August, 1912. 



23S- 



American liee Journal 



7 cents per pounJ, but instead of doing 

 this I advertised in local papers, and 

 sold quite an amount direct to the con- 

 sumers. The cost of advertising was 

 about ") percent of the sales, and I got 

 10 cents a pound for extracted honey. 

 1 did the middlemen's work for less 

 than thev could afford to do it. 



At the present time, I am selling 

 honey direct to a tea and coflfee sales- 

 man who sells the honey as a side line 

 on his route in an l'".astern city. This 

 honey nets me 11 cents for extracted, 

 and in this deal I have eliminated all 

 the middlemen but the last one, the re 

 tailer. He sells for one dollar a o- 

 pound package of extracted honey that 

 costs liim tJ.') cents laid down at his 

 station. I do not begrudge him the 

 profit, but at the same time when I can 

 deliver .'i or 10 pound pails of honey by 

 parcels post direct to the consumer, 

 and save the retailer's profit, I am 

 going to do it and give the retailer of 

 food products a chance to get into 

 something that pays better. I would 

 not trade places with many retailers 

 that I know. They do not make a 

 great deal of money, and their methods 

 are too costlv. We must have a more 

 economical method of distribution. 



It is hardly a just measure to figure 

 the profits in bee-keeping by Mr. 

 Fehleisen's method. I do not know 

 how much salary be pays himself, nc- 

 how much money lie has invested. I 

 will say, though, that I would consider 

 a man on rather uncertain ground who 

 was not making as much from the capi- 

 tal invested as the prevailing rate of 

 interest at the banks, and that rate is 8 

 percent in Mr. Fehleisen's State. 



The book-keeper for a local lumber 

 yard told me that $2o,00u was the least 

 amount that would be required to start 

 a lumber yard, and Mr. Fehleisen has 

 two yards. Most lumbermen that I 

 know got their start in the lumber 

 business. There is not a bee-keeper 

 in the whole United States who has 

 made as much money out of the busi- 

 ness as is represented in any of the 

 three lumber yards in our little town 

 of Boulder. The homes and manner 

 of living of the owners of these yards 

 prove it. 



.\t the present time native lumber 

 can be bought at the sawmills in Col- 

 orado for $10 to $li) a thousand feet. 

 It retails at from $-•') to $30 a thousand 

 feet. Several years ago we bought 

 lumber of a sawmill and had it deliv- 

 ered in Boulder for $12 a thousand, 

 when the retail price was $20. The 

 sawmill man said he was selling it to 

 us at the same price that the lumber 

 dealers paid him. 



The whole trouble is, that there are 

 too many middlemen after the business, 

 and in some lines there is scarcely 

 anything in it for them. If we can 

 cheapen tlie methods of distribution, 

 who has any fault to find ? If a dealer 

 can furnish me with a product cheaper 

 than I can get it by going after it my- 

 self. I am going to get it from the 

 dealer. I can buy hay and grain of the 

 farmers cheaper than from the feed 

 dealers in Boulder, and I can sell 

 honey to the consumercheaper than he 

 can buy it of the dealer and retailer. 



Mr. Fehleisen figures that I can care 

 for bees at the rate of $1.00 a colony 

 per annum. It cannot be done and 



give a man fair pay for his time. It 

 takes a good man to care for .^OO colo- 

 nies without help, and there are none 

 that I know of that are doing it with- 

 out some help. A man who can care 

 for .'lOO colonies would earn only $.'J00 

 a year. A man of this ability can make 

 two or three times as much at any 

 other business. It is impossible to 

 support a family in comfort on $."iOO a 

 year, and $1000 a year is small enough 

 if the children are to have any advan- 

 tages, and the elders any respite. 1 

 should say that $2 to $3 a colony would 

 be nearer what it is worth to care for 

 bees. 



I will admit that I wish to eliminate 

 paying an excessive toll to the middle- 

 men for selling me a hat, a pair of 

 shoes, or a suit of clothes, but I will 

 not succeed until co-operative effort 

 has had a larger measure of success. I 

 have eliminated the middleman in a 

 few instances, and know that his profit 

 feels good in my own pocket, and all 

 that is necessary is to keep pushing on. 

 The middleman will live freer when 

 there are not too many of " him." 

 There will always be the need of men 

 to bring tlie things we want and take 

 the things we don't want, but the faster 

 we can eliminate the ones who are in 

 the way, waiting for a chance to bring 

 and carry, the better it will be for both 

 producer and middleman. The pro- 

 ducer must learn to co-operate before 

 we can hope for any marked improve- 

 ment. What I know of co-operation 

 and direct dealing has seemed good, 

 and so I am working to extend it 

 farther. I hope that this will not be 

 considered as kicking on the middle- 

 man. 



Colonies Deserting Their Hives 



The loss of bees in Montrose county 

 was recorded some time ago. A re- 

 cent trip has shown me some of the 

 facts about this loss. Last season's 

 crop was poor — less than one case of 

 honey to tlie hive. The quality was be- 

 low normal, also. The fall flow did 

 not materialize, and too many old bees 

 went into winter quarters. The poor 

 quality of the honey caused it to granu- 

 late in the comb. A prolonged rainy 

 season in October did not help the 

 bees any. Most of the bees weathered 

 through until March, though most were 

 very weak. In March they began to 

 die, and in June the bees were still de- 

 serting their hives, leaving brood, 

 honey and pollen. 



More pickled brood developed this 

 spring than I ever saw. Many colonies 

 were so weakened that they perished. 

 Others had an abundance of brood com- 

 pared with the number of bees to care 

 for it. This was the most noticeable 

 phase of the trouble. Absconding soon 

 followed this symptom. Any light on 

 the cause of this trouble, if what I have 

 mentioned cannot be a sulllcient cause, 

 will be thankfully received. In some 

 yards 2-') percent of the bees were left 

 in June; in others but very few. 



The Montrose county bee-men are 

 like others — they do not keep bees as 

 well as they might. More equalizing 

 of stores, capped and hatching brood 

 would have cured this trouble very 

 largely. Where the queens were poor, 

 the colonies went sooner, but many 



with capable queens perished for lack 

 of young bees and hope. Bees can 

 stand only so much discouragement, 

 the same as folks. The crop in Mon- 

 trose county will be of small shipping 

 importance this year. The larger pro- 

 ducers are working for increase with 

 the hope of filling their empty hives. 



Fall feeding and removing the old 

 honey would have prevented this loss 

 very nuich. A watch of the queens, 

 and seeing that the bees enter the win- 

 ter with a fine force of youngsters, is a 

 crying need of the bee-man's practice. 

 We are not good enough bee-keepers. 

 Our honey crops have been too easily 

 seciired. We do not know how to buck 

 a stiff proposition. 



Bees On Forest Reserves in California 



The following is a line of work ad- 

 vocated by the California Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, and it is hoped that the 

 bee-men will find it protitable to lease 

 these ranges for the pasturage of bees 

 alone : 



The committee on forest reserves, by its 

 chairman. E. B. Shaffner. reported as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Tliat it be the sense of this committee 

 that there are vast tracts of vaUiable bee- 

 range on forest reserves that will produce 

 annually more profit from honey production 

 than from any other industry, and that as 

 such should be protected by the Govern- 

 ment for this industry: 



2. We recommend that apiaries be not 

 located closer than t miles apart. 



3. That 10 cents per colony is a reasonable 

 charge for range location. 



4. That the Government be requested to 

 reserve roadways to apiaries through home- 

 stead entries. 



5. That sheep and goats be excluded from 

 such points of reserves as are set apart for 

 bees 



6. That Government permit bee-keepers 

 to remove wild bees from forest reserves 

 where the same can be done without tlie de- 

 struction of timber of commercial \alue. 



Tin Comb-Honey Package 



Mr. Paul Hunten, of Somerset, has 

 sent out to many prominent bee-keep- 

 ers sample supers of his section-hold- 

 ers, and the new tin section and sani- 

 tary honey package. The inside of the 

 tin sections are waxed to facilitate the 

 secure fastening of the comb to the 

 tin. One section in each super is left 

 unwaxed to test whether the wa.xing is 

 necessary. There is one thing about 

 this package that is fine — it is attrac- 

 tive and clean. The section-tin pack- 

 ages are not on the market as yet, and 

 are in process of test. The outcome 

 will be interesting. Mr. Hunten has 

 gone to considerable expense in get- 

 ting the thing to going, and I hope he 

 will succeed. 



[If the new departure proves prac- 

 tical, a description of it will be given 

 in the Bee Journal later. — Eiutor.] 



Grading Honey 



A bee-meeting in the \\ est appro.xi- 

 mates a national political convention 

 •when the grading rules for honey are 

 considered. It seems to bring out all 

 the pronounced ideas a man has. Mr. 

 Rauchfuss says that he can size a bee- 

 keeper up quicker by inspecting his 

 honey crop graded and packed for 

 market than in any other way. You 



