1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



777 



presume the question is based on the assump- 

 tion that the colony really depends upon its 

 own efforts. Well, then, the bees might select 

 a larva four days old, and build a cell around 

 it. This would leave about twelve days for the 

 young queen to hatch; say six days more to be 

 fertilized, and two days more for her to be lay- 

 ing, or, in all, about 30 days before there would 

 be a laying queen. If the bees reared a cell 

 from an egg, the young queen would hatch in 

 about 16 days. Adding 8 days more for egg- 

 laying, there will be 24 days. The answer 

 as to the time a colony may be actually out of 

 a laying queen, from date of dequeening to the 

 laying of a new one reared by the bees alone, I 

 should say would be from about 20 to 30 days. — 

 Ed.] 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' EXCHANGE. 



SOKE OF THE OBSTACLES THAT HAVE BEEN 

 MET IN A LOCAB EXCHANGE. 



By C. A. Hatch. 



While some are urging the organization of a 

 national bee-keepers' exchange to control the 

 honey market, lessen cost of supplies, etc., it 

 may be well to inquire into the workings of one 

 in actual existence, covering but a small part of 

 our national territory. The Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation of Maricopa Co., Ariz., is such a one. It 

 has been in successful operation for a number 

 of years, and at one time had quite a arge 

 membership; but at present the number is re- 

 duced by about a half, who have withdrawn 

 and started another society. It is a stock com- 

 pany, and the original shares sold for S2.50, but 

 now they cost $.5.00. The owning of a share 

 makes the owner a member, and entitles him or 

 her to one vote in the business of the society. ' "D 



The officers are the usual ones for any associ- 

 ation — president, secretary, etc. The secretary 

 is the business manager, assisted by a board of 

 directors, of which the president is an ex-officio 

 member. The secretary only gets pay for his 

 services. His salary is fixed at $100 per year, 

 and necessary expenses — telegrams, stationery, 

 postage, etc. He attends to the buying of sup- 

 plies, and selling and shipping of honey. He 

 can not buy nor sell except by consent of the di- 

 rectors. In selling, each member is independ- 

 ent; i. e., he is not by his membership bound to 

 sell through the society, but can .«hip and sell 

 his own crop if he so chooses, which is one of the 

 weaknesses of the organization; for, while one 

 half of the members might agree to sell at a cer- 

 tain price, the other half might object and thus 

 defeat the wishes of the other, not so much by 

 voting against the measure as by putting their 



honey in the same market to compete with the 

 associated product. Or the dissenting ones may 

 sell to the same parties, and sometimes defeat 

 the early shipment of the society's honey. This 

 was done in the Maricopa association this very 

 year, the buyer of the association honey being 

 compelled, to avoid competition, to buy a dis- 

 senting bee-keeper's honey, to the detriment of 

 the associated honey, as that was held back 

 from market until the other was out of the way. 

 The way to avoid these troubles would be to 

 bind each member to sell through the associa- 

 tion when a majority so votes. 



The secretary also decides how many cans of 

 a carload belong to each person, and the bee- 

 keeper is supposed to be under obligation to 

 take that number or get some one else to take 

 them if he does not use them. His duties also 

 require him to inspect honey offered for ship- 

 ment, and to see to the weighing and loading of 

 the same when delivered at the home depot. 



The expenses of the Exchange are met by a 

 tax of 4 cts. per case of cans, whether coming 

 into the association as empty cans or going out 

 as filled with honey. If a member gets his cans 

 through the society, and then sells the same 

 way when filled with honey, he has to pay 8 cts. 

 per case. This would seem to be as equitable a 

 plan for raising funds as could be devised; but 

 it is open to serious objections, giving the small 

 bee-man an undue advantage over the large 

 producer. The member with only 10 colonies 

 has as much voice in disposing of the fund so 

 raised as the one who has 600 colonies. This in 

 a measure might be overcome by giving mem- 

 bers votes according to the number of colonies 

 on hand in the spring, or according to the num- 

 ber of cases of honey shipped the year before. 



The unit rule of voting also makes trouble in 

 another way. Suppose a meeting is called to 

 determine as to sending for a carload of honey- 

 cans. Mr. A may have .500 colonies of bees, and 

 all the cans he wants; but Mr. B, with 25 colo- 

 nies, votes to send for a car, as he is out of cans. 

 His part of the carload might be 12 cases, cost- 

 ing 110.00. while Mr. A's share at the same rate 

 would be about 250 cases, costing over .?200.00, 

 which he is compelled to pay for, getting some- 

 thing he does not need and is compelled to carry 

 over to the next year, only, perhaps, to bo met 

 by the same difficulty. 



The Maricopa association confines its work to 

 buying cans and selling the product of its mem- 

 bers, although there are members who do not 

 sell through it. The hives and frames are so 

 various among the bee-keepers that no effort is 

 being made to supply them. 



I hope those who are about to organize bee- 

 keepers' exchanges may find some helpful sug- 

 gestions in this article, and profit by a Wiscon- 

 sin man's experience with an Arizona honey 

 and bee-keepers' association. 



Pasadena, Cal. 



