46 



GlyEANINGS IN BEE CUI.TURE. 



Jan 15 



Think of a ride on the cars from Chicago, for in- 

 •stance, from three to four days, first through our 

 fertile neighboring States, then over the vast desert 

 of waste land and mountains of the far West. How- 

 ever, this would not be so bad if the railroad company 

 did not charge you a small fortune to get there. Then 

 our freight charges aie something awful. Suppose I 

 order a carload of bee-fixtures from the East to be laid 

 down in Reno, Nevada. My goods go no further than 

 Reno, but the company charges me with freight to San 

 Francisco, and then back freight again to Reno Of 

 cour.se, they are the big fish and I am of the little fish, 

 and during the present state of political corruption, 

 and as long as the men who make our laws can be 

 bought and bribed to do as the big fish dictate, regard- 

 less of the rights of the people, the little fish must 

 either submit to their robbery and be sa'allowed alive, 

 or keep out of their way. There are hopes, however, 

 that such things will some day be modified, for the 

 people will not always be silent. 



Comment is needless. 



The writer says alfalfa is cut there in its 

 best bloom for koney. The past season the 

 bees did not work more than seven or eight 

 days on each crop before it was cut. It is of 

 the sweet-clover order. It commences to 

 bloom about July 1, and will bloom for ten 

 weeks or more if not cut. "What a lot of 

 sweet could be produced from 1000 acres of al- 

 falfa raised for seed!" Mr. York gives his 

 readers a fine picture of Mr. Hammersmark 

 and his little son, one of the finest-looking 

 boys I ever saw. 



CO OPERATIVE ORGANIZED WORK. 



Its Benefits Demonstrated ; Conditions Demand 



Co-operation ; the Colorado Honey-producers' 



Association; an Information Scheme. 



BY R. C. AIKI.V. 



It is now time that we begin to think about 

 what we are to do in the way of perfecting the 

 organizing of bee-keepers. We need to co- 

 operate in a way (or ways) not yet touched. 

 I propose here to follow out more in detail the 

 lines touched upon in my essay before the Na- 

 tional Association at Chicago in August last. 



I will again refer to the matter of marketing 

 small fruits as practiced here at Loveland. I 

 have before mentioned the matter, but we 

 have since passed through another fruit sea- 

 son, and the results prowing out of the system 

 we practice are a good illustration of some of 

 the points I wish to get before the bee-keep- 

 ing public. 



Before the fruit growers organized, every 

 man shipped for himself or sold to the local 

 stores, and they each shipped separately. 

 There was no system. I did not know what 

 my neighbor was doing, nor he of me. We 

 were just as likely to ship all the same day to 

 the same town and same firm. You see one 



house might be badly overloaded, and anoth- 

 er house or market have none. Such things 

 result in a glut, demoralized prices, and spoil- 

 ed berries. S3meb ody loses heavily, dealers 

 are disgusted, hard feelings are engendered, 

 and it is unsatisfactory all around. 



Besides other difficulties, the individual 

 growers were not all posted as to reliable 

 firms, or the methods of doing business, the 

 needs of this and that about putting up the 

 fruit, what trains best to ship on, etc. As a 

 result, there were rascally firms that never 

 paid, things were going wrong here and there, 

 and very many discouragements. 



The people organized, and a buying and sell- 

 ing agent was employed. The people report 

 to the agent the prospective need of boxes and 

 crates, and these are ordered in car lots, all be- 

 ing regular, and a good supply on hand. The 

 growers produce the berries, and deliver them 

 at certain hours at the depot, each grower's 

 number on the crates, and there the grower's 

 trouble ends. The agent takes the fruit ; 

 ships, collects, and pays over the money when 

 the returns are in. The agent begins to hunt 

 up and book his customers before the fruit 

 comes on, so that, when it does begin to come, 

 he knows just where to place it. He keeps in 

 touch, daily, with all the consuming territory 

 — mail, telephone, and telegraph keep him 

 posted as to supply and demand in the various 

 markets, so that there is an equal distribution. 



He also has the commercial rating of the 

 houses, besides knowing personally very many 

 of them and what to expect of them. All this 

 brings the business to a system, and there is 

 economy in distribution, in collecting; in 

 every way the business is more satisfactory. 

 The poor widow with her few rows of berries 

 and half a dozen crates to market, gets her 

 product sold just as quickly, just as safely, 

 and at the same expense or commission, as the 

 wealthiest grower in the whole country. I 

 produce some fruit ; and were I obliged to 

 market for myself I should have to quit the 

 fruit, for I can not leave my bee and honey 

 work to putter with a few crates of berries ; 

 but by the aid of the association system my 

 berries are put into the agent's hands, and I 

 have no more bother but to draw my pay by 

 and by. 



As I have repeatedly said in print, and by 

 word of mouth, our commercial systems de- 

 mand a.xi.^ must have co-operation. Sending 

 our products so far and into the hands of per- 

 fect strangers, trusting strangers to get the 

 goods transported, etc., all demand that we 

 get all done by co operation and a complete 

 system. A little community doing business 

 by itself, and having no dealings with the 

 outside world, has little or no need of all this 

 organizing ; but the more fa*- -reaching, the 

 more we need organized effort. Do not get 

 scared at the thought of organizing, and cry 

 " trust." There are right and wrong motives. 

 A robbing trust is the rascal's machinery ; but 

 a trust to facilitate and improve our methods 

 is a grand and a good thing — our weapon of 

 defense against robbers, and a mutual help 

 and protection. The Loveland Fruit growers' 

 Association is no robber's scheme. Without 



