438 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



July 11, 1901. 



seem to have some members who do not understand this, 

 and more that are not members that don't understand it. 

 They come to us like this : What are the prospects for 

 honey this year, and what is the condition of the market ? 

 I have a crop of honey to sell. I wish to cooperate with 

 you. I wish to sell my honey myself. I don't wish to 

 undersell you. What price shall I hold at ?" All this infor- 

 mation he conies for has cost the Association hard money. 

 But wherein does he co-operate when he does not offer a 

 cent for this valuable information ? 



The question that is to come before you is, " How can 

 we org-anize throug-hout the State and make an equal and 

 just distribution of expense to all concerned ?" To make 

 co-operation a success, all must co-operate, otherwise there 

 is friction. To have a successful, intelligent and just 

 co-operation throuffhout the State, there should be a certain 

 office with a manager in charge who will find out, first, the 

 supply of honey throughout the country, so as to know the 

 condition of the market. He should then be posted on the 

 amount of honey we have in our Association. He is then 

 in shape to negotiate in different parts of the East so as to 

 sell at the best possible advantage. 



Now that we have the central office working, we will 

 proceed to organize local associations, which are to be a 

 part of the main association. This local association shall 

 have an office the same as the main one ; shall also have a 

 management to correspond with the main office. He shall 

 receive all the honey and see that it is properly graded and 

 classified. He should ascertain how much each member 

 has, and report the same to the general office as soon as 

 possible. The manager of the local point should rent a 

 place for storage and should send a printed notice to each 

 member, saying on what day or days of the week he will 

 receive the honey. Then on the designated days (say Fri- 

 day and Saturday) he can be there and take the honey. 

 One day in the week will make the expense light, and in 

 small towns storage can be rented quite cheaply. 



When the honey is ready he should see to loading the 

 car and billing it out. All this to be done under instruc- 

 tions from the general manager. This expense of rent, 

 salary, insurance and of loading should be paid from the 

 general office. 



The freight from all points in Eastern Colorado is the 

 same, hence all will pay to the central office the same per- 

 cent for selling the honey. That is, the general office pays 

 all expense for storage, salary, etc., and the producers in all 

 parts of the State pay the same for handling. To be sure 

 to have all expense paid, we will say we make the commis- 

 sion ten percent. Then at the annual meeting in January, 

 we have the business summed up and a rebate declared to 

 each member, proportioned according to commission he has 

 paid. This will be absolute justice to each member, and if 

 our local association has only a part of a car it can be 

 loaded and shipped to the association in the next town. In 

 such a case, there is a charge of five dollars for switching 

 the cars ; this to be paid by the local association that has 

 only part of a car, and in case each town has only a part of 

 a car this expense should be borne equally by them. 



Co-operation carried on in this way will enable the gen- 

 eral manager to do all the corresponding with parties East, 

 and perhaps sending a few telegrams. Unless there is har- 

 mony among the local associations, such as I have des- 

 cribed, there must be friction, the same as we had when 

 selling as individuals. Buyers will take advantage of this 

 and we lose the good that should come through co-oper- 

 ation. 



So far, I have not touched on the supply business. 

 This can be managed the same as the honey. If local 

 points wish part of a car, they can have the car so loaded 

 at the factory, that part can be discharged at one station 

 and part at another, and pay a little extra to have the car 

 moved to the next point, and parties at this point should 

 pay the extra charge. I would also suggest that the local 

 managers be directors and should meet in conjunction with 

 the board of directors, elected by the Association. The 

 membership fee of the local association should be the same 

 — ten dollars. This shoifld go to the State Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' Association. Each division should be known by 

 letter, as, for an illustration, Longmonl, Division A ; the 

 next locality that organizes, Division B. Such an organi- 

 zation throughout Colorado will enable us to do business in 

 a very intelligent way. The expense for negotiating the 

 sales of the whole crop done through one head will be but 

 very little more than for a part of the crop. The price can 

 be maintained because we are not selling against each 

 other. The larger we can make our Association, the more 

 widely will our influence be felt throughout the country. 



We soon would be a concern that would be known by 

 every buyer throughout the land. We would be a powerful 

 factor in selling honey in our own State, as we would have 

 strength enough to push our products into the most remote 

 parts of it. We would classify our honey and have a 

 brand, which, when established, would be always called for, 

 as people would know exactly what to order, and would 

 know that the honey would be the same each time. 



I hope that we may have an organization that will be 

 patronized by all. It is surely true that an organization of 

 this kind will benefit every bee-keeper that produces a 

 pound of honey to sell, whether he supports the organiza- 

 tion or not. 



No. 7.- 



Practical Lessons for Beginners in Bee- 

 Culture. 



BY J. D. GEHRING. 

 (Continued from pape 40S.) 



MR. BOND drove into our yard the next morning while 

 we were yet at the breakfast table, and proceeded to 

 unhitch his team without waiting for an invitation. 

 Hastily excusing myself to my family, I went out and 

 found him tying his horses at the watering-trough, about 

 50 feet distant from his wagon. As he came to meet me he 

 began the following explanation : 



" I'm on hand earlier than you expected, you see. Well, 

 when I got home last night and explained things about my 

 all-day's absence my wife laughed and told me that she 

 and Harry had done some bee-business, too. ' The little 

 fellow,' she said, 'while playing in the grove, found a 

 large swarm of bees hanging to a limb of a small tree ; 

 and we hived it.' Well, when I went to look at it the 

 idea came into my head like a flash, that the best thing for 

 me to do with that swarm would be to bring it along with 

 me this morning and get you to put it into one of your 

 hives for me. Then I could take it back home with me in 

 the evening. There it is," he concluded, pointing to the 

 wagon. " I tied it up in a sheet to keep the bees in the 

 hive. But some of them got out in spite of my precaution. 



"I expected they would attack me and the horses, but 

 they didn't ; they just flew around about the hive, and 

 somehow managed to keep up with the wagon till I got 

 here. But, you see, more and more kept coming out. 

 That's the reason why I was in such a hurry to get the 

 horses unhitched." 



"That's a new idea of yours, Mr. Bond," I replied. 

 "But I'm thinking that the scheme will not work out as 

 you have planned, because I have an idea of my own about 

 it : I'll furnish the hive and tell you what to do, but I shall 

 expect you to do the work of transferring the bees. First, 

 however, it will be proper to put your horses in the stable, 

 for the job will have to be done right here ; or near by, at 

 any rate. 



" You see, Mr. Bond," I continued, seeing by a look in 

 his face that he did not approve of my plan, " if we carry 

 that bundle of yours over to the apiary and you do the 

 transferring there, all these bees here that are flying 

 around where they know the hive to be, will be lost to the 

 swarm, because we can't make them follow us. That loss 

 you can't afford, for, as you see, there are now several 

 thousand outside, and more coming out all the time. There 

 is no help for it, that I see, and no time to be thrown away 

 in discussing the matter ; therefore, while I go and get a 

 hive, and my smoker, and a bee-veil for you, you hurry 

 those horses into the stable. I'll be back inside of five 

 minutes." 



Well, to tell the story as briefly as possible, inside of 

 30 minutes Mr. Bond's bees were contentedly humming 

 within and near one of my 10-frame hives. Quite natur- 

 ally he regarded those flying bees as very dangerous ene- 

 mies until I explained to him that bees thus situated never, 

 or seldom, attack any one. 



After carefully adjusting his bee-veil I assisted Mr. 

 Bond in lifting his unique bundle out of the wagon, and 

 together we carried it to a shady corner of the barn-yard, 

 where I had placed my hive. Setting it down he — follow- 

 ing my instructions — untied the corners of the sheet and 

 laid, the ends out flat, one end toward the new hive and as 

 close as possible up to the bee-entrance. Then he tipped 

 the box over and carefully laid it on its side, with the open 

 end, or bottom, toward and near to the bee-entrance of the 

 new hive. In the top-end of the box-hive had been bored 

 two one-inch holes for bee-escapes, which were plugged. 

 Withdrawing these plugs Mr. Bond began blowing smoke 



