June. 1912, 



American Vee Journal 



soning that the queen would thus be 

 prevented from going with the swarm, 

 and that the bees would return to the 

 old hive upon finding no queen witli 

 them. All that is true enough. But 

 that is not the end of it. 



Very likely the bees would swarm 

 again the next day, possibly more than 

 once, and possibly on succeeding days. 

 Then in about 8 days — more or less — 

 the first virgin would hatch, and then 

 the fun would begin in earnest. The 

 old queen would likely be killed, the 

 bees would swarm and swarm, likely 

 until all the virgins had left their cells 

 and fought until only one was left alive, 

 and then if the trap was still left at the 

 entrance the remaining virgin could 

 not leave the hive to be fertilized, and 

 would be a drone-layer if a layer at all. 



You evidently have a feeling that you 

 can not succeed at finding queens. 

 Please don't feel that way. " If at first 

 you don't succeed" — you know the 

 rest. Just keep a lookin'. But don't 

 look too long at a time. After you 

 have looked over all the frames per- 

 haps the second time unsuccessfully, 

 just close the hive until an hour later 

 or until another day. And when you 

 do find a queen, it's such fun. But 

 after you have had much experience at 

 it, you may still find times when a 

 queen in some mysterious way escapes 

 your eye. and you may as well give up 

 the search. The writer has found thou- 

 sands of queens, sometimes 50 or more 



on the same day, but many a time has 

 had to acknowledge defeat and close 

 the hive until another time. 



You say you are going to put on ex- 

 tracting-combs. Thanks for that in- 

 formation. For that lets out the fact 

 that you are working for extracted 

 honey, and in that case you may use 

 the Demaree plan to prevent swarming. 

 Many report the plan a perfect success, 

 while some report exceptions. Let us 

 hope that you will have no exceptions. 

 Here is the plan: A little before time 

 for swarming, put all the frames of the 

 colony in the upper story, leaving 

 empty combs or frames filled with 

 foundation, and also the queen in the 

 lower story; a queen-excluderbetween 

 the two stories. Never mind where the 

 bees are, they'll take care to divide 

 themselves properly between the two 

 stories. It may be well to leave one 

 of the brood-frames below, and to kill 

 all queen-cells in the upper story a 

 week or 10 davs later. 



Marking the Hive Tool 



After hunting two hours one hot day in 

 July for my hive tool, which I had lost in 

 the deep grass near the apiary, when found 

 I thought to myself. life is too short to hunt 

 for lost tools, so I tied a piece of bright red 

 flannel to my hive tool, and if I lose it again 

 I can easily find it. " A word to the wise is 

 sufficient." Ima. 



Another good way is to paint the 

 hive tool red. 



Em) Western ^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder, Colo. 



Honey— The Consumer's Dollar, and Who 

 Gets It ? 



The " consumer's dollar " and the 

 parties who get the big end of it is an 

 interesting subject to me. 



The Department of Agriculture gives 

 the average production of a colony of 

 bees at 25 pounds yearly. As most of 

 the honey produced is comb honey, 

 and that is the kind I am familiar with, 

 I will endeavor to show what share, as 

 nearly as I can, each one in the move- 

 ment from the producer to the con- 

 sumer gets for his trouble. 



One hundred colonies of bees, with 

 equipment to manage them, will repre- 

 sent an investment of about .$6il0. and 

 out of the proceeds from the honey 

 sold will have to come the interest on 

 the investment, taxes, depreciation, re- 

 painting, etc. 



For harvesting a crop of 25 pounds, 

 we will require the following supplies : 



1000 section-honey boxes at $5 $15.00 



100 shipping- caSes at 20c 20.00 



20 pounds comb foundation at 60c... 12.00 

 10 new hives for swarms, with supers 25.00 



New tools— smokers, veils, etc 2.50 



Freight, drayage and incidentals 8.50 



Total 183.00 



This makes a total expense of $8.3 for 

 supplies to produce and prepare for 

 market 100 cases of honey. Most of 

 the comb honey here in the West is 



bought up by jobbers or dealers from 

 the Middle 'iVestern cities — St. Louis, 

 Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, 

 Chicago, etc. 



This year the price ran from $2.25 for 

 second grade to $2.50 for No. 1— both 

 ways; less being paid in some instances 

 and more in a few others for the very 

 choice graded stock. The buyer pays 

 cash for the honey f. o. b., and from 

 2 or 3, to a dozen or 20 producers put 

 in their honey to fill the car. 



Here are the figures : 



t)0 cases of Xo. i at $2.50 $150.00 



40 cases No. 2 at J2.25 90.00 



Total .$240.00 



This gives a total of $240 for the crop, 

 and subtracting the expenses, $8.3, 

 leaves $157 for the producer, to pay him 

 for his labor, interest on the invest- 

 ment, keep up repairs, pay taxes, etc. 



Now let us follow this honey to mar- 

 ket and see who gets the big slices. 

 The buyer of the honey from the pro- 

 ducer is primarily a speculator, and is 

 going to sell for all he can get, so he 

 fixes the price at a figure where he can 

 make about a dollar a case, 'ometimes 

 more and sometimes less. He will dis- 

 tribute the car around among the 

 wholesalers, giving them 10 percent 

 commission — sometimes a little larger 

 commission. I find that comb honey 

 retails for 18 to 25 cents in the markets 



where our Western honey is sold, and 

 this is about the way it goes to the con- 

 sumer: 



20 cases No. i (24 lbs. to the case) at 

 25c. $6 $120.00 



40 cases No. i at 22'Ac. or $5.40 a case 216.00 



30 cases No. 2. retailine at 20c. or 

 $4.80 a case 144.00 



10 cases No. 2, retailine at 18c, or 

 $4 32 a case 43.20 



Total $523.20 



This makes a total of $523.20 that the 

 consumers pay for this honey. 



The producer gets $157 of the $523.20, 

 or 30 cents of the dollar; railroads get 

 $3.5, or 6-3; bee-supply manufacturers 

 get $70, or IS',, ; the jobber gets $100, 

 or 19; wholesaler gets $-10, or 7-3; re- 

 tailer gets $121.20, or23'3; consumers 

 pay $523.20, or $1.00. 



The jobber, wholesaler, and retailer 

 are getting 50 cents of every dollar for 

 the distribution, while the work done 

 by the producer, the railroads and the 

 bee-supply manufacturer and his dealer 

 get the other 50 cents. Much is still to 

 be done in reducing railroad rates, and 

 perhaps the bee-supply manufacturers 

 are charging all the traffic will bear, 

 but the big thing to be accomplished is 

 to cut down the 50 cents the middlemen 

 get to about 10 cents. Lender our pres- 

 ent system of distribution this is not 

 possible, but it is under co-operation, 

 which will bring the producer and con- 

 sumer together. 



Now, as to the damage that this big 

 profit in the hands of the jobber, whole- 

 saler and retailer does: It gives the 

 jobber the means to "doctor " the mar- 

 ket reports by reporting an immense 

 crop in California, or the East, as his 

 fancy or interest dictates. He sends 

 out crop reports forour enlightenment, 

 telling us that there is a large crop, 

 and that the earlier we sell the better. 

 The wholesaler and retailer cry " hard 

 times," honey will not sell, and there is 

 no demand for luxuries. The price 

 goes down until the market is supplied 

 by us poor fellows who need the money 

 for our honey, and we sell at such a 

 figure that the middlemen can make a 

 fine thing with fancy comb honey for 

 the early winter and Christmas trade. 

 Yes, it is very evident that the -50 cents 

 the middleman takes from us is used 

 as a fund to keep the .50cent pieces 

 coming his way, and if possible in- 

 crease the .50 cents to 60 or 6-5. Parcel 

 post and co-operation will : tart things 

 the other way all right. 



Bee-Culture Still in the Woods 



Admitting that progress has been 

 rapid in the development of bee-keep- 

 ing practice, the observer of condi- 

 tions, the wide country over, realizes 

 full well that development has been 

 along but a narrow margin of the 

 field. There may be 40,000 keepers of 

 bees who are more or less awake to 

 the advancing methods, but we have 

 700,000 bee-keepers in the United States. 

 For the last 10 years we have been los- 

 ing 10,000 bee-keepers each year. At 

 this rate, bee-culture would be an ex- 

 tinct industry, the bees but a memory, 

 and honey one sweet dream in 70 years. 



One progressive bee-man in 17 is 

 hardly enough of a saving grain of salt 

 for the pursuit. He is overwhelmed by 

 the "fear thought," so that it is pretty 



