190 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



of the means of production and distri- 

 bution? The farmers own some 30 

 stores in Colorado at the present time, 

 and they are fast multiplying." 



Personally I am in sympathy with 

 the principal of co-operation. It is sur- 

 prising how this movement is gaining 

 ground among the producing class. Its 

 ultimate success is only a matter of 

 time. 



But I am not in sympathy with about 

 99 per cent of the co-operative plans ad- 

 vocated. I should judge that the Bould- 

 er store mentioned in the above article 

 is one of the 99. Price-cutting and 

 something-for-nothing plans have been 

 tried and failed. They always will fail. 

 Reduce your price ; your competitor 

 does likewise, and away go your props 

 from under you. The fellow who 

 didn't co-operate gets as much benefit 

 as the one who did. Hence the co-oper- 

 ator gets dissatisfied, enthusiasm 

 changes to indifference, and your ven- 

 ture is a failure. 



It is all right to say that your co- 

 operators will stand by your plan on 

 loj^alty. A few of them will, but the 

 majority will not. You must show 

 them the benefits by definite results. 

 You have the weakness of human na- 

 ture to deal with, and your plan must 

 meet that condition. 



Is there such a plan? There certainly 

 is. It has been in operation in England 

 for years. With a few changes it can 

 be adapted to this country. I will try 

 and tell vou more about it later. 



LOCAL SHIPMENTS OF COMB 

 HONEY. 



Read at the Colorado Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention 



BY FR.\NK R.\UCHFUSS. 



Owing to an almost entire honey crop 

 failure in Northern Colorado during 

 the season of 1910, local shipments of 

 comb honey from other sections of the 

 State became necessary. Some of these 



shipments were made by express, but 

 most of them by freight, as our expe- 

 rience in former years with express 

 companies has been that it is simply a 

 matter of paying higher charges for a 

 poor service. 



Having received many local ship- 

 ments during the past fall, ranging in 

 lots of 12 cases to several hundred 

 cases, and in distance of shipment from 

 75 to 450 miles, we have had plenty of 

 opportunity to experiment as to what is 

 needed to make the shipping of small 

 lots of comb honey during cool or cold 

 weather a success, and will herewith 

 give some of our observations : 



While warm weather prevailed ship- 

 ments came through in fairly good con- 

 dition. 



When cold nights came on, no ship- 

 ment arrived in good condition when 

 cases were shipped singly (glass always 

 protected by thin boards), whether 

 packed in single or double tier cases. 



Honey in double-tier cases came 

 through with much less breakage than 

 that in single-tier cases. 



Honey produced without bottom 

 starters in the sections broke down 

 more than with the bottom starters. 



Single-tier cases and also double-tier 

 cases crated together with lath (4 cases 

 in a crate) came through in very bad 

 condition; however, in explanation it 

 may be stated that these came the long- 

 est distance, and were transferred twice 

 in transit, and the damage most likely 

 was done in the transferring by tumb- 

 ling the crates around, as they have no 

 projecting handles. 



Single-tier cases with the new and 

 much-praised sliding covers have proven 

 a dismal failure, as the cases had to be 

 tied with string in transit to keep them 

 from falling apart. 



Large printed cards with lengthy in- 

 structions to freight handlers proved of 

 little or no value; evidently they were 

 too long to be read. 



