THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 1, 1903. 



growers have done much to solve the problem. Their pro- 

 duct was perishable, and could not be held, no matter how 

 much money they had. Their business got into such bad 

 shape that they were receiving expense bills instead of 

 returns for car-loads of oranges shipped East. They had to 

 do something or quit the business, and they did it. They 

 organized to sell their fruit and get honest returns. They 

 placed agents, under bonds, in every large city in the 

 United States. These agents kept the head office in Los 

 Angeles posted. Eleven million dollars worth is now con- 

 signed to these agents annually, and honest returns are 

 made to the producer, and the acreage of citrus fruits has 

 doubled instead of declining. 



This organization, known as the Southern California 

 Fruit Exchange, has become so successful that the mem- 

 bers have all become co operative cranks, and now propose 

 to give other producers, who are too weak to maintain 

 agencies of their own, the benefit of their agencies to sell 

 their products. 



The weak bee-keepers in this " neck of the woods" may 

 now organize and market their honey at any time of the 

 year through these agencies. The producers are finding 

 out that the consumers are paying a good price for all the 

 honey they use. The speculator, who is always a " bear" 

 to the producer and a " bull " to the consumer, has over- 

 reached himself, and the bee-keepers now have an avenue 

 through which they may market their honey without letting 

 it pass through his hands. J. F. McIntyrB. 



Owing to the absence of Mr. T. Lytle, of Colorado, Mr. 

 Harris called upon Mr. George W. York, who read Mr. 

 Lytle's response as follows : 



SELLING EXTRACTED HONEY AT WHOLESALE; 

 HOW TO GET THE BEST PRICES. 



The best prices for extracted honey— and the same 

 might be said of comb honey also — will only be obtained 

 when bee-keepers realize that modern, up-to-date business 

 methods in production, transportation, distribution and 

 selling, such as are sucessfully applied to other lines of in- 

 dustry, must be adopted and strictly followed. 



Let us take as an example the citrus fruit industry so 

 well brought to your attention by the paper just read. From 

 very small beginnings, in the face of great obstacles, and 

 without precedents, a great business has been established, 

 placing these fruits in every city, town, and even village, 

 of our broad land, tempting the buyer and profiting the 

 grower. Many other business enterprises are following the 

 same paths with equal success ; the road, therefore, may be 

 said to be well defined and traveled. 



The obstacles, as I see them, are, first, a failure on the 

 part of most bee-keepers to produce a thoroughly well- 

 ripened honey, extracted or comb. Poo-hoo as much as you 

 please, honey is not at its best for table use, if indeed for 

 any other, when taken from the hive as soon as gathered. 

 It lacks the aroma, the rich mellowness of well hive-ripened 

 honey, and fails to please the taste, to make the continual 

 consumer that the well-taken article does. Cleanliness and 

 good surroundings at the bee-yard will not force the taking 

 of honey as soon as stored, and an experience of over 20 

 years without one failure to get above the ruling prices, 

 confirms me in my opinions. I continue in the same mar- 

 kets, my honey is known, and sells in preference, and if 

 true of comb honey it must be more true of extracted honey, 

 so generally taken before ripe, and necessarily lacking in 

 the points I have mentioned. I believe these things are as 

 true, though perhaps in a slightly lessened degree, equally 

 in the irrigated districts with the rain-belts, the irrigated 

 areas having the advantage of a dryer atmosphere to keep 

 it good after removal from the hive. I believe that those 

 who maintain other views have never fairly tried to produce 

 the best ; and I have met quite a number who would not put 

 on their own table that which they sent to market, pre- 

 ferring the better-ripened article. 



Second, every distinct brand of honey should be prop- 

 erly and plainly labeled. Many a person will eat either a 

 sage, alfalfa, basswood or buckwheat honey continuously, 

 who would not care for the other brands, and it is poor busi- 

 ness that fails to let one have that which he desires. 



Of course, labeling presupposes a suitable package for 

 the consumer, and all such packages, if handled by an 

 agency such as the fruit-men have, should be of uniform 

 and suitable size, and should bear the guarantee of such 

 agency. One can easily see an orange or apple — every one 

 knows what they are. How many really do not know the 

 iaste, even, of good honey, and yet buy poor and dangerous 

 sweets just because they are constantly before them in the 



stores. Selling through one great agency, the demon of 

 adulteration could be much better fought, and, cost what it 

 may, this fight should be to a finish. 



Let me heartily commend the matters brought to your 

 attention by the paper to which I respond. Like a good, 

 sturdy guide-post it points To Success J"'"'. In my opin- 

 ion, nothing else that the National can do could in any way 

 compare with making plans for such handling of our pro- 

 duct, either by this agency or some other equally well 

 equipped. But it must be one agency, all others must be 

 merged, or quit. Competition and failure we have. Let us 

 try to get into real business methods. T. LyTLK. 



F. E. Brown — I think that this is perhaps the impor- 

 tant question, and I am very glad indeed that this thing 

 has been sprung, and that we have these two papers deal- 

 ing with the marketing of our honey in a wholesale way. 

 We have listened to people from Colorado and other places 

 wherein they produce their honey and sell it to consumers, 

 but in California and other places we do not produce our 

 honey, do it up and sell it ; there is very little honey con- 

 sumed in the State of California, and, perhaps, in other 

 States where they produce large quantities. Our honey all 

 seeks a market in a wholesale way, and the question is as 

 to how we can derive the best results. We have before us 

 such as the Citrus Fruit Growers' Association and the 

 Raisin Growers' Association, which are examples indeed 

 worthy for us to follow. A few years ago the raisin-growers 

 of California associated together in order that they might 

 maintain prices. Before that the growers were digging up 

 their vines by the acre because it was not profitable to grow 

 raisins ; now the Raisin Growers' Association has placed it 

 upon a paying basis ; the same way with oranges — the 

 orange growers in California maintain a price by which it 

 is a profitable business. When I buy oranges in ray own 

 State I pay from 20 to 40 cents a dozen, the same price you 

 pay here in Denver. When our honey seeks the same chan- 

 nels we will achieve the same results : and it seems to me 

 this question should be agitated through our journals, in all 

 assemblies, and in every way by which it is possible to get 

 this before our people, in order that we may have our honey 

 placed upon a profitable and substantial basis by which we 

 may receive the actual value of the goods. 



Dr. Mason — For the first five years that I was secretary, 

 at every convention we had a paper on co-operation in some 

 way or other, and some of us thought that was an impor- 

 tant subject, and now we have a great question ahead of us, 

 and it will be well now if we could do something definitely. 

 It always does well to talk, but you can't accomplish any- 

 thing by talking ; you have to devise ways and means. 

 Now, if Mr. lirown could tell us what we, as the National 

 Association, ought to do, we would have something to work 

 upon. Make it brief and to the point, and it will be just a 

 great, big step in advance of where we have been. It seems 

 as if it would be a proper thing for the National Associa- 

 tion to take hold of this thing, and get it in shape. Of 

 course, it will take time. 



Mr. Brown — Of course, I could not tell you exactly how 

 this thing should be ; it is a deep question, it is a question 

 that involves hundreds and thousands of dollars, but if the 

 National Association would take hold of the selling of the 

 honey, then I would have confidence to place my crop in the 

 hands of the National Association where I would not in any 

 local organization. To illustrate that, in central California 

 I am the Business Manager of the Central California Bee- 

 Keepers' Association ; they voted me that position and 

 placed their honey in my hands, that I might put it upon 

 the market in a wholesale way for sale. They have confi- 

 dence in me simply because they know me, but we can not 

 expect to know individuals or certain salesmen, commis- 

 sion merchants, and so on, sufficiently to have confidence 

 to place our goods there ; but in the National Association 

 we will have confidence, and I am willing to place my entire 

 product in the hands of the National Association, and that 

 can be done in this way : In each locality let them place 

 their honey, not simply by shipping it to a certain point, 

 but by reporting. I might report I have in my locality ten 

 cars of honey, represented by samples submitted to the 

 management of the National Association ; and the man- 

 agement of the National Association, having in their hands 

 their reports of the honey all over the United States and 

 Canada, or other territory, are in a proper position to mar- 

 ket this honey at the difiFerent markets that are open for the 

 product, and not to force or overcrowd any particular point. 

 That has all been discussed before. The small holders — 

 the men who must sell, and must have the money in our 

 local association — bring in their report to me, and I will go 



