In American homes honey is largely used as a spread for bread and ounce for ounce equals jam in the number of slices it will spread.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture has found that honey substituted for about half the sugar used to prepare the sirups for soft drinks, such as root beer and fruit drinks, very much improves the quality of the drinks without very much increasing the cost.

To increase honey consumption the producers should push its use in cookery—for the sweetening as well as the flavoring of muffins, cookies, cakes and candies. Foreigners use honey in this way much more generally than Americans do.

When used in cookery, it should be borne in mind that honey is slightly acid and therefore may be used as a substitute for molasses. It can be used in the place of molasses in all forms of breads, muffins. and cakes, and makes a more delicately flavored product. It contains less acid than molasses, however, and care should be taken to use less. Repeated experiments show that the allowance of soda to a cupful of honey ranges lietween one-fourth and ore-half of a level teaspoonful.

Honey is especially useful in recipes without butter. A cake containing butter will remain fresh tasting as long as the butter stays fresh, but a honey cake made without butter will keep fresh for months and even improve in flavor.

In considering the uses of honey in cookery it is well to remember that it owes its flavor to bodies which are very volatile and for this reason should not be heated unnecessarily hot or unnecessarily long.

The writer has wondered whether honev producers might follow the plan of the citrus fruit producers and on every package of honev marketed put a label containing a good tested recipe using honey. If several producers cooperated the cost of this would not be prohibitive and should produce increased honey consumption.

Several recipes are given here : Honey and Nut Bran Muffins

)/> cup honey.

• 1 cup flour.

'/-/ teaspoon soda (level).

J4 teaspoon salt.

• 2 cups bran.

1 tablespoon melted butter.

V/2 cups milk.

)4 cup finely chopped English walnuts.

Sift together the flour, soda, and salt, and mix them with the bran. Add the other ingredients and bake for 25 or 30 minutes in a hot oven in gem tins. This will make about 16 large muffins.

Soft Honey Cake

'/> cup butter.

1 cup honey.

1 egg-

)4 cup sour milk.

1 teaspoon soda (level).

J4 teaspoon cinnamon.

/ teaspoon ginger.

4 cups flour.

Rub the butter and honey together, add the egg well beaten, then the sour milk and the flour sifted with the soda and spices. Bake in a shallow pan.

Much more detailed material on the uses of honey may be found in Farmers Bulletin 653. “Honey ai d Its Uses in the Home,” from which bulletin most of this paper was taken.

(This paper was received through the courtesy of Russell H. Keltv, secretary of the Michigan Beekeepers’ Association.)

Members of the Association will be interested in knowing that the Wisconsin Section of the American Honey Producers’ League now has 114 paid-up members for 1923. The dues to this section are $1 for members of the State Association. Any member desiring to become affiliated with this organization, may send SI to the secretary.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 7923.

The Wisconsin Conference and Chautauqua

August 13 to 18 the beekeepers of Wisconsin will hold open house for the dedication of the Miller Memorial Library. If you have not already made arrangements to attend, do so now. No beekeeper in Wisconsin can afford to miss this meeting, at which there will be a number of the best beekeeping authorities in America.

The present indications are that Wisconsin will have a normal crop of honey this year or perhaps a little better if we get sufficient rain to keep the clover from drying up. Under these conditions it is quite desirable that our beekeepers do not become stampeded with the idea that they are not going to be able to sell their honey and begin cutting prices. Reports from various sections of the United States indicate that the honey crop in general will be short. No beekeeper in Wisconsin can really afford to wholesale his honey for less than ten cents a pound or retail it for less than twenty cents a pound, although I know a large number of beekeepers will not agree with us in these statements. Before starting to sell, discuss with your local association secretary the prices agreed upon by the state association price committees and sell higher if you want to, but do not spoil the market for yourself and friends by underselling.

Mr. N. E. France of Platteville has again added an improvement to his apiary equipment that promises to be widely copied. He has equipped his wheelbarrow with a Ford front wheel, tire and all. The tire he inflates only slightly and finds that he can put his bees in the cellar and replace them on their old stands with less jar and confusion than he ever has any other way. There is to be no patent on this. He reports his bees came through the winter with almost no loss.

Box Hive Beekeeping and the Marketing of Apiary Equipment

By S. B. Fracker, State Entomologist.

In August the writer was given the opportunity of discussing the commercial aspects of bee disease control at the beekeepers’ Chautauqua held at Green Bay. That talk was confined largely to the effect of American foulbrood infections in increasing the cost of production and decreasing the yield. The time was too short on that occasion to give anything but the most superficial consideration to the result of the presence of foulbrood on the honey production industry considered as a business proposition.

Mr. Adams will show tomorrow the progress in the county clean-up areas and will discuss the results secured in the different counties. It has long been recognized that bee disease control is a problem based as much on the study of human nature as it is on the science of beekeeping and the effects in the different areas may be interpreted from that standpoint. For example, there are areas in which long familiarity with American foulbrood infections has caused the larger beekeepers to adopt methods which, while they keep the disease comparatively under control, nevertheless maintain it in the apiary from year to year. Such plans can easily be worked out and followed and while they seriously interfere with profitable honey production the greatest danger arising from them is in the almost insuperable difficulty of eradicating disease completely when the beekeepers are of this type.

In other areas where beekeeping is said to be more backward and undeveloped the major difficulties are in convincing the owners of bees, first, that a disease is present and is responsible for their troubles, and second, that control measures should be applied. Somewhat to the surprise of the inspection service areas of this kind are comparatively easy to handle. When we go into a new township or a new district and find that all the yards are less than eight or ten colonies in size, that they are fairly numerous and that the percentage of infection is from forty to sixty per cent, we now know from past experience that the beekeepers’ chances of wiping out disease from that territory within two years are excellent. A few who are not interested in beekeeping will go out of business, others will slightly reduce the size of their apiaries, others will carefully follow directions for treatment, and the improvement in a year or two is remarkable. Beekeeping thus becomes more profitable. Those who have taken the trouble to eliminate disease are securing more honey and therefore increase the size of their yards. At the end of a two or three year period therefore there are more colonies of bees in the vicinity than there were before, honey production is more profitable and the outlook for permanent success is excellent.

Several sections of Fond du Lac county offer the best examples of this type of area. In spite of the difficulties in that county the results of the preliminary work begun in 1921 were marked and I will not be surprised if the progress there during the first three years proves to be greater than in other, better advertised, honey producing sections, such as Dodge and Richland.

Even in such areas, however, bee disease control work is by no means clear sailing. Accidental distribution of disease due to a failure to understand the virulent nature of foulbrood bacteria occasionally occurs. There is one feature, however, which does more than all others combined to prevent progress under such conditions. That is the present trade practice in the distribution of apiary equipment.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

Wisconsin beekeeping

H. F. WILSON. Editor

Officers of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association

President................James Gwin, Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown, Juneau

Treasurer..........O. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc

Secretary.................Malftta D. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee, SI.00

Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy., Madison, Wia

The first problem encountered in areas of this type is that of the immovable frame or box hive. Those who keep bees in log gums, drygoods boxes, barrels and similar places usually cannot be reached by educational methods. The extension workers of the university feel fortunate in the case of any line of field work if they reach twenty per cent of those interested in that trade. On this basis the extension work in beekeeping takes a high rank for I understand that 2083 out of twelve to fourteen thousand beekeepers of the state attended the meetings of the various bee associations during the past year. If a single one of all these beekeepers, however, had an immovable frame hive on their own premises I should be greatly surprised for it is those who are already doing almost as well as they know how who come to meetings to learn more.

Education therefore is not a solution of the box hive problem. Extension speakers reach only those who are interested in advance and wish to come to hear them. On the other hand, there are at least two scientific activities of the state which reach every producer in the area in ■which the work is being carried on. These are the tuberculosis eradication campaign in which the area clean-up method is being used in a dozen or more counties, and apiary inspection.

The writer does not consider box hive beekeeping with the horror that is often expressed at meetings of this kind. A colony of bees in an immovable frame hive is no more of a menace to other beekeepers than the same colony of bees in a hive with movable frames. Of two apiaries having uninspected bees within half a mile of a given yard, one of them with the bees in log gums the other in the most up-to-date modern equipment, one is no more likely to be a threat to the conditions of health in the neighborhood than the other. In other words, there is no reason why the box hive should be eliminated unless inspection is to be attempted in the neighborhood, for the box or immovable frame hive does make inspection out of the question.

In Wisconsin therefore, our law on box hive beekeeping practically applies only where inspection is likely to be attempted. Inspectors are authorized to arrange for the transfer of bees in immovable frame hives when they are unable to examine them. In the extensive districts on the west side of the state where no area clean-up work is being attempted it will not be compulsory for the beekeepers to transfer the bees to modern equipment unless our entire inspection campaigns become necessary in that territory.

This point of view is different from the one entertained in Pennsylvania and, I believe, Texas. The Pennsylvania law states that after January 1, 1924, it will be a misdemeanor for anyone in the state of Pennsylvania to maintain colonies of bees in hives with immovable frames. The inspection service and the state college of Pennsylvania are putting on an extensive educational campaign in order that the amount of compulsion necessary after the date given may be reduced to a minimum.

In new inspection areas, especially those in which box hives are prevalent, the first question asked by the beekeeper is. “Where can foundation frames and movable frame hives be secured?” And fortunate is the inspector who is able to answer that question with any assurance, for trade practice in the distribution of apiary equipment is different from that of almost any other line of agricultural activities.

The bee supply business is an example of the result of the almost total elimination of middlemen. There may be too many middlemen between the producer and the consumer in many lines of work, such as the distribution of honey, but there certainly are too few when it comes to the sale of apiary equipment. If there is any other business in the United States which is as nearly handled by the catalog house method as the bee supply business I am not familiar with it.

There appear to be two reasons for this. First, the users of foundation, hives and frames are not as numerous as those who buy rakes, hoes, shovels, groceries and newspapers ; second, the intelligent sale of bee supplies would seem to require a certain amount of technical information on beekeeping. In fact, Mr. Gus Dittmer writes that when the average beekeeper comes in for supplies he usually does not know just what he wants or how to use it. and needs advice and information.

The first obstacle has practically disappeared by this time on account of the large numbers of beekeepers everywhere. With from two hundred and fifty to five hundred producers of honey in every county the total amount of their purchases each year, if it could be determined, must be astonishing. I believe we are justified in saying that beekeeping has now become so popular that there should be a dealer in bee supplies within an hour’s auto drive of every beekeeper in the state. If the county organizations will take this up with their own dealers (hardware stores and general Stores are perhaps the most logical situations) in a short time up-to-date apiary equipment would be much easier to secure. In order to see whether such a plan was practicable I jotted down the other day a list of forty or fifty locations which are so distributed that they are within easy access of every apiary in the state. More than three-fourths of these are located within a district where there is a comparatively strong bee

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 19>3.

keepers association and yet so far as I have been able to find out there are regular dealers in bee supplies in only five locations.

The writer hesitated a long time before deciding to present such a suggestion on account of the comparative certainty that someone will be sure to accuse us of working in the interests of the supply companies. The matter of the distribution of equipment is such an important one from the standpoint of bee disease control, however, that a decision was finally reached to make the suggestion at any rate in the hope that some improvement in the availability of bee supplies might result.

Our experience in one of the cities in which bee supplies are readily accessible shows the importance of this matter. As soon as the first survey was finished in that area several years ago the bee supply distributor was kept busy supplying foundation and new frames. Beekeepers drove in from ten, fifteen and twenty miles to get foundation in order that they could apply treatment themselves. The material could easily be secured, everyone knew where it was, knew that it was reasonable in price, and knew that they would not have to sit down and work out an elaborate order blank, go to the bank to get a bank draft and then make another trip or two to town to get the material, after waiting a week for it. As a result that locality was the quickest to clean up of any we have had anything to do with, although the amount of infection at the time of the first survey was alarmingly heavy. The inspectors themselves cannot assist the owners in applying treatment unless the proper material is at hand. It is neither practical nor proper for the inspectors to carry this material themselves and have it for sale. When we insist that the work shall be finished within ten days the beekeeper, under present conditions, must either rush a letter to the bee supply company and hope against hope that the supplies will arrive in time or he must borrow frames and foundation from a neighbor, or he must shake the bees into a hive which may already have been infected, or he must use the destruction method. Of these various possibilities the latter two seem to be employed almost entirely except in the immediate vicinity of a place where frames, foundation and hives can be secured.

Our suggestion is therefore, that ore of the most important things a beekeepers’ association can do is to consider carefully the situation in the county and pick out a dealer who might be willing to handle bee supplies. The dealer would have to purchase in quantity in order to secure a discount which would enable him to handle the business. Any county beekeepers’ association which has among its members the owners of two or more good sized commercial apiaries can well afford to protect dealers against loss, in other words agree to take off his hands at the end of the season any equipment which he has left at the purchase price. I do not believe that this guaranty would have to be continued for more than a year or two but many dealers would doubtless decline to handle the new line unless such an arrangement was made.

Such an undertaking on the part of the dealer might need a few want ads in the local paper to let the beekeepers know where bee equipment could be secured, these want ads being run of course mainly in the spring. The county association could probably secure a few free reading items on the subject in addition. The discussions at the county meetings would also be beneficial.

It would hardly be necessary for the dealer to know anything about beekeeping. If he was shown a few simple things, such as how to nail hives and frames, how to wire and embed foundation, and was supplied with a few bee bulletins and catalogs for distribution that ought to be sufficient. Many storekeepers in small towns are glad to interest themselves in things of that kind sufficiently to acquire that little information, if the officers of the beekeepers’ association will take it upon themselves to help him out at first.

In conclusion we might summarize the advantages of a system of local dealers in bee supplies as follows:

First—It would result in improved beekeeping in three different ways; it would reduce the amount of old equipment on hand held over from year to year if new supplies were always at hand. It would result in the more rapid education of many beekeepers some of whom have never seen foundation or the inside of a modern hive. It would enable the beekeeper to supply himself with equipment for emergencies, such as excessive swarming, instead of neglecting his opportunities.

Second—It would increase the interest of the public in beekeeping to see bee supplies on hand at the store and bee bulletins available for distribution.

Third—and most important from the standpoint of the State Department of Agriculture—it would greatly improve the methods of bee disease control and would help us out in four different ways. First, enabling us to secure prompt action as the owners of infected colonies could secure new and fresh equipment for them without delay. Second, the temptation to hold over old material, which is the most dangerous of beekeeping habits, would be immensely reduced. Third, it would enable many districts to eliminate the immovable frame evil almost entirely, for inertia is the most important reason for immovable frame beekeeping. Fourth, treatment contrasted with destruction would become more practicable and would give better results because we could have more assurance that new equipment was being used instead of old and probably infected material.

(This paper given at last annual convention.)

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

Progress of Bee Inspection Work (Reprint from the Biennial Report of the State Entomologist, State Department of Agriculture.)

Presented at the Annual Convention by C. D. Adams.

The principles outlined in the last report remain the basis of bee disease control, the plan of which is divided into three parts: (a) area survey for American foulbrood and application of control measures under the inspectors’ direction; (b) close restriction on the moving of all bees and used bee supplies; (c) demonstration and educational work on both European and American foulbrood in cooperation with the College of Agriculture.

Increased demand for clean-up campaigns and continued pressure from county associations resulted last year in a doubling of the appropriation for bee disease control.* The increase did not become effective until July 1, 1921, so that the first year in which it could be used to the best effect was 1922.

Previously the chief inspector had been greatly embarrassed by demands for increasing the inspection areas and the natural reaction was an attempt to spread available funds over as much territory as possible. Beginning in 1922 it has been found best for a team of two inspectors to devote their entire time to a single county during a season and the results have been more satisfactory. An incidental effect of this change has been the discovery of American foulbrood in many townships which had been ignored before on account of indications that they were entirely healthy.

Progress may be summarized as follows:

Calumet county, begun in 1918, was first completely covered the following year. Thirty-five of the 122 yards inspected were found with American foulbrood. This number in 1920 had been reduced to 21, and in 1921 a recheck of diseased yards

•As used in this report, “bee disease” refers to American foulbrood unless otherwise specified. showed only six, which were cleaned up. A second recheck of this county is planned for 1923.

Dane county is the only one in which progress has been unsatisfactory, the difficulty being due to several causes. Beekeepers in this county are selling infected honey in large quantities near their own yards and reinfection comes in part from honey containers thrown away. Disease has also been present for forty years and the producers are unwilling to shoulder the temporary losses which would be caused by a drastic clean-up of honey houses and equipment. Since 1920 work in this county has been temporarily discontinued.

Fond du Lac county was begun in 1921 and the western half surveyed, but not rechecked. Of the 66 apiaries found infected, 27 cleaned up, nevertheless leaving 39 still diseased in 1922. The number of infected colonies decreased from 208 to 96; and the percentage of infected colonies decreased from 8.5% to 3.9%.

The eastern half of Fond du Lac showed 42 infected yards in 1922 out of 183 examined. The number of diseased colonies was 223. As it was possible to recheck all these places in 1922, a marked improvement is expected next season.

In Grant county, the clean-up of the northeast corner near Muscoda appears to have been entirely effective, only one infected apiary of three colonies having been discovered since 1919; the latter were destroyed, the owner not wishing to continue beekeeping.

The survey of Jefferson county was begun in 1918, when 61 of the 153 apiaries examined (or 40%) showed American foulbrood. A crop failure prevented treatment that year and the enlarged area covered in 1919 showed 92 apiaries infected among 176 inspected. This was brought down to 36 in 1920, 28 in 1921 and 26 in 1922. The number of infected colonies during the same period was reduced from 240 (or 17.7% of the number examined) to 37 (or 2.4%). This does not include the Lake Mills-Waterloo section of the county, which was not undertaken until 1922 because a preliminary reconnaissance survey had failed to reveal foulbrood in that neighborhood. When carefully inspected this past year there were found to be nine infected apiaries containing 23 colonies with disease.

Langlade county appeared to have been cleaned up entirely in 1920, but an infected yard was moved into Antigo from outside the state the following spring. In 1922, 19 infected colonies were found and cleaned up in four apiaries, all others apparently being free from disease.

Manitowoc county was the first one undertaken on the area cleanup plan and in 1917 and 1918, 21 apiaries out of 124 inspected, were found with disease. As a result of the campaign American foulbrood seemed to have been wiped out by 1919. At that time it was believed that a revisit to infected yards only was sufficient, and the inspectors working in that vicinity, it was found later, neither examined every colony in every yard nor looked over every frame. Development of the work in other districts later showed such methods unsatisfactory, so it was not a surprise when the resumption of the Manitowoc work in 1922 showed a heavy infection remaining near Reedsville. Two hundred and ninety-seven diseased colonies were discovered in 22 yards. Under more recent methods this condition is expected to improve rapidly.

In Milwaukee county, more difficulty has been experienced in locating all the apiaries than in other areas. The number of infected yards in 1919 was 62 out of 137, or 45%; which had been reduced in 1922 to 28 yards out of 204, or 13%. The proportion of colonies infected for the past four years has been 11, 7.8, 4.8, 2.9, respectively.

Outagamie county was never completely surveyed until 1922, when 77 infected colonies were found in 24 apiaries out of 228 yards inspected.

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

A preliminary survey of the southern tier of townships of Richland county was made in 1917 and part of the area cleaned up. Work was not renewed until 1920, when 16 infected yards were discovered, among 87 examined. The area has been increased since and in 1922, 15 infected yards were found among 206 inspected. In addition, one township in the extreme northeast corner of the county begun in 1922 showed 17 apiaries infected among a total of 29. In spite of these increases in area covered, the per cent of infected colonies has been as follows: In 1917, 17.5%; 1920, 4% ; 1921, 7% ; 1922, 4%.

Shawano county has never been given a complete area clean-up survey. Efforts by local inspectors have, however, reduced the number of known infected apiaries from 12 in 1919 to 4 in 1922.

In Sheboygan county the first approximately complete survey, which came in 1921, resulted in the discovery' of 78 infected colonies in 17 aparies, which the following year had been reduced to 34 infected colonies in 13 apiaries. About 136 yards have been covered in the Sheboygan campaign.

Work in Winnebago county has been very successful, in spite of the fact that all work in that county in both 1919 and 1920 was done after August 1. The percentage of infected colonies for the past four years have been 13.4, 3.5, 3.3 and 2.8, respectively. In 1921, 25 apiaries were found infected and they contained 81 diseased colonies; 180 were examined. In 1922, 13 apiaries and 51 colonies were infected out of 227 yards examined.

Preparations have been made for clean-up campaigns in Waukesha, Washington and Wood counties. In the first named, 1,042 colonies were examined in 94 apiaries in 1922 and 115 colonies in 15 apiaries were found diseased. In Wood county, the numbers irspected were 62 apiaries and 1,102 colonies, and the numbers diseased, 16 apiaries and 119 colonies. In neither case was the entire county covered. Work in Washington county has not commenced.

The total results for the past two years have been as follows:

1921

Apiaries inspected.... 1,473

Colonies inspected.... 24,332  30,731

Apiaries with Ameri

can foulbrood......  338

Colonies with Ameri

can foulbrood....... 1,573

Percentage apiaries

fected ............. 22.9%  17.6%

Percentage colonies

infected............ 6.4%   6.6%

The gradual completion of clean areas and the addition of heavily diseased ones will, it is expected, keep the total percentage of infection at about the same level for several years to come, in spite of its rapid decrease in individual counties. Disease is usually reduced at the rate of about 50% a year for the first year or two, but when the infection is reduced to about 2% of the total number of colonies in a county, it becomes very persistent, and accidental introductions tend to balance what is gained each year. This percentage is low enough to take American foulbrood out of its place as an important factor in honey production, but leaves it potentially very dangerous.

Methods of the elimination of “the last 2%” are now being studied and will be given special attention next season. The problem is largely one of commercial beekeeping, for the apiary which carries over American foulbrood after a three year campaign is always two or three times as large as the average for the district. In Richland county, for example, the ten apiaries which have been carrying over disease since 1920 average 41.4 colonies in size and only two contain less than 20 colonies. The average size for the county is 16 colonies.

Governing the Spread of Foulbrood

The most common and dangerous means of distributing American foulbrood is through the sale and transportation of bees and used bee supplies. In spite of laws in many states prohibiting the sale of infected material, diseased apiaries have been shipped here and there, until now the bees in nearly every section of the United States are exposed to American foulbrood.

In 1919, the Wisconsin legislature passed a law prohibiting the transportation of any used bee material without a permit or inspection certificate. This has proven very effective in limiting the distribution of disease. In 1921, 510 applications were received for such permits and in 1922, 590 applications. About one-fifth of these were from apiaries which had been inspected within a year and a similar proportion were referred to local inspectors for special inspections. The others were for moving such short distances that there appeared to be no danger of distributing disease.

As the apiary inspectors now cover one-sixth of the area of the state, having examined 30,731 colonies in 2,354 different apiaries in 1922, it is possible to determine with some accuracy the spread of disease.

In general it may be said that in the area clean-up counties there is no evidence that new yards are becoming infected. The only indication of any new appearance of American foulbrood in an area clean-up district was in northern Jefferson county, where a beekeeper in violation of law brought in an infected apiary from Dodge county. Two other colonies in healthy yards picked up infection almost immediately, but the inspectors were, fortunately, able to locate the source. The owner of the material moved was fined, and the infected colonies destroyed.

Two cases of infected yards being moved into Wisconsin without inspection certificates from neighboring states have been discovered. Both of these have proven very serious and, as the apiaries were large, elimination of disease has taken some time. More satisfactory arrangements have since been made in a general inspectors’ conference and it is believed that this source of disease has been stopped.

The only other new discoveries of disease since the last report have been at Cassville, where bees were 

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Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

found carrying infected honey across the Mississippi river from Clayton county, Iowa, to Grant county, Wisconsin; and a so-far-unexplained appearance of the American foulbrood in one yard in Bayfield county. It is believed the complete eradication of the latter case is being accomplished.

As a contrast to this limited distribution many applications for the transportation of infected yards into clean territory have been refused and the yards have been disposed of locally. A combination of the gradual reduction of foulbrood in its present locations and definite prevention of spreading offer the only practicable solution of the American foulbrood problem.

Comparative Data on Hives, Broodrearing and Honey Yields

• I have been interested in observing the results of the different factors entering into brood rearing and honey production, such as age of queens, size of hives, strains of bees, spring protection, etc., for a number of years. During the last two years the results of my experiences have been impressed upon me since I have had an opportunity in clean-up inspection work to observe the great number of weak colonies there are among beekeepers generally at the beginning of the honey flow.

• I am going to give you certain figures taken from my apiary this last year—-1922. The number of colonies which I had was not great, hut I think the conclusion I reached would not be materially altered if taken from a large number. There are several factors entering into my tabulations which make absolute exactness of comparison impossible. For example—I have different strains of bees; I have used some colonies for comb honey, some for extracted honey, some for increase and some for two or more of these purposes. Then besides I may not have manipulated all colonies with equal wisdom. In figuring honey yields I have not scientifically allowed each colony a given amount for winter. Still, I think the conclusions agree with those of former years. First, I shall describe our honey flow. During May we had a week of dandelion and fruit bloom when the scale colony gained 13 pounds. On June 5th the main honey flow began and lasted 5 weeks. After a few days intermission a secondary flow started and continued the rest of July, during which time the scale colony gained only 10 lbs. Basswood was a failure and fall flowers yielded less than the current consumption of the bees. I have given the honey flow to show the importance of strong colonies early. We can’t build up on one flow for another.

In the first tabulation which follows the following abbreviations are used : Q—queen ; O—old; Y— young; J—jumbo (10 frame) ; P— protected (1 % insulite on 4 or 5 sides and fiber felt on top) ; Unp— unprotected (possibly y₂ inch fiber felt on top) ; L—Langstroth (10 fr.). My bees were all cellar wintered. For the present the score will be omitted.

Frames

Q    Number		Hive	May 12
O   7 '1 wo years		.. JP	5 2-7
O 13 One year _		JP	6
Y 8 ____________		.. JP	6 1-2
Y 24 ____________		.. J Unp	6
Y 7 ............		L Unp	6 2-7
	Frames
Number	June 15	Increase	Score
5 Two years_____	. 8	2 5-7	44
12 One year ___ .	_ 8	2	82
8 _________________	.   9 2-3	3 1-6	97 1-2
24 _________________	_   9	3	75
7 .................	_   9 2-7	3	75

Frames mean the number having at least one side well filled with brood eggs. To be scientifically exact, I should have counted the number of square inches of brood, but that was both impossible and impractical for me in the ordinary yard manipulations. When the yard records were taken there was no thought of publishing tabulations taken from them. So we shall have to rely upon the law of averages to even up results and make comparisons valid.

The two-year-old queens had been kept over because they were good queens the two previous years. Yet two of them failed after first examination in May, and were omitted from the June tabulations. Had the entire seven been considered the amount of brood would have averaged much less in June. Besides, most of the two-year-old queens and one-year-old queens were in hives protected on six sides, while the young queens had hives protected on only five sides. Dr. Phillips says that to have the bottom insulated also is almost three times as good as having only five sides protected.

Results as shown by the tabulations are as follows:

• 1. The old queens show the least gain and are weakest at the beginning of the honey flow.

• 2. The young queens are ahead.

• 3. The young queens in protected hives are the best.

• 4. There is apparently no difference between colonies in unprotected jumbo and Langstroth hives. But since the jumbo frame is larger, there is about one-fourth more brood in the jumbo hives. Personally I like the jumbo frame because it holds so much brood and with proper wiring will contain brood clear to the top bar.

As mentioned previously, some colonies were run for comb honey, some for extracted honey, etc. To compare results, I had to score the colonies. The score is my estimation of the number of pounds of honey the colony would have produced on an extracted non-increase basis. With some colonies the score represents the exact amount of surplus honey, but not so with most colonies. I had a 50 per cent colony increase and have 1,200 lbs. of feed honey for spring which had to be credited to the producing colonies so these figures are way above my colony average. To put comb honey on an extracted honey basis, I added 50 per cent. At first I did not intend to include the honey crop in this paper, but the thought came to me that strong colonies should be valuable according to their strength. Were we selling package bees, then strong colonies would be justified merely on their brood, hut . our crop is honey, not bees. Furthermore. I know commercial beekeepers who do not want strong colonies because they claim

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

and 4 larger hives and all my surplus was a 50-lb. average from the larger hives, each producing about the same. I think the L hives this year were favored with queens much better than the average.

• 3. The third group was the old queens in jumbo protected hives.

• 4. The best group was the young queens in jumbo protected hives. This finding bears out Prof. Wilson’s statement in the pamphlet. “Wintering Bees in Wisconsin,” that cellar wintering in unprotected hives is only half a system.

• I also compared scores according to the number of frames of brood in June regardless of the hives or the age of queens and divided the colonies into three classes accord

  with the fol-

  
  

  ing to their scores, lowing results:

  
  

First group Brood in—

10 fr. to 13 fr.....    17

8 fr. and 9 fr.— 3

3 fr. to 7 fr.....     1*

Deductions:

• 1. The group having brood in 12 frames did best.

• 2. The break comes between those having brood in 7 fr. and in 8 fr. Colonies having brood in less than 8 fr. cannot be depended upon.

• 3. There were several poor yields among the strongest colonies. This is due to the fact that the strongest colonies are the hardest to manage to get results from according to their strength. They get ahead of the beekeeper and loaf on the job and often swarm or require treatment. It is much easier to get results from medium or weak colonies in proportion to their strength because they behave better.

I also had one colony not included in the first tabulation which deserves special mention. This was my best colony both in score and in actual honey yield. The reason it isn’t included is that it had a one-year-old queen and was in an unprotected jumbo hive. This is the kind of a colony we cite when we argue against protection. How is it possible that an old queen in an unprotected hive could have brood in 12 jumbo frames and surpass all others in honey production ? This is my explanation. This queen was from my best stock. In the fall she raised a lot of young bees and came out strong enough in young bees because there were not enough bees to keep the brood nest warm. No matter how good a queen is, the size of the brood nest cannot expand beyond the space -that the bees can keep warm. Very few colonies seem to have a sufficient force to keep up with a good queen in an unprotected hivei And for that reason practically all colonies need protection, and protection will save stores and conserve bee vitality for later honey gathering in even the strongest colonies, although it may not really be needed.

The preceding concludes the data I have on the year 1922, but I have other interesting results in queens in regard to honey crops for the fiscal beekeeping year 1920. In the summer of 1919 I decided to requeen all colonies with purchased queens. I ordered queens for August 1st. The first came the last of August and the last the first part of September. I began by introducing them to the queenless, the weak, the cross, and those with old queens. I had not yet learned how to introduce with practically no losses, and several queens were lost. When requeening was over I had 21 colonies with purchased queens from my stock. I expected great results from the purchased queens in 1920 in comparison with those I had raised from my common stock. The year 1920 was a great year and I got a high colony average, but results were not where I had expected them. In the first place. I lost during winter and spring 7 colonies with purchased queens, and one with one of my own queens. Among the 11 best yielding colonies having surplus honey averages from 302 lbs. down to 139 lbs., there was only one colony with a purchased queen. Among the 17 best producing colonies down to 103 lbs. surplus there were 5 purchased queens.

What I learned is summarized as follows:

Young queens must have plenty of bees in the fall or they cannot build up for winter or spring. The best queens are those raised during the honey and given a chance to build up. The colonies with purchased queens that did best were those that were strong in bees before the new queen was introduced. I believe many queens are considered poor, but in fact never had a chance to prove this value because of some beekeeper’s failure to provide proper conditions. I-ast -fall (1922) I had a chance to profit by the experience just mentioned. I purchased several queens. One of them was a replacement and came late—September 14th. I began by uniting to 2 small colonies, but I kpew the queen could never build up with-so few bees. As I took off the last supers I would put those having a few bees in them on this colony. The queen was soon laying fine and October was mild. On October 24th, I opened the hive and found brood still in three frames, one of which contained eggs and brood in all stages. There were very few other hives in the yard having brood after October 1st. I shall be very much interested in this colony next summer.

In conclusion I believe one of the best opportunities for increasing the colony population in the fall. How often we wish that all colonies had done as well as the best. Well, why haven’t they? To produce high uniform averages is not impossible. It has been done. And we should not complain of short crops when some colonies produce high yields.

IVAN WHITING.

Plymouth, Wis.

(This paper was given at the annual convention.)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, July, 1923.

To borrow books for three weeks write to

WISCONSIN FREE LIBRARY COMMISSION

Traveling Library Department Madison, Wis.

We Pay Outgoing Postage You Pay Return Postage

Comstock, A. B.—How to keep bees; a handbook for the use of beginners. 1905.

Dadant, C,. P.—Dadant system of beekeeping. 1920.

Langstroth, L. L. — Langstroth on the hive and honey bee, revised by Chas, and C. P. Dadant. This edition revised and rewritten by C. P. Dadant. 21st edition, 1922.

Miller, Dr. C. C.—A thousand answers to beekeeping questions. 1919.

Pellett, F. C.—Practical queen rearing. 1918.

Phillips, E. F.—Beekeeping; subtitle: A discussion of the life of the honeybee and of the production of honey. 1915.

Root, A. I. and E. R.—The A B T and X Y Z of bee culture. 1910.

MADISON WILL BE BEEKEEPING CAPITAL, AUG. 15

On Wednesday, August 15, Madison will be the beekeeping capital of the United States. This is the reguar day for issuing the market news service on HONEY and is also the day set aside for taking up the marketing troubles of Wisconsin Beekeepers. Instead of having the telegraphic market reports and the mail reports from producing sections come to Washington, they will for that one date be diverted to Madison, the data will be prepared and edited and issued right on the University camp grounds.

Mr. Harold J. Clay, in charge of this work for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics at Washington, D. C., will have reports with the ink still wet distributed to beekeepers when he gives his talk on “The Government Market News Service on Honey,” at 2 o’clock that afternoon. He will tell in his talk how he gets the data, how it is assembled, and how it is issued to the beekeepers throughout the country.

A permanent exhibit during the entire week, August 13 to 18, showing the gathering of the material and its distribution with maps showing areas covered will be held.

If you have not received a copy of the Wisconsin Conference and Chautauqua program, August 13 to 18, write us and a copy will be sent to you by return mail.

Prize Recipes

(Bee and Honey Exhibit—State Fair, 1922)

Honey Orange Cookies—Class 25

• 1 cup honey

y₂ cup butter

• 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks

Rind of / orange, grated

1 teaspoon of orange extract

1 teaspoon soda in 2 tablespoons sour milk.

Flour enough to form into balls. Place on tins and flatten out. When baked, brush with egg white and sprinkle with cocoanut.

Miss E. M. Goelzer, Oakwood, Wis.

Rolls

1 pint milk

1 pint water

y₂ cup salt

y₂ cup honey

• 1 tablespoon shortening

• 2 cents yeast

Flour enough to knead.

Mrs. J. M. Barr.

Baking Powder Raisin Buns

• 2 cups flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons shortening

1 egg

% teaspoon salt

y₂ cup raisins

y₂ cup honey

y₂ cup milk.

Mix flour, baking powder and shortening together. Beat egg and add honey and milk. Stir into the dry ingredients. Roll out dough and spread with a mixture of 1 cup granulated honey mixed with 4 tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins. Roll like jelly roll. Spread bottom of baking tin with part of the honey mixture, cut dough in inch pieces and place cut edges up in pan. When baked remove from pan at once, turn upside down on plate to serve.

E. M. Goelzer, Oakwood, Wis.

Doughnuts

• 2 eggs

Butter, size of an egg

1 cup sour milk, or

1 cup of cream iy₂ cup honey

Flour to roll; also add 2 teaspoons cream of tartar.

1 teaspoon soda added to sour milk or cream.

Honey Doughnuts

1 cup honey

• 1 cup sweet milk

• 3 level tablespoons butter

• 2 eggs

^l/₂ teaspoon salt

• 4 teaspoons baking powder mixed in flour enough to make stiff enough to roll.

Rocks

1 cup butter

1 cup honey

1 cup nuts

1 cup raisins

• 3 eggs

y₂ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon soda

Flavor to taste. Flour enough to drop from spoon.

Charlie Pritchard, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

Bran Macaroons

1 cup flour

1 cup bran

1 tablespoon butter

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons honey

cup milk

2 teaspoons baking powder Pinch salt

Drop from a spoon on a buttered tin. Bake about ten minutes.

Mrs. J. M. Barr.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, August. 1923.

The Beekeepers’ Chautauqua

The fifth annual conference and field meet of Wisconsin beekeepers was held at Madison, August 13 to 18, and over 350 persons were in attendance. The weather was fine and the program, although rather long, was full of new beekeeping facts. The next chautauqua will be held at Fond du Lac during the third week of August, 1924. Abstracts of some of the talks given during the week will’be included in future issues.

Annual Convention

The next annual convention of the Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association will be held in the Milwaukee Auditorium, December 6 and 7. The Board of Managers will meet in Room A, second floor, December 5, at 2 p. m. If you have a paper which you would like to present, please write the secretary before November 1. The convention will be held in connection with the Wisconsin Products Exposition and the State Association will have a honey booth—better and bigger than last year. Help.the secretary by sending in your donations at once.

The Honey Booth

The same plan will be followed as for last year. You are all—acquainted with the plan and the success gained in advertising. A minimum of $200 is necessary to provide a representative booth. Refer to the February issue of our paper for honey and money donations of last year.

We plan to advertise “Badger Brand” honey to the fullest extent during the exposition and to make the association trademark known to the 75,000 or more people who visit the show.

WHAT WILL YOU DO TO HELP? Money or honey will be welcome as a donation. If you send money, address to the secretary. If you prefer to send honey, make your gift not less than ten pounds. It has not yet been decided whether this honey will be sent to Madison or Milwaukee, so hold until shipping directions are sent you. However, let us know before November 1 how much you will give as a donation. Fill out the blank below and mail to the secretary.

Name ..............................................

Address ..........................................

Money donation of $. .................

enclosed.

A honey donation of ....................

pounds will be shipped as soon as shipping instructions are received.

Honey to Sell

If you have more honey than you can sell locally and wish to sell some wholesale write the secretary for a special “Honey to Sell” report blank.

If you want your name on the list of those having honey to sell and do not wish the association to handle the details of the transaction, send in your name with amounts you have for sale.

Honey Week

Your secretary, Miss Fischer, has been doing a great deal of work toward getting a honey week for Wisconsin. Let us hope that her efforts will not be in vain. She reports that the Executive Committee of the State Association met on August 15 and passed a motion recommending a honey week for the entire state during the week of November 19 to 25. This matter will be brought before the Label and Container Committee for a definite decision and the members notified. We should begin plans immediately for a State Honey Week. Full details for the plan will be published in our next issue. Every member using the “Badger Brand” lithographed pail or label should plan to advertise during this week, put on special exhibits at local stores and distribute posters to his grocers. Let us see just how much honey we can move during one week of intensive campaigning. If you have any questions about the honey week write the secretary.

The New Advertising Poster

The new honey poster has been; made up and printed, and for the price it is an excellent piece of advertising material. Over 300 have already been sold. Every member of the association selling “Badger Brand” honey should have a supply of these posters for his storekeepers and should put some of them up in conspicuous places to advertise honey. Users of lithographed pails should make a special effort to place these pails in grocery stores and give the posters to your dealers to place in the store windows. If you have not seen the poster, send for a sample. They are 10 cents each.

This is what your secretary has to say about poster advertising: “Posters are silent salesmen. Pictorial posters such as ours will sell honey to the illiterate and to the (Continued on next page.)

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, August. 1928.

Wisconsin 3£eekeq?ln$

H. V. WILSON. Editor

Officer* of The Wisconsin State Beekeeper*

Association

President................James Gwin, Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown, Juneaa

Treasurer..........O. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc

Secretary.................Malitta D. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee, $1.00

Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy., Madison, Wis.

Lithographed Honey Pails

In addition to the labels bearing the “Badger Brand” trademark and the posters, 20,000 eloquent salesmen are being put to work in Wisconsin. Every time you sell one of the new pails, you are sending out another salesman. Thirteen hundred five-pound and 7,000 ten-pound pajls will be distributed this year by the members of the State Association, 'lhere have been a few complications with the pails this year, but such things are bound to occur with every new undertaking. 1 he pail company has agreed to make adjustments on improperly made pails or covers, and before this issue is out we hope to have all our beekeepers satisfied. Before another stock of pails is ordered, members are urged to consider this matter immediately so that arrangements can be made far enough in advance to prevent the difficulty that arose this year.

Orders ought to be placed at least four months in advance of shipping date so that the cans may be properly cured. This year orders were placed about a month previous to shipping date and the pails were therefore shipped out green, making them chip off easily, and th? imprinting on the top of the pail was practically of no value. If all orders can be on file in this office by February 1, the company will guarantee to give us a good job of lithographing (not such a speckled job as this year), pack the pails properly, a golden lacquer on the inside (if members want lacquer), imprinting on the covers that will not come off. Consider this matter now and when the call is issued for orders, be ready to fill out the order blank at once and return to this office.

Get as many of yoqr brother members interested in this plan as possible. The more orders we can get together the lower the cost to you. Let’s make it 50,000 pails for 1924, a car in four or five prominent shipping points to reduce freight.

Pails will be on exhibition at the Milwaukee convention so that members may decide on a definite type that will not give the cover trouble the pails gave this year. We must put this plan across.

Why are we so anxious to develop the lithographed container plan? Simply because the lithographed pail is the best advertising agent we have ever had to work with. It is a little bit expensive this year, but as the orders increase the cost will be reduced, It is the best plan we have, in that we can limit what goes in the container—■ only Wisconsin No. 1 white honey” of the very best quality and flavor— and we can recommend the price for which it is retailed or wholesaled. Any member now using this container has agreed to

• (1) put only Wisconsin No. 1 white honey of the very best quality and flavor in this container, and

• (2) to sell these containers at

uniform prices.                  —

What are the advantages of such a container? The advertising value is permanent. It is a cleaner, more attractive package than the ordinary pail. It is all ready for honey, no label to put on, no grading to be

stamped on; everything is there. It gives the member the advantage of being identified with the State Association and, above all, it affords uniformity. The consumer is protected not only by the producer whose name is on the top of the cover, but also by the State Associ-_

ation’s guarantee on the back, and also the statement that the honey is up to the grade requirements of the Division of Markets.

Advertising Poster

(Continued from front page.) foreign bom persons who can not read English. It reproduces exactly the trademark and the container so that it will cling to the reader so that when he goes to buy honey he will unconsciously search for that trademark.

Posters familiarize the pub’ic with the name and character of the product through repetition. Suppose you and your brother members distribute fifty of these posters in your city. Do you realize thft you have fifty salesmen constantly-calling attention to “Badger Brand” honey ? They tell the story not only once, but over and over all day long and day after day, not only in one place, but in fifty different ones. A wide distribution of these in your city will serve a better purpose than if you gave out a^-* hand bill to every man, woman, and child in town.,

Order your posters now ; we have had 5,000 printed and want to put these to work in every comer of the state. Order now for next weeF~ and order more for State Honey Week.

Why Do We-Need a Trademark?

To build up a retail trade, one must have a trademark, something which appears on everything, the 

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, August. 1923.

symbol which distinguishes our product.

_Here is our trademark. What will such a trademark do?

• 1. Safeguard the consumer against substitution and imitation. The housewife after getting acquainted with “Badger Brand” will always ask for this brand and look for the shallow extracting frame, state map, flowers, “Badger Brand.”

• 2. Protect the producer’s sales. A grocer will be more willing to handle a brand of honey that has a trademark than one that does not, since he is business man enough to know that anything that has a trademark has advertising value.

• 3. Fix responsibility and assure the consumer that the producer will maintain the standard he has adopted for his product.

“Badger Brand” trademark now appears on

Stationery,

Labels,

Lithographed pails, Posters.

Are you taking advantage of your membership privilege and using these? Every one of these items are permanent advertising mediums. Use stationery, labels, containers and posters that advertise.

M. D. F.

Movie Slides

A slide bearing the “Badger Brand” trademark in colors may be secured through the secretary’s office for $1.25. You can get your local movie to run this slide every night for a very small charge. This is one of the best advertising mediums and still very reasonable. Order your slide today. IVc must get orders for 25 to get this price.

Members desiring to purchase grading stamps should send their orders direct to B. B. Jones, State Division of Markets, State Capitol, Madison. These stamps cost 30 cents each.

Uniform Prices

Recommended by the State Price Committee

Extracted Honey

Retail—Direct to Consumer:

In lithographed container, 5-pound, $1.15; 10-pound, $2.20. Glass containers, 3-pound, 80 cents; 6-pound, $1.40; 12-pound, $2.60, 1-pound, 35 cents; %-pound, 2Q cents.'

In plain pails, 5-pound, $1.05; 10-pound, $2.00,

In 60-pound cans, 17c per pound.

In lots of 6 or more 10-pound pails allow consumer 10 per cent less on regular price.

In lots of 12 or more 5-pound pails allow consumer 10 per cent less on regular price.

• In lots of 10 or more 6-pound jugs allow consumer 10 per cent less on regular price.

In lots of 5 or more 12-pound

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, August. 1923.

jugs allow consumer 10 per cent less on regular price.

To the Grocer:

Allow your grocer a discount of 20 per cent on the regular price to the consumer, which will give you the following prices:

lif lithographed pails, 5-pound, 92 cents; 10-pound, $1.76; 60-pound cans, $8.16; 3-pound, 64 cents; 6-pound, $1.12; 12-pound, $2.08; 1-pound, 28 cents.

In plain pails, 5-pound, 84 cents; 10-pound, $1.50.

It is understood the grocer will take at least 6 or more pails of one size or a case of 1-pound or Impound glass jars.

Wholesale:

Two 60-pound cans or more, 14 cents per pound.

500 pounds or more, 13 cents ]>er pound.

1.000 pounds or more. 12 cents per pound.

Comb Honey

Fancy—To consumer, per case, *  $8.50; per section, 36 cents. To

storekeeper, per case, $6.50; per section, 27 cents. To wholesaler, same price to grocer less 10 per cent.

No. 1—To consumer, per case. $8.00; per section, 33 cents. To storekeeper, per case. $6.00; per section, 25 cents. To wholesaler, same price to grocer less 10 per cent.

No. 2—To consumer, per case, $7.20; per section, 30 cents. To storekeeper, per case, $5.50; per section, 23 cents. To wholesaler, same price to grocer less 10 per cent.

The western crop is short and their prices now are as high as ours.

State Association Price Committee.

C. W. Aeppler. Chairman;

A. A. Brown.

Edw. Hassinger, Jr.

M. D. Fischer,

F. I. Monnin.

II. F. Wilson.

Apiary Inspection Notes

Three counties are cooperating with the state department this year, the county board having appropriated funds sufficient to take care of one-third of the cost of area cleanup within their borders. They are Fond du Lac, Washington, and Ozaukee. Fond du Lac is the most extensive single area yet undertaken, as the county consists of nineteen townships, with beekeepers everywhere. Washington and Ozaukee counties have fewer beekeepers than expected and as soon as they are free from disease there will be some good beekeeping territory open in some of the best white clover districts in the world.

The report for the month of July

Labels

Order now before the new stock is exhausted. made by Dr. Fracker and Mr. Adams to Mr. Jones, the new Commissioner of Agriculture, is as follows :

Work in Jefferson, Milwaukee, and Richland counties for the season has been completed and the crews have moved to Calumet, Manitowoc, and Vernon counties, respectively. No new cases were found in the three counties named, but the disease still persists in a few apiaries in each. Special efforts were made to complete the eradication work this year, but the final results will not be known till next season.

/X summary of the work during the month follows: not used and the supposition is that this many of our members did not get this number. If you did not get this issue, write this office and a copy will be sent you.

Read Every Issue of Beekeeping and Let it Benefit You.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, September, 1923.

The Color of Wisconsin Honey and the Application to Our Honey Grading Laws

C. D. Adams

I am asked to talk on the color of Wisconsin honey and the application of our grading rules and regulations. I shall have but little to say upon this subject as we have been handicapped from the beginning on account of a lack of color standard that we could require the beekeeper to be familiar with.

At the time the rules became effective there was only one grader upon the market and that sold for $10. This we considered too much for the average beekeeper to invest for this purpose. At that time we knew that others were working upon the problem and we were assured that in a short while a satisfactory grader could be had at a cost of not over $2 and possibly less. So we stressed the ripeness and cleanliness of the honey and made the color requirements educational.

To our surprise the cheaper grader was very slow to make its appearance. The inventors found it was a very much more difficult task than anticipated and up to the present time no grader has been put on the market that we felt like urging the beekeeper to use.

But the lack of a grader has not been the handicap that was anticipated. It was found that contrary to the opinion of many beekeepers there is a considerable amount of water white honey produced in Wisconsin if we accept the Root Grader. While this is true there were very few that cared to take advantage of this fact by selling honey as water white. Most producers either labeled this honey “white,” or used it to lighten the darker honey. It was found that practically all Wisconsin honey produced before August 1st is “white” honey. It is true that the dandelions and fruit blossom honey is light amber, but most of this is used up in brood-rearing and the remainder usually becomes blended with the clover honey and the blend is almost sure to be white honey according to the Root Grader.

I have repeatedly made this statement in local meetings and usually my statement was challenged but I had the advantage by having a grader with me and the sample so called light amber honey in the mason jar was proven to be white when put in the small white glass container of the grader. So far I have found no reason to further qualify my statement, but the present season may make me more cautious as there was an unusually large dandelion and fruit blossom honey flow apparently all over the state and some of this was extracted early to make room for the big clover honey crop. If this honey is not later blended with the white honey it will be light amber and the beekeeper will not need a grader to determine it.

I have sometimes been told that basswood honey was light amber. I am not sure but that this is true of basswood honey produced farther south, but I have never seen anything but white honey from that source in Wisconsin and last year I was shown a sample of absolutely water white honey from northern Wisconsin and told it was pure basswood. This I could not believe until I sampled it and found it true.

This bears out what Dr. Phillips has told us for years about the variation in shades of honey depending upon the intensity of the nectar flow and some times the altitude and latitude.

Most of our honey gathered in the fall runs from light amber to amber. Buckwheat honey runs from amber to dark.

When the authorities at Washington give us a definite standard of colors and our inventors put on the market a satisfactory grader at a reasonable price the Department of Markets will expect the beekeeper to grade his honey strictly according to the color standards.

t_________________________________.

The Cost of Selling Honey Locally

The cost of selling honey locally seems to be an item that is very much neglected when beekeepers figure honey prices. So I am going to try and show the basis upon which the beekeeper should have his retail selling price.

For some of the figures that follow I am indebted to Mr. Clinton Dissmore, secretary of the Trempealeau County Beekeepers’ Association, while the others are from my own experience.

We live in a well settled section of well to do farmers and not near enough to any city to be able to figure city selling costs. The costs given will vary with the different localities, as in a mining district there are more houses in a given area, which would result in more visits and large gross sales per day.

In our locality we could not think of selling honey for the same price as in the cities. The farmers do without when price reaches above a mark they think is too high. I might say that the selling of honey cheap by beemen locally is now being felt. Only yesterday I heard of a man selling his honey at 50 cents a two quart jar. The best price we can get at present is 15 cents per pound in bulk and 65 cents per quart jar, and $1.10 for five pound pails.

I will first give the cost of preparing a five pound pail of honey for market using this as a foundation on which to build selling costs. For the base honey price ( Continued on page 90 )

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement

Wisconsin beekeeping

H F WILSON. Editor

Officers of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association

President................James Gwin. Gotham

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........O. W. Aeppler, Ocon >mowoc

Secretary.................Malitta I’. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee. 11.00

Remit to M. F. Fischer, Secy., Madison, Wis,

The State Convention

The next annual convention of the Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association is to be held at the Milwaukee Auditorium December 6 and 7, the board of managers meeting on December 5 in committee room A at 2 p. m.

Your secretary would appreciate very much hearing from any member of the association who may have something new to present to the convention. The program is now in the making and we want to have it ready to publish in the November issue of Wisconsin Horticulture.

The Miller Memorial Library

Keep in mind that you can help the library by sending in old books and journals which you may find stored away. Send all contributions to the Dr. Charles

• C. Miller Memorial Apicultural library, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Dr. Miller Memorial Book

If you are interested in securing a copy of the proceedings of the Beekeepers’ Conference and Dr. Miller Memorial Library dedication, fill out the enclosed blank and return to H. F. Wilson, 1532 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin :

Name .............................................

Address ..........................................

I would be willing to purchase a copy of the Miller Memorial Book at $2.50.

Members desiring to purchase grading stamps should send their

orders direct to B. B. Jones, State Division of Markets, State Capitol, Madison. These stamps cost 30 cents each.

The Cost of Selling Honey Locally

(Continued from front page)

I will use the prevailing wholesale price for which good white clover honey can be bought and that is 11 cents per pound in ton lots.

• 5 lbs. honey at 11 cents

Common pail

Label for pail

Labor for packing and label

ing

Room, equipment, fuel

Insurance

Total

A five pound pail costs 70 cents alone just to prepare for market. I know of beemen that sell these pails for 50 cents. A good bargain for someone. But there are more who sell for 70 cents and 75 cents, they say that is a good price for it costs them nothing to put it up as they already have the building, etc. But, what if their business grew or they became sick so that they had to hire a man to pack their honey? Instead of earning their day’s wages packing they must pay that out. That is a different story altogether. So, when beekeepers sell their own crops and buy to supply their needs they will be operating on strict cost basis, most likely at a loss. Therefore, it is a good plan to add a profit to the net cost. Manufacturers add from 20 to 25 per cent which is not all profit. The advertising expense and selling cost are deducted and the remainder is the net profit. A 15 per cent addition where there is no advertising expense is a good margin.

Then 15 per cent of 70 cents is 10% cents, which added makes 8014 cents the net manufacturer’s selling price. We will call it 80 cents. Add to this 10 per cent, the wholesalers’ or jobbers’ charge for distribution, and you get 88 cents, the wholesale selling price. The wholesale selling price by the way is the price you receive when selling to the groceryman or middle man who sells again at retail.

Now we come to the figures that beemen who sell their own honey at retail or direct to customer locally forget, or pay no attention to, and that is the cost of selling the honey. Say you sell the five pound for $1.10 or 30 cents profit, or so it may seem.

We will figure the cost of running the car at 5 cents per mile as it is figured a Ford will do it at that and most people have Fords. In house to house selling a person can cover about forty miles per day making the cost of car..........................................$2.00

wages are from $2.00 to $6.00

average

one meal away from home

Expense per day

Average number of pails sold..23 Average sales ........................$25.30

Dividing the expense by the number of pails sold to get the cost of selling per pail gives us nearly 29 cents out of the dollar and ten as the cost of selling a five pound pail in the country. The net sales then is only 81 cents per pail, or 11 cents over cost, and for the 23 pails sold you get a profit of $2.53 for the day. This profit is what you would receive after paying all expenses, including the hire of a man to sell honey for you. Should you sell more pails without covering more miles, your profit will be more, and should you sell less, you may find yourself going out of business because of lack of funds to buy more honey and pails.

We will now compare figures when selling to grocers direct. I made a trip visiting the stores in neighboring towns in half a day, covering forty miles.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, September, 192.3.

Car

Wages

No meal.

Expense

Average sales, $40.00 per trip.

The price asked of grocers was 20 per cent of the retail selling price or 88 cents per pail, delivered. I sell an average of 46 pails. Again dividing the day’s expenses by number of pails sold gives 9 cents per pail cost of selling; 88 cents minues 9 cents leaves 79 cents net price received per pail, or 9 cents over cost. Forty-six pails at 9 cents gives $4.14 profit for the half day, or $8.28 for full day with cost of noon meal deducted, your other expenses being the same. A little more profit than retail selling, but that is not all, you get greater distribution when selling to the grocerymen. Also, on your second call they will not need so much time for sales talk as during the first visit, consequently you can see more customers.

The cost of selling honey locally depends on three factors; first, size of territory you cover; second, amount of sales; third, overhead, that is, board and wages. In this case roadside selling territory is left out. A person must figure the cost plus a 20 or 25 per cent profit over wholesale cost on his package of honey from which the cost of selling is deducted, and then sometimes this will not cover your selling costs for the day.

In the first illustration the selling cost was 29 cents out of every $1.10, or 26 per cent which is 1 per cent more than the groceryman charges. The grocer adds 25 per cent of selling price to his wholesale cost price, and he gets from 5 to 15 per cent net profit, whereas the honey salesman gets nothing over his wholesale selling price. Why? Because the grocer has many articles to sell to bring his gross sales away above his overhead charges. Of course, should the honey salesman boost his sales without raising the overhead or selling cost, his profit would climb and almost overshadow the expenses.

So, if you would sell honey at a profit first get your costs, add 15 per cent for your profit, 10 per cent for wholesale distribution, and on top of that add 20 per cent for your selling costs. Then sell as much as you can without raising your expenses over $6.50 a day. To come out even on that basis you must sell at least 23 5-pound pails a day.

In the second illustration given, the selling cost was 9 cents per pail. That is about 10 per cent of the selling price, which is about the correct margin when selling to grocers. If your sales are large enough you may receive a handsome profit. Most jobbers, or wholesalers, add 10 per cent of manufaetdrers’ selling price to cover their selling costs and for their profit. Here again, the man with a large line can sell at 10 per cent over cost in large quantities and make more profit than the man with a single item. Also your distribution is still greater than when you sell to the groceryman direct.

Personally, I have found it more to my advantage to figure my costs, add a small profit per case of glass jars or pails and sell to the wholesalers. They charge the grocer 10 per cent more than my figures, (my figures include freight prepaid to wholesaler). The groceryman in turn adds 1-3 of cost price to get his selling price, which gives him a gross profit of 25 per cent. To make a net profit the wholesaler and grocerymen must keep their selling costs within the gross profit limits. They can do this more readily than can the honey salesman, as they carry a large line of goods and sell a little to each of their customers, while the honey salesman has only honey and often must see many people before he makes a sale.

To sum up then, the cost of selling honey locally is a very important item not to be looked at lightly. First, get your cost price, then if selling to the retailers or grocerymen add 15 and 10 per cent of cost for your selling cost and profit. You cannot do it for 10 per cent, as can the wholesaler. When selling direct to the consumer add first the 15 per cent for your profit and then to that add 10 per cent and 20 per cent for your selling costs. It is impossible for you to sell within the 10 per cent wholesalers charge or 20 per cent grocers charge, in the country unless you are a very good salesman. Your costs will generally cut into your first 15 per cent addition.

Selling cost may be called the cost of distribution. When you sell at retail your distribution cost is very large in proportion to sales as it takes your time to see that each individual pail gets into the hands of the consumer or gets distributed in your community. When you sell to the grocer, he assumes the cost of local distribution and your cost of selling to him is less, because you sell a larger amount in shorter time, and should you sell to jobber your cost is still smaller while your distribution has far outreached what you yourself could handle by direct selling.

When will the beekeepers who are underselling themselves, awaken to the fact that their profits are taking wing and the markets being wrecked by poor business methods?

H. A. Schaefer, Osseo, Wisconsin.

What the County Association Can Do to Help Local Beekeepers

A. A. Brown, Juneau, Wisconsin

The county association is the foundation upon which prosperous beekeeping in the future is to be built. The individual beekeeper who realizes this becomes a building stone in the foundation. The

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, September, 11)23.

cornerstone of this foundation of prosperous beekeeping is cooperation and the cement which binds the structure into one solid mass is loyalty. Without this cement of loyalty there can be no foundation, hence no permanent building can be erected. We must have loyalty and cooperation if our associations are to be of benefit to its members and beekeeping in general.

The age of keen competition is upon us. If we are to hold our own we must be up and doing. No longer can we plod along as did our grandfathers, or even our fathers. We must admit our problems are many and hard of solution. Individually we get nowhere. A two horse team is better than a single horse; a four horse tandem, better still. We beekeepers have been hitched between thills long enough. Let’s put a pole between us and pull together. Every beekeeper worthy of the name needs help; I care not whom he or she may be. This help can be had through a good live local county association. The county association can be of service only in so far as this service is desired. A live and loyal membership is essential if any organization is to justify its existence. Granting we have good tools with which to work what can we do?

To my mind the greatest stumbling block in the way of better and prosperous beekeeping is lack of modern methods in beekeeping. This state of affairs is due to lack of knowledge of bee behavior, and not because we think we know it all. You occasionally will find a beekeeper who cannot be taught, but they are few.

Through the county association and its meetings modern beekeeping methods can be brought to the beekeepers. By supplementing these meetings with beekeeping literature, available from several sources, you teach the beekeeper better methods, and as a result he becomes a better beekeeper. Being a better beekeeper he realizes the business can be made a profitable one, and since there is money in it for him he becomes more enthusiastic and a member of your association.

The county association puts the beekeepers in a position to study their problems collectively. The first of these is production.

We all are striving to cut down costs. Modern practices tend to do this. Another is lower costs of supplies and equipment. Through collective buying material saving on supplies is effected. Without cooperation through a local association neither can be accomplished.

Another production problem of great significance is foul brood. Foul brood is by no means an individual problem. This disease may be a blessing in disguise as it eliminates the indifferent keeper of bees, whom I at times believe is worse than the disease as far as solving our problems is concerned. Through a county association the state readily responds to a petition for an area cleanup of the disease. The necessary money from the state for this work was received through the efforts of the state association, backed by the several county associations. Without this collective effort we would have been left to fight the disease single handed and no doubt many of us would have thrown up the sponge.

Another problem that needs collective solution is marketing. Just how this will be accomplished I am unable to say. At present we all look to our local market to dispose of our honey. This causes keen competition and a cutting of the price. Collectively we could feed our local market and at a profitable price; the surplus could be disposed of elsewhere. Local consumption of honey can be increased through advertising. This can be best accomplished collectively, as it benefits all, and all should share in the cost. Another item in marketing is a uniform container or package. Through cooperation of local associations large orders are possible, hence a lower price. Being uniform and sold with a guarantee, no better advertising is obtainable.

Another big factor of the local association is the social enjoyment of meeting your beekeeping friends. I enjoy this part of the benefits of the association more than any other.

Furthermore, through our local associations we build our state associations and our national associations, and since our problems are not confined within our counties, or even our state, but of a national nature, cooperation is essential at home and abroad for the best interest of us beekeepers and the beekeeping industry.

The local association that accomplishes something puts the beekeeper in a position to enjoy benefits of an indirect, as well as a direct nature from the efforts of our state and national associations. This is essential for the permanent upbuilding of the beekeeping industry in general.

It has been found by the Bureau of Chemistry, that by replacing one-half the sugar with honey, sirup manufacturers can improve the quality of such soft drinks as root beer, sarsaparilla and chocolate at an increased cost of approximately

• 0.3 cents a half pint.

L. W. Whitehead, Extension Api-culturist, will be glad to help county associations plan their bee and honey exhibits at their local fairs.

We have often read of the “harbingers of spring.” The scattering trees of scarlet maple in the north woods putting forth autumn colors in August may be called the “harbingers of autumn.”

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, October, 1923

Wisconsin State Honey Week

Boost Wisconsin Honey Are you a Booster or a Buster?

If you are a Booster you will be interested in the following plans and will do your part in helping to put across the program which the State Association officers have worked out. You will appreciate the time and effort being spent by these people in trying to aid Wisconsin Beekeepers in making the honey industry a paying one. If you are a Buster you will not help, you will criticize, crab, knock, not cooperate and do all of those things which are detrimental to your own success. Now let’s all get together and make the State Association 100 per cent efficient by having 100 per cent of the members in on this program.

The Annual Convention

The convention will be held in the Milwaukee Auditorium, December 6 and 7 while the Wisconsin Products Exposition is in progress. Kill two birds with one stone and attend both.

Honey Week

The Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association is going to establish the traditional honey week for the purpose of boosting honey. At the last annual convention, the Association voted to hold such a week at the discretion of the president and secretary. The date for this week is to be November 19 to 25. Here is a real opportunity for the live members of the Association to cooperate in advertising and boosting Wisconsin Honey. If our 750 members will each one do some little thing to bring Badger Brand Honey before 100 people then at least 750,-000 people will be made to think about honey. Make the effort of sufficient strength to cause these people to want to eat honey. There are many ways to call attention of the public to honey, but three very important and effective ones are the Badger Brand labels, posters and movie slides.

The Wisconsin Products Exposition

This will be held in the Milwaukee Auditorium from December 1 to 8. The slogan of the exposition is, “All Wisconsin Uniting to Establish Wisconsin Quality and Make Wisconsin Mighty.” The purpose of this exposition is to show Wisconsin Products to the world and tc create a market for them. It is expected that more than 100,(XX) people will view the exposition. The State Association is going to advertise honey at this show by means of a honey booth.

Our Honey Booth

The State Association will have a honey booth on the main floor of the Auditorium for the sole purpose of advertising Badger Brand Honey. Honey is to be sold retail for the benefit of the Association and wholesale orders will be taken according to the plan submitted by the state secretary, copies of which have already been mailed to our members.

Affiliated Locals

Be sure that your delegate attends the Board of Managers’ meeting, which will be held December 5, 2 p. m„ room A, Auditorium, Milwaukee. Your annual report should be in the secretary’s hands by November 10.

Clever Advertising

By Mrs. Luella B. Lyons

“In an Iowa city, recently, I noticed, as did hundreds of others a huge space in the paper with only a question mark and the name of a grocer. Each day I watched this ad grow. One day a future date was added; the next, the time, and so on until the last three days the ad was completed, and this is what the headlines were: “Be Sure and Meet Your Honey at the Kenny’s Grocery.” I was curious and I. too was on hand to see the fun and discover the joke. Everybody seemed to want to meet their honeys, for there was an awful throng of people there. A bevy of pretty girls-served waffles and honey, selling honey to all. The girls were forced to bring their cases of honey and sell out of doors to accommodate the crowd, as the store was too jammed. Clever advertising attracts, and this clever merchant knew how, for he even got me guessing, and curiosity helps sales.” —Taken from October issue of American Bee Journal.

Can Your Grocer Say This!

"A high-class grocer told us the other day that ‘many beekeepers are just like many farmers—they don’t realize it costs money to do business.’ ” Furthermore, he said “While we try to handle honey we don’t feel like pushing it because frequently a good customer comes into our store to buy honey and when informed of our price tells us that she can buy good honey from Mr. Beekeeper at the same price the beekeeper sells honey tc us. Such a situation hurts out¹ general business and accounts for us not being enthusiastic over selling honey.”

Advertising Campaigns

“Bakers and manufacturers of bakers equipment have launched a national ‘Eat more toast for breakfast’ campaign. This offers a suggestion that beekeepers get in touch with their local bakers to boost honey as a spread for toast. For details on this campaign write The American Institute of Baking, 1135 Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.”—(From October number of “News Item,” G. B. Lewis Co., Watertown, Wisconsin.)

Organized advertising of Badger Brand Honey through local newspapers, movie slides, posters and labels has proven notably successful as shown by the following extract taken from a letter received at the secretary’s office.

“The two slides I now have advertising Badger Brand honey have set the town wild about honey. The dealers are writing me every day saying, ‘Bring me some more honey

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, October, 1923

Wisconsin 33etkttplng

H F* WILSON Editor

Officen of 'Die Wiaconrin State Beekeeper* Association

President................Jamea Gwin. Gotham

Vice Preaident............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc

Secretary.................Malitta D. Fischer

Annual Membership Fee. 11.00

Remit to M. F. Fischer. Secy.. Madison, Wis.

at once. I am all sold out.’ I have secured a lot of prepared advertising which I run every week in our weekly paper, advertising the dealers handling Badger Brand honey. A beekeeper from a neighboring town came into our town with 800 pounds of honey retailing it at $1.50 a ten pound pail, thinking he would undersell me. He stopped at every dealer’s and tried to sell them his honey. But for some reason he could not sell a pound of it. The dealers told him that they handled only the Badger Brand. Just a little advertising will induce the people to look for a certain brand.”

Have a Honey Sandwich

Honey sandwiches by the hundreds were sold by Alex Barr in the Bee and Honey building at the State Fair this year. Alex is the son of the Honorable Judge J. M. Barr of “Kangaroo Court” fame at the Madison chautauqua. Alex says he may visit the county fairs next fall and give the hamburger merchants some stiff competition.

L. P. W.

Interest the Public

A free moving picture show on beekeeping was given at New Lisbon by Louis A. Loboda on October 16 and 17. He secured several beekeeping films and a number of slides from several bee supply companies. This will teach people more about beekeeping as well as advertise honey.

L. P. W.

Rock County Shows Progress

Better beekeeping has made rapid strides in Rock county since the organization of a local association there less than two years ago. They meet regularly on the first Saturday afternoon of each month. Their meetings are interesting and well attended. They always have work to do and go about doing it in a businesslike way. Frequently, the members have different opinions regarding the issue at hand, but after a thorough discussion, the matter is settled for the common good of all concerned without any enmity or hard feelings. Much credit is due the officers of the association for the progress being made in Rock county, but they are backed by a large membership full of the loyal spirit of cooperation.

L. P. W.

Local Meetings Planned

About forty local meetings during the winter are being planned by the University Beekeeping Department. The meetings are arranged through the county agents and local associations, and are widely distributed throughout the state. A varied program, considering problems of both production and marketing, will be presented. If a meeting has not been arranged in your county, there is still time to secure a date if sufficient interest is shown.

• 1 .......................... Alma

• 2 .................. Whitehall

3....Globe (10 miles N.

W. Neillsville.

• 5 ...................... Wausau

• 6 ........................ Antigo

• 7 .................... Shawano

• 9...................... Wabeno

• 10............ Sturgeon Bay

• 12 .................. Green Bay

• 13 .................... Appleton

• 14 .................. Reedsville

• 15 .................... Waupaca

• 17 ................ West Bend

• 18 ...... Port Washington

• 19 .................... Plymouth

• 20 ............ Fond du Lac

• 21 ........................ Juneau

L. P. W.

Badger Brand Labels

Due to the fact that a better quality of paper is now being used, the price of labels has been increased. Labels may be secured now at the following prices:

Sample labels will be sent to only those members requesting them. Why not use a label that has advertising value?

Badger Brand Posters

For 10 cents a piece you can buy advertising material which if properly displayed will be of dollar value to every beekeeper selling Badger Brand Honey. Send in your order to the secretary at once.

Badger Brand Movie Slides

Movie slides bearing the Badger Brand trade mark are now available and can be secured through this office at one dollar each or more if additional imprinting is desired.

Illinois

Minnesota

Washington, D. C

Michigan

Ohio

Indiana

Massachuetts

Iowa

Pennsylvania

Missouri

Louisiana

Texas

New York

Total

State Attendance

No. of People

County            Registered

Dane

Milwaukee

Jefferson

Waukesha

Fond du Lac

Richland

Sauk

Sheboygan

Brown

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, October, 1923

Rock

Columbia

Monroe

Dunn

Lafayette

Grant

Crawford

Ashland

Green

Manitowoc

Iow'a

Pepin

Clark

Shawano

Trempealeau

Waupaca

Marquette

Juneau

Racine

Calumet

Adams

Chippewa

Vernon

lackson

Polk

Outagamie

Marathon

Winnebago

Oconto

Miscellaneous no address given 13

Total registered for Wisconsin..292

Honey As a Food

This is the title of the new booklet by E. R. Root and published by The A. I. Root Company. It is a very valuable booklet containing facts about the food value of honey a chart showing the deaths from diabetes in relation to the consumption of cane sugar, uses of honey in cooking, and as an anti-freeze mixture in automobile radiators.

Chocolate Honey Candy

“While walking down Main street in Buffalo the other evening I noticed a crowd outside the window of a drug store on West Chippewa street. A young man was seated at a window inside, cutting comb honey into approximately one-inch cubes. I could see that he was unacquainted with honey, for he was using a thick, cold knife and making a messy job of it. These cubes were then to be rolled in bittersweet chocolate, and they were selling small and large boxes of this confection like the proverbial “hot cakes.” The sign on the window proclaimed this as a new candy. The interest of the crowd and the readiness with which the cohfection was selling seemed to indicate that here is something that beekeepers have never urged sufficiently on our candy-loving public.”—R. B. Will-son, Ithaca, N. Y..— (October issue of Gleanings).

Honey Almond Nougat

“Cook three-fourths of cup of honey and one cup of sugar to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, or until a little when poured into cold water will form a firm ball. Add to the saucepan the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs, and cook very slowly, stirring constantly, until the mixture will break with a brittle snap when a little is tested after being poured into cold water. Add at once a pound of blanched almonds, pour on a marble slab or a large flat platter, and cool under a weight placed on oiled paper cover the nougat.— (From League Honey Booklet).

Advertise Honey

The beekeeping industry is bound to progress in the next few years because our progressive beekeepers are beginning to advertise in many different ways. Here is a good example :

L. T. Bishop, of Sheboygan, had a notice put in his local paper to the effect that on September 22d and 23d he would demonstrate to visitors just how honey is produced, all the way from the flower to the pail. He writes that between 600 and 700 people visited his yard during those two days. This demonstration created more interest in bees and honey than anything he has ever done and was the means of selling a lot of honey, according to Mr. Bishop’s report.

Mr. Bishop is going to tell us how this was done, at the convention. Be sure that you hear him.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, October. 1123

Honey is a natural sweet which has no ill effect on the digestive system. It is very beneficial to childrenasa mild laxative and will help to keep them well.

J^uv'er lets me help myself!”

BADGER BRAND HONEY

SOLD HERE

Packed under the Direction of

Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association, Inc.

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Official Organ of The State Beekeepers Association

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, December, 11)23

Renew Your Membership

About 175 of our members have sent in their renewals for 1924. Our program for 1924 is very heavy, indeed, and if we are to carry out this program in a satisfactory way we must reduce expenses as much as possible. Every member who renews voluntarily saves postage expense and time for the secretary. SEXI) in your dollar today.

Wisconsin's 1924 Procram

Briefly, here are a few of the things your association hopes to carry on during the coming year:

• 1. Continue the use of the Badger Brand lithograph pail.

• 2. Continue the use of the Badger Brand trade-mark on labels, posters, stationery and movie slides.

• 3. Issue a Badger Brand honey booklet.

• 4. Have a bigger and better Honey Week the week previous to Thanksgiving.

• 5. Carry out the five-year advertising plan as presented by H. F. Wilson.

• 6. Conduct a honev booth at the 1924 Wisconsin Products Exposition.

• 7. Get at least 500 Wisconsin beekeepers to attend the summer association field meet which will be held in conjunction with the University Chautauqua, the third week in August, at Fond du Lac. (Policeman Sass was at the convention and promised to escort members to Waupun. We ought to have a jolly good time if only enough members turn out to be escorted.)

All of these items of our big program will be given in detail in the proceedings of the convention held at Milwaukee, December 6 and 7. Can you afford to miss the lanuarv number of our paper, which will contain the proceedings? Decide for yourself and if you cannot, send in your membership dues at once.

Are not the following facts brought out in the reports given at the convention rather startling when you stop to consider that this is the first year your association has furnished its members with lithograph pails, labels, stationery, movie slides and posters all bearing the Badger Brand trade-mark ?

Just think. 61,400 labels were sold to members, 20,000 lithograph pails were sold to members. 391,000 pounds or more of Wisconsin honey was sold this year under one trademark. 577 posters were sold to members in less than three months, 5,000 honey booklets were sold to members in less than two months, over 250 gross of uniform glass jars went to our members and about 7,000 letterheads and 8,500 envelopes were sold to members.

What is the significance of all this? Let us repeat what has been previously mentioned concerning the value of a trade-mark. A trademark does—

• 1. Safeguard the consumer against substitution and imitation.

• 2. Protect the producer’s sales. ( A grocer will be more willing to handle a brand of honey that has a trade-mark than one that does not, since a grocer is a business man and a business man knows that anything that has a trade-mark has advertising value.) Why do we want to use items that have advertising value? In advertising lies the solution of our troubles. That’s the reason.

• 3. Fix responsibility and assure the consumer that the producer will maintain the standard he has adopted for his product.

Surely you want to see all the details of these reports. Read them in the January and February issues of our paper. Send in your dues at once so you will not miss even one number.           M. D. F.

Commission on Honey Sold

During 1923

The secretary’s report shows 26.-700 pounds of extracted and 56 cases of comb honey marketed on the commission basis up to the time of the convention. These sales netted a commission of $171.12. More orders are now being secured. Get all the details in the next number of our paper. RENEW TODAY.

fell your neighbor beekeepers about your association and get them to join, too.

Win a Prize!

Every member has a chance to win a prize during 1924 for securing new members. More than ten prizes were offered. Will you get one of the prizes ? Read all about this contest in the next issue of our paper.

Badger Brand Comb Honey Cartons

Attention of our members who produce comb honey! Would you be interested in a comb honey carton bearing the Badger Brand trademark ? I f so, how many could you use during 1924? Send this information in at once to your secretary so that your committee on labels, and lithograph containers may know whether a sufficient number of these can be sold to warrant our having 50,000 printed.

Lithographed Pails

We are assured that vour committee will have a satisfactory pail for the 1924 honey crop. Fill in the following blank very soon and send to the secretary’s office.

Name ..................................................

Address ..............................................

1 will purchase .......... five-pound

and.......... ten-pound of the associa

tion lithograph pails, providing such pails are satisfactory and readv bv July 1.

Honey Booklets

There are still a few thousand of the honey booklets left. If you are interested in having some of these to distribute to your customers or give to your grocer to give awav with every purchase of honey, send your order in.

\\ ISCONMN IJKllK:.I.i^{1 2}1 .XA.

to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE. I), cmiber, l‘J2J

Wisconsin beekeeping

H. F. WILSON. Editor

President................James Gwin. Gotliam

Vice President............A. A. Brown. Juneau

Treasurer..........C. W. Aeppler. Ocon-muwoc

Secretary.................Malitta D. Fischer

Registration at the 1923 Convention

	No. of	Total No.
Countv	Members	of Colonies
Brown .........	..... 1	16
Calumet .......	..... 2	592
Columbia .....	..... 1	100
Crawford _____	...... 1
Dane.............	.....10	310
Dodge...........	.......3	88
Fond du Lac	.... 3	387
Jefferson .....	..... 4	185
Juneau .........	..... 1	66
La Crosse ...	..... 2	150
Manitowoc ...	...... 3	265
Marathon .....	..... 1	80
Milwaukee ...	..... 7	469
()utagamie ...	......3	474
(Izaukee .......	...... 2	142
Price ...........	..... 1	177
Racine .........	.. 3	//
Rock .............	..... 3	100
Richland .....	...... 4	457
Shawano .....	...... 1	185
Shebovgan ...	..... 4	482
Washington	...... 3	152
Waukesha ...	...... 4	425
	—	—
	67	5.379

Out of State Ohio .................. 1

Illinois .............. 1

69

More of our members should attend the meetings. There should be at least 150 members at each convention. Make your plans now to be there next vear. been introduced in W isconsin apiaries in this way. No doubt some of the reports were not well founded, but some were. Two cases stand out particularly clear. In one the beekeeper had fought American foulbrood for a number of years, and was one of the last in his neighborhood to succeed in eradicating it. Then when it seemed safe to enlarge his apiary he bought twenty-five nuclei from a well-known breeder of the south. Imagine his feeling when he received the bees to discover his old enemy, the foulbrood, in several of the combs. These combs were shaken, but the disease was later discovered in several of the colonies by the state inspectors. There could be no mistake as to the source here, as the shaken combs were shown me.

These nuclei all bore the inspection certificate from the state inspector. Correspondence brought out the fact that the apiary was inspected a short time before and found free of disease. But soon after the inspection the owner ran short of bees to till his orders and went across the state line and bought an entire apiary without inspection. W ith these bees he tilled later orders.

It is only fair to state that he made a satisfactory settlement with this particular purchaser, but we fear there were others who did not discover the trouble in time to check it.

In another case where a large beekeeper of a northern county bought a large number of nuclei and put them in an outyard by themselves miles from other bees. American foulbrood was soon discovered among them and he recently reported to me that he had found it best to destroy the entire vard late in the fall.

W'e are glad to be able to say that no such plain cases of infection have developed from package bees.

W’e feel there is very little, if any. danger from this source if pure sugar syrup is used in the feeders.

Does Spraying Trees in Bloom Affect the Beekeeper?

Prof. R. W’. Doane, of Stanford University. California, has recently published in the Journal of Economic Entomology a paper on “Bees vs. Spraying.” In the spring of 1919 and 1920 he conducted several experiments to determine just what affect spraying would have on bees. He enclosed several trees with gauze cages; inside each of these he placed a colony of bees and then sprayed the trees. He found that the "bees visited the blossoms freely and indicates that all but a few returned to the hives. At the end of the second day after spraying the colonies were returned to the apiary where they belonged. None of the colonies showed signs of serious poison effects and continued a normal development in the apiary.

A second set of experiments was conducted by placing bees under or near trees in the open and without the gauze cages. A number of trees were sprayed with arsenate of lead and the bees watched to see if any signs of poisoning occurred. He found the bees visiting the blossoms. but could find no indications that even a few of the bees were poisoned.

He also reports that. “In the Pajaro Valley, one of our important apple-growing sections, the orchard-ists begin to spray very soon after the apple blossoms appear and continue to spray for several weeks, so the bees have every opportunity to feed on sprayed blossoms over a long period, yet we do not have any reports of spray injury to bees in that section.”

Some of our W isconsin beekeepers have reported serious losses from spray poison, and we ask that our beekeepers keep this in mind and report to us this spring if they meet with any such apparent cases. There is very little experimental evidence to show that bees are affected by spraying trees in bloom and it is quite likely that the bees are really affected by some disease. Samples of dead bees should

WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING

Supplement to WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, December, 19gJ

be gathered and sent into this office or to Dr. E. F. Phillips at Washington.                H. F. W.

Market News

We have just received a letter from Mr. R. B, Willson, of New York state, which includes prices of honey, both wholesale and retail in three of the larger cities in New York. These prices should be of interest to Wisconsin beekeepers and indicate that prices of honey is about as variable in that state as in our own. Note that in New York City and Buffalo the prices are generally higher. Beekeepers all over the United States should cooperate in establishing uniform prices.

Prices for Wisconsin are extremely variable and in many cases too low, although there has been a gradual development of higher and better prices throughout the state. Let’s all cooperate for uniform prices next year.       H. F. W. wheat, $4.75-$5.25; case fancy and No. 1 white comb, $4.80; case No. 2 white comb, $4.

Commission merchants selling:

1-qt. jars, .70-.75; 5-lb. pails clover. ,90-$l ; 5-lb. pails buckwheat, .60-.65 ; 60-lb. cans clover, $8-$9 ; 60-lb. cans buckwheat, $5.50-$6; case fancy and No. 1 white comb, $5.6O-$5.8O; No. 2 white comb, $4.60-$5.

Rochester consumer paying:

1-lb. jars clover, .25-.35; 1-qt. jars clover, ,66-.69 ; 5-lb. pails clover, .90-$1.25; comb fancy and No. 1. .25-.35; No. 2 white comb, .18-.23.

Beekeepers receiving f.o.b. their station:

1-lb. jars clover. .18-.21 ; 1-qt. jars, .33'/j-.4O; 5-lb. pails clover, .89; 5-lb. pails buckwheat, .70; case fancy and No. 1 white comb at .18-.23 section; case No. 2 white comb, 14 oz., .14-.18 section.

Would Weather Forecasts be of Value to Wisconsin Beekeepers?

Below we print an article which has just appeared in the November issue of the League Bulletin, published by The American Honey Producers’ League. Knowing that several of our Wisconsin beekeepers are already taking advantage of this service we would like to know if there are not others who would like to have such service in Wisconsin. Bv the time this is printed it will be too late to receive any reports this year, but Wisconsin beekeepers could undoubtedly receive much benefit from such reports both in the fall and in the spring. Weather reports should be of great value to the beekeeper who has to contend with dysentery and who may desire to get his bees out of the cellar earlier than normal. Even a week or ten days may mean the saving of a sufficient number of bees to make the difference between a profit and a loss. We already know that the average range of temperature at which bees may safely fly is not likely to occur after November twentieth at Madison and that one takes a great deal of risk in leaving the bees out after that date. If those who wish to leave their bees out later than that date could know beforehand when a snowstorm is likely to come, they could be warned in time to get the bees in before snow comes. Last year a good many bees were left out of doors until after the middle of December and during the week of December 12th to 17th we had one of the most severe cold spells of the year. We also know that a warm spell is likely to occur in the spring between March 20th and April 1st, although this warm period may not occur once or twice in ten or fifteen years. If we could be sure that a warm period of two or three days was likely to occur bees suffering from dysentery could be set out just previous to that time and if desirable could be put back in the cellar until after the first of April. If you are interested write Dr. S.

• B. Fracker. Secretary of the League, Madison, Wisconsin or your secretary. Mr. Wilson, at 1532 University Avenue, Madison, 'Wisconsin.

Arrangements have been completed with the United States Weather Bureau for a new service which should be of the greatest value to northern beekeepers.

It is an attempt to eliminate guessing from the beekeepers’ fall work. How many times do we hear the owner of twenty to one hundred colonies lament, as early December blizzards howl around his unprotected apiary, that he had missed that fine November day when he should have carried his bees to the cellar and that now he is due for trouble.

Bulletins and professors tell us that cellar-wintered bees should be taken in immediately after “the last fall flight.’’ Too often, hopes that the Indian summer will last a few more days, prove false, and snow finds the bees where thev can ill stand the cold weather. So much trouble is due to this cause in the northern states that a request was made to S. J. Cox, the weather bureau forecaster at Chicago, as to whether he could help us out. He believed he could.

Here's the proposal: Upon request the bureau will wire any beekeeper north of the Ohio River and anywhere between Ohio and Michigan on the east, and Wyoming and Montana on the west, whenever a day or two with a temperature of over 50 degrees and clear weather are to be followed by cloudy and colder. The only obligation is that the telegrams will be sent “collect” and the telegraph company charge will be paid by the beekeeper. That cost will in most cases be less than the value of half a pound of bees or three or four pounds of honey.

Further arrangements are being made to extend this service to the entire United States as soon as it is known what information will be of value to the beemen of Maine, Florida, Texas, Colorado and other districts. If Bulletin readers outside the cellar-wintering area know what weather forecasts they want called to their attention we feel sure they can be secured. Xews-paper reports mostly come too ' late and they do not give just what we need. Can there be anything better and cheaper than a telegram to remind us suddenly that the bee yard needs attention? If in your locality you do not need just the type of forecast given in the coupon, write what you want on the margin below it and send it in.

This is not a mere experiment.

• C. W. Aeppler has been following this plan by a special arrangement with the Milwaukee office for several years. The Meteorological Service of Great Britain has such a scheme already in operation. but there the beekeepers are charged a fee. Let's not turn down this proposition in the United States just because it's free 1

Notes from Other Sources

In the Xoveinber issue of The American Bee Journal, page 558. there is shown a picture of twcnty-lour samples of products made from lionet’ and beeswax made and sold by a French manufacturer. These products are contained in glass jars and both paper and tin boxes and are very attractive in appearance. Candies. cough drops, jams, jellies containing honey and varnishes, shoe polish and wood polish containing bees wax are included. This shows the wonderful opportunity for someone to develope similar products in America which will increase the outlet for honey and beeswax. If you have not seen this picture, borrow your neighbor’s Journal for November and look the exhibit over. It should besan inspiration.

Better Selling Methods—Easier

Selling

N. E. France. Platteville, Wis.

My first experience in the marketing of honey was at the close of the Civil War, selling comb honey at 30 cents a pound in hand-made boxes 6>4 inches square, holding six pounds. Then 1 saw an advertisement of a honey extractor with which one could take honey out of the combs and use the combs again. I got one. It had small-geared wheels on top. The entire outside can revolved, while the screen frames remained stationary inside. Combs had to be removed and the other side placed next to the screen before both sides could be extracted. The uncapping machine which came with it was a horse wire-hook currycomb. The work to produce extracted honey we considered enough, so we sold extracted honey for more than fancv comb.

City trade now is for small containers. nicely labeled, and lucky is the producer who sells standard goods with his unchangeable lake', be it in tin or glass. The Wisconsin state association lithograph pails arc advertising such goods long after the honey is consumed.

W e beekeepers have learned the page of how to produce standard goods, and but few have learned or given much thought to the page of commercial marketing. We now are where the western fruit producers were a few years ago. when the cry was overproduction and no market. How quickly their c o n d i t i o n s changed with the organization of the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange. California Prune and Apricot Growers’ Association, California Peach and Fig Growers’ Association, American Cranberry Exchange, X'ew York: Hood River Apple Growers’ Association, of Oregon; Florida Citrus Exchange. 1 might include many more that have paid great sums tor advertising and using standard containers with highly colored labels on. and who are selling from grocerv shelves all over the United States at uniform prices.

Honey producers must better educate consumers on use of honey. Advertise in a businesslike way and then we will have more demand at better prices. / have a neighbor beekeeper who is spending $lt>tl a month advertising his honey and has to buy carlots of honey to till orders. He ships his honey to all the states, Canada and Alaska. I am a small producer of from 20.000 to 45,000 pounds of honey per year, yet I never have enough for mv consumers. The fall honev is sold to bakers and in the winter for antifreeze in automobile radiators. One-half honey well mixed with soft water before using is a good anti-freeze mixture. Once filled will last all winter, as honey does not evaporate like water or alcohol.

¹

Danger in Nuclei from the South

By C. D. Adams.

Chief Apiary Inspector

²

Markets

The following data has been secured through the cooperation of local representatives of the New York State Department of Farms and Marke.ts:

New York City consumer paying:

‘/2-lb. jars, .20; 1-lb. jars. .35;

5-lb. pails, $1.35; No. 1 white comb, .50; No. 2 white comb. .40. Beekeeper receiving from large buy

ers less transportation charges and commission :

In large lots, clover, .11-.13. depending on color and quality.

No. 1 white comb, per case, $5.5O-$6: No. 2. $4.-$5; buckwheat, .09-.11.

Buffalo consumer paying:

1-qt. jars clover, .90; 5-lb. pails clover, $1.25-$1.40: 5-lb. pails buckwheat. .90; No. 1 white comb. .28-.30; No. 2 white comb. .20-.23.

Beekeeper receiving from large buyers f.o.b. beekeeper’s shipping point for:

1-qt. jars clover. ,60-.67^I/> ; 5-lb. pails clover. .80-.88: 5-lb. pails buckwheat. .52-.56; 60-lb. cans clover. $7-$8; 60-lb. cans buckFor ten cents you can secure one of these posters. Members are reporting that these posters are helping materially to sell their honev in the stores. Have yon tried them?