306 



September, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



and starving to death. I place a cloth 

 over the butter chip and entire top of 

 frames, then an empty super which I 

 fill with planer shavings, then another 

 cloth, and finish with the cover on top 

 of it. Then I have a -l-inch space all 

 around (ends and sides), which I pack 

 also with planer shavings 10 or 12 

 inches thick on top of cover. The roofs 

 of the cases are covered with tar felt. I 

 have two long cases in which I place 

 eight colonies in one and nine in the 

 other, but I use the trays the same as 

 in single cases. 



You will notice the entrance in the 

 tray corresponds with the entrance in 

 the case. I keep the bees in the cases 

 until all danger of cold nights and kill- 

 ing winds are past. 



The second photograph shows the 

 hive, tray and super in position as it 

 appears when inside the case. My 

 losses last winter were a little greater 

 than any winter before, but it was on 

 account of a lot of unsealed aster 

 honey which I am sorting out this fall. 



Photograph No. 2 shows myself and 

 good wife, who is a great assistance to 

 me in the apiary. My bees have aver- 

 aged me 7.3 pounds to the colony. We 

 have had so much rain that they had 

 too much time to loaf. While I am a 

 would-be beekeeper, I am proud to 

 realize that I am slowly improving, 

 thanks to the American Bee Journal 

 and other good bee-literature which I 

 obtain. 



Mio, Mich. 



Why Honey Producers Should 

 Organize? 



BY R. C. GANO. 



A NUMBER of doubts have been ex- 

 pressed and objections voiced re- 

 garding the plan for a national 

 organization of honey producers, dis- 

 cussed in the March issue of American 

 Bee Journal, underthe title, "A National 

 Public ity Campaign for Honey " One 

 of the most valid was that while the 

 annual production of honey is probably 

 in excess of the annual production of 

 oranges and lemons, most of the honey 

 producers carry honey as an unimpor- 

 tant side line, probably less thfin 200 

 producers depend solely upon honey 



for their livelihood. It was argued that 

 while citrus growers have their primary 

 interest in their orchards and can thus 

 afford to take the trouble of cooperat- 

 ing, only a few honey producers con- 

 sider this part of their production im- 

 portant enough to take unusual pains 

 with the marketing. 



This situation certainly complicates 

 the problem, which was complicated 

 enough before this point was brought 

 up. With other objections that 

 have been raised it makes the fact 

 apparent that national publicity for 

 honey, joined in by the entire industry, 

 while it would undoubtedly be a good 

 thing, is so far ahead that it becomes 

 necessary to urge the preliminary steps 

 towards it on their own merit. A great 

 many producers will feel this way: 

 " Oh, what you say may be true, and we 

 would like bigger demand and higher 

 prices; but it's too long a haul. There 

 is too big a preliminary investment of 

 time and trouble." The only answer 

 to that is to show that the preliminary 

 steps would pay, themselves, even be- 

 fore the bigger ideas were achieved. 



The first step towards national or- 

 ganization of honey producers should 

 be local organization. The producer 

 can't be blamed for refusing to organize 

 locally if it is going to cost him money 



in the first few years until a national 

 organization is formed ; especially when 

 he realizes things may go wrong and a 

 national organization may never be 

 formed. But suppose it can be shown 

 that local organization would pay of 

 itself, and be a good investment of time 

 and trouble, even if no bigger organi- 

 zation were ever attempted. Then he 

 might well consider taking part in a 

 local organization plan. 



What are the benefits of a purely 

 local organization ? Do they pay by 

 themselves, in any agricultural indus- 

 try ? Would they pay in the honey 

 industry ? 



In an endeavor to answer this ques- 

 tion at least in part, a query was sent 

 to a district exchange within the Cali- 

 fornia Fruit Growers' Exchange, and 

 here is the reply: "Organizations for 

 the purpose of marketing would be in- 

 eflfectual and useless, we maintain, op- 

 erating as independent local associa- 

 tions. All they could accomplish would 

 be possible uniformity of the product 

 through pooling interests, establish- 

 ment of a regular brand, and reduction 

 of handling costs by cooperating in 

 the preparation of the product for mar- 

 ket." 



This statement, on analysis, is not so 

 unfavorable to local associations as it 



APIARY OF JOHN A, STEVENS AT MIO. MICH. 



A PACKED AND AN UNPACKED COLONY IN THE APIARY OF J. A. STEVENS 



may sound. The writer, in saying "for 

 the purpose of marketing" evidently 

 means ''for the purpose of controlling 

 or influencing market prices:" because 

 he goes on to show that in other ways 

 local associations are not ineffectual 

 and useless. What are the things that 

 he says local associations can accom- 

 plish ? 



1. Uniformity of the product. 



2. Establishment of a regular brand. 



3. Reduction of handling costs in 

 preparation of product for market. 



From the standpoint of the California 

 Citrus Exchange it is entirely proper 

 to regard a local as by itself ineffectual 

 and useless. One of the citrus locals 

 would certainly appear so if it seceded 

 from the Exchange. Yet it is well to 

 remember that the locals out in the 

 citrus territory are the very heart and 

 sinew of the larger organizations. 



BENEFITS FROM LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS. 



When every citrus grower was for 



