THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ganization for the producers of honey. And Prof Cook is 

 right. 



But the question is. How shall an effective co-operative 

 organization be formed among bee-keepers? I wish that I 

 might prove myself a modern Moses who could lead out the 

 children of Langstroth from the land of bondage of low 

 prices and uneven distribution of honey to the Promised 

 Land of fair prices and fair profits in bee-keeping. But 

 though this may not be, still I may at least try to offer a 

 few suggestions that will perhaps start some abler mind on 

 the highway to wise planning and successful achievement. 



I have long thought that in Chicago there should be 

 organized and conducted a stupendous honey-producers' 

 exchange. This central organization should ascertain the 

 probable amount of honey in the country at the close of the 

 honey harvest ; should have large suitable space for the 

 storage of honey ; and be in a position to advance, if neces- 

 sary, say a quarter of the actual value of the honey it un- 

 dertakes to handle. It should also be in close touch with 

 every large or small honey market in the United States, and 

 be able to make shipments to foreign countries. Having 

 the proper facilities and brains to manage all its affairs, it 

 should soon be in a position practically to handle all the 

 honey to be sold outside the home or local markets of bee- 

 keepers in this broad land of ours. 



Let it be generally known throughout the country that 

 there is a great Honey-Producers' Exchange in Chicago, 

 and from every town or city of any note in the United 

 States there would come inquiries for honey. Many car- 

 load shipments would be made not only direct from Chicago, 

 but much in freight charges would be saved by telegraph- 

 ing to the centers of honey-production (in California, Col- 

 orado or Arizona, for instance) for car-loads to be sent 

 direct to St. Louis, New Orleans, Cincinnati, or to the East- 

 ern markets. Of course, the surplus honey stocks should 

 be used first to supply the needs nearest where produced, 

 then afterward ship honey in from a distance. By so doing 

 there would be secured a more even distribution, preventing 

 an over-supply at any given point, and putting a fair 

 amount of honey where now, perhaps, but little if any is 

 used. 



This central exchange should adopt and use (also 

 authorize to be used under proper restrictions) its own brand 

 on every case, can, jar, or comb of honey that is moved 

 under its supervision. By so doing, in a very few years the 

 honey put on the market by the Central Honey-Producers' 

 Exchange would have a value that could not be estimated, 

 for every pound of honey bearing its brand— and so its 

 purity and quality backed up by the greatest honey-pro- 

 ducers' exchange on earth— would command a higher price 

 in every market on the globe. 



Now, maybe I am visionary. Perhaps I have sawdust 

 where bright brains should be. But to me this all looks 

 feasible. Of course, it would take some capital to start it. 

 A large storage warehouse should be leased ; one efficient, 

 pushing man, capable of managing large affairs, should be 

 employed, and given the power to add such assistants as 

 may be necessary. He should be the directing genius, re- 

 sponsible only to a board of say five directors, elected an- 

 nually by the stockholders. Stock could be taken at so 

 much per colony of bees owned, perhaps two or five dollars 

 a colony. That is, if a man owned 100 colonies he would 

 need to put in $200 or $500, as might be arranged. It should 

 prove a handsome dividend-paying investment. But no 

 honey should be excluded because its producer is not a 

 stockholder, and all the honey of local bee-keepers should be 

 brought up in instances where it is found that such honey 

 is being offered at a price below what it should bring in 

 view of its grade, and the carefully estimated amount of 

 honey produced in the whole country that season. 



Oh, I might go on, and on, and give detail after detail, 

 but all that will unwind itself when once the thing is 

 started. 



I suggest further that this subject be taken up in the 

 jjee-papers and conventions from now until the next meet- 

 ing of the National Bee-Keepers' Association, when defi- 

 nite action can be taken either by the Association itself or 

 by individuals who may get together and organize for the 

 purpose of planning and carrying out an exchange such as 

 is here proposed, or one similar to it. 



Bee-keepers need to do something, and that right 

 speedily, in order to help themselves, by maintaining just 

 and fair living prices for their honey. The National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association could help greatly in getting this 

 very important subject before the bee-keepers of the coun- 

 try, and in a way that will bring tangible results — results 

 that will mean more to every houey-producer than anything | 



else that has happened since Father Langstroth unfolded 

 the inside of a bee-hive to the view of wondering mortals. 

 It would also mean much to the honey-consuming public. 

 How few there are who really know the great value of 

 honey as a daily food. Its medicinal qualities are scared}- 

 dreamed of by the majority as yet. All this valuable in- 

 formation could be brought to the attention of the public 

 through suitable advertising matter — by leaflets and 

 through the newspaper press — all of which would tend to 

 increase the demand for the delicious pure honey put on the 

 market by the honey-producers' exchange. 



I, personally, have had sufficient experience in the honey- 

 selling business itself to warrant me in saying that here is 

 a profitable field whose develpment only awaits — yea, pleads 

 — the coming of a honey-producers' exchange such as I have 

 outlined. And the bee-keepers themselves, could they once 

 understand its objects, would hasten to embrace the oppor- 

 tunity to place themselves in line so that its beneficent 

 results might extend to them. 



If the bee-keepers of this land would be as wise and 

 alert as are the bees they own, they would soon organize 

 along the lines indicated, and thus place themselves and 

 their precious product before the people in away that would 

 command not only high respect, but would also create an 

 unlimited demand for all the concentrated sweetness in the 

 shape of honey that could be produced annually by all the 

 bees in all our grand country. 



Cook Co., 111. Jan. 17, 1902. 



^ Our Bee-Keeping Sisters l 



Conducted bu EMMfl M. WILSON, Marengo, ill. 



Good-Natuped " Drones " are Welcome— Smoker- 

 Fuel. 



Referring to the article on page 760, I may say that 

 however dangerous it may be in general for " any old 

 drone " to attempt to enter this department, he may make 

 the attempt without the least fear if his coming is accom- 

 panied by as good-natured and bright remarks as those of 

 Mr. Whitney on the aforesaid page. Neither is our genial 

 Afterthinker in the danger Mr. Whitney supposes. We 

 shall always deem it an honor to have him consider the 

 sisters of sufficient consequence to think about them, 

 whether his thinking be before or " after." 



As to apple-wood for smoker-fuel, it is again as Mr. 

 Whitney says, a question of " locality." In the home api- 

 ary and in the Wilson apiary, aside from chips, apple is the 

 favorite wood, while in the Hastings apiary it is never used, 

 burr-oak having the preference. The first two apiaries are 

 located in apple orchards, while the Hastings apiary is in a 

 lovely little grove of burr-oaks. 



A Beg-inner's Experience with Bees. 



My Dear Miss Wilson :— I take the American Bee 

 Journal, and write to tell you how interested I have been in 

 your articles on " Bee-Keeping for Women." I am a be- 

 ginner, and am very much interested in bee-culture ; in 

 fact, I have what they call the "bee-fever." 



In the summer of 1901 I got the " A B C of Bee-Culture " 

 and studied it all summer and all winter. In the fall I 

 bought two colonies of common bees in Simplicity hives. 

 One colony died of starvation. The other, by feeding, man- 

 aged to pull through. So, in the spring, I had one colony. 

 I practiced stimulative feeding. I put a hive-body on top of 

 the old one, to give them plenty of room, and to keep them 

 from swarming, but they cast a large swarm the tirst of 

 June, which I lost. In order not to lose a possible after- 

 swarm, I took the top story off and set it on a stand by it- 

 self. I then bought a red clover queen and put her in. I 

 clipped her wing first, but as I failed to cut out all the 

 queen-cells I didn't for a moment believe she had been ac- 

 cepted. But I find the bees in that hive are different from 

 the others. Many of them are very yellow ; some of the 

 drones are nearly all yellow. 



1. Do you suppose she was accepted, after all ? 



2. If so, why are the bees not all yellow ? 



3. Do you suppose there could be two queens ? 



