598 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 17, 1903. 



success of our Citrus Fruit Growers' Exchang-e. You have 

 read what I have to say about that in the American Bee 

 Journal. So I have asked Mr. Reed if he would not come in 

 here and tell us about it. He is right in touch with this 

 Citrus Fruit Exchange ; he knows what it has done, what it 

 has accomplished, and why it has failed to do what he and 

 others have hoped for it to do. Because the methods that 

 will be used there, will be the methods the honey-men will 

 want to use, I want Mr. Reed to come up here and talk to 

 us on this subject, and afterwards answer such questions as 

 may be asked. And before Mr. Reed comes, I want to say 

 something Mr. Reed would not say. 



This is a tremendous undertaking, because in Southern 

 California (and what I said last night was not for nothing), 

 I may be mistaken, but I do believe from the bottom of my 

 heart that there is not so intelligent a population in the 

 rural districts in the world as we have here in Southern 

 California. I believe it. I do not say that carelessly. I 

 have traveled pretty largely in the northern part of our 

 country, and in the south and east, and I have never seen 

 the equal for intelligence of the farming classes to Southern 

 California. We have a club at Claremont, and of that club 

 eight are college graduates — two from Harvard, one from 

 Yale, three Cornell, and so on. So we have men who have 

 had their college training. We used to laugh at " book- 

 farmers." We don't laugh at them any more. We see 

 these book-farmers going to the top, and we go to them and 

 ask questions. You think about it. 



So I say, here in Southern California we have the 

 cream of the country so far as culture is concerned in these 

 pursuits. If that is the case, what would be true in this 

 section would be more difificult in others. In California, 

 work as hard as they may, they have only about 40 percent 

 of the citrus fruit-growers in this organization. Yet I have 

 not seen a man who did not say it was the salvation of the 

 citrus fruit industry. Yet only about 40 percent of them 

 joined. Haven't you got a load, then ? Why, you have a 

 backlog that your forefathers would hardly have carried, 

 and you have got to carry it. 



Sometimes I get like my friends Dr. Miller and Mr. 

 Root — almost pessimistic. Sometimes I feel discouraged, 

 and then see there was no need of discouragement. I am 

 going to live a good many years yet, but I am a little afraid 

 I won't live to see this general co-operation along all our 

 industrial pursuits. I am afraid I won't live to see it, but 

 we have got to have it. Why have we got to have it ? We 

 should not compete against each other. We should not 

 compete. We should determine what is a reasonable profit, 

 and then everybody should have it. That would never mean 

 a good white sage extracted honey at 4 cents a pound. It 

 would mean never less than 6 cents a pound. When we 

 have this co-operation, when we get to that stage where we 

 do not have this disastrous competition, we will get 6 cents 

 for our honey. 



We ought to be done with this matter of competition — 

 this excessive competition which takes from us the profits — 

 so that when the season is over our pocket-books look like 

 cock-roaches. 



Another thing that we find here very much to our detri- 

 ment is the matter of railroad charges. You all know how 

 exorbitant they are. It costs us $1.20 to send a box of fruit 

 to Boston. That is a great deal too much. I have not a 

 djubtbutit is twice too much, and that is why they can 

 water their stock over and over again. We would do the 

 same thing if we got the matter in our own hands. Most of 

 us world charge just what we could get, just as the railroads 

 do. I don't know that Dr. Miller would, but most of us 

 would. How are we going to prevent it ? Take California, 

 Do you know, we could afford out of what we lose in three 

 years' time to build, own, and equip a railroad from here 

 to Boston, and have it all ourselves ? It is computed that 

 what we lose above a reasonable profit would do that in 

 three years' time. Now, if that is the case, would not co- 

 operation be worth somehting ? We could do that if we were 

 working together. " Ever the right gives promise, and 

 ever is justice done." 



I am just as sure we will have this co-operation as that 

 we will get up to-morrow morning. Whether we get it soon 

 or late will depend upon the energy we put into it. Another 

 thing, our legislation is not right. If we were all together, 

 working together, we could get almost all we wanted in the 

 way of legislation. We have a little touch of that here in 

 Calfornia. We have 40 or 50 farmers' clubs. The people are 

 really getting interested. It took a long time to wake them 

 up. Mr. Hambaugh, here, could tell you a great many things 

 about that. He went right after them " with blood in his 

 eye," and did not recognize any such word as " fail." He 



said, " It is the right thing, and we will have it." And we 

 all said, " Certainly, we will have it." And the first bill 

 that got through the legislature was our foul brood law. We 

 had these farmers' clubs, and they held a big meeting be- 

 fore the legislature met, and Mr. Hambaugh came down 

 there, and he told us with reference to this foul brood law 

 and inspectors (while he looked us right in the eye), "We 

 want so and so " — and we all believed it. He said to these 

 farmers' clubs, " Gentlemen, we want this ; we need it, and 

 we must have it." And they all said, " Amen," and they 

 were all just Methodist enough to say right down inside, 

 "Amen." And Mr. Hambaugh had the resolution passed, 

 and we wanted that law, and that was the first law that was 

 passed in the legislature without a single dissent. We 

 didn't need any $300, because we had the farmers back of us. 



We want the bee-keepers organized so that when they 

 go to the legislature and say what they want they will get 

 it. So we want this matter of co-operation in the way of 

 legislation. 



Eet me tell you one thing more : For a year we had 

 men like Mr. Hambaugh studying these things that we 

 wanted here in California. We had tried for 12 or IS years 

 to get certain bills through, but we failed because the 

 moneyed interests were against us. Was it not queer that 

 these men said, " No, sir ; you don't get that." I was too 

 well brought up to doubt a man's motive, but I wondered a 

 good deal when these men came in and battled so hard for 

 what was just and right. We would not impugn their 

 motives. We devoted a whole year to studying this matter 

 with three of our strongest men at work. One was Frank 

 L. Palmer — a great, big, noble man. They spent a year 

 studying, and they corresponded with people East. West 

 Virginia is way up to the top, and we profited by their ex- 

 perience. 



When we got that bill just as we wanted it, we went be- 

 fore the legislature, and we said, "That is the law we want 

 without any amendments," and we had a strong committee 

 up there, and we didn't have to pay them anything ; they 

 wanted to go up there anyway, and they said : " My friends, 

 you must not touch these bills ; they are just what we want, 

 and we know a big sight more about these things than you 

 can possibly know, and don't you amend them." And there 

 was not a single bit of amending done on these bills. 



Now, we have a good Governor. He is a good man. I 

 wish I could say that of all our previous governors, but we 

 have not always had that kind. The Governor wrote to me 

 and said in regard to that fertilzer law : " I wish you could 

 see the pile of letters and telegrams I have in regard to 

 that." If anybody would read that law, they would see 

 there was nothing in it but honest, fair dealing. Now, here 

 was co-operation. We were working together, and I tell 

 you when I get to talking about these things that so nearly 

 concern our vital interests, I wish I were eloquent, that I 

 might make you feel that we must have co-operation — that 

 we must work together for what is right. 



Now, Mr. Reed is here, and, by the way, you are to have 

 a good-looking man talk to you. I am free to say that, for 

 he is one of our " old boys. " He will talk to us about the 

 Citrus Fruit Exchange, what it has done, what it ought to 

 have done, and what he hopes it will do in the future. 

 (Contiaued next week.) 



Proceeding's of the Texas Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion Held at the A. & M. Colleg-e, at College 

 Station, July 8 to 10, 1903. 



BY LOUIS H. SCHOLL, SEC. 



(Continued from page Ssi.) 

 BRUSHED SWARMS FOR SECTION-COMB HONEY. 



It does not come within the scope of this paper to 

 describe the many different plans and ways of making 

 brushed or forced swarms, nor to trace out their origin, 

 suffice it to say that my first knowledge of the method was 

 derived from reading Mr. Stachelhausen's articles in Glean- 

 ings, some five years ago, though I had known, prior to that 

 time, of its use in Germany. I will only try to explain in 

 detail the two plans I most commonly use ; nor do I always 

 adhere rigidly to either of these plans in minor points, using 

 altogether the shallow hive. Its ready adaptability to varied 

 manipulations often tempt me to modify the process. 



But I always try to keep in mind the three prime objects 

 sought to be accomplished by brushing or shaking a colony 

 of bees. Specifically stated they are. lirst, to secure a very 



