GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping in the Southwest 



Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas. 



A " FIGHT ■' FOR XET-WEIGHT PACKAGES. 



Much honey is being sent to market just 

 now in receptacles that do not hold the 

 stipulated weight as given on the shipping- 

 tag's and as indicated on the invoices sent 

 by the producer to the buyer. I question 

 whether this is right in the first place, and 

 whether it is a safe plan to follow. It must 

 be only a matter of time when the law gov- 

 erning the proper weight of the contents of 

 a package will be looked after by the pure- 

 food authorities, and it seems to me that it 

 would be better if beekeepers would remedy 

 this matter before anj- trouble comes. 



One element of unfairness is that some 

 of the larger producers are required to put 

 up their honey in net-weight packages, while 

 others do not do so. The extra weight over 

 the short weights of many of the smaller 

 producers is a big item to us who ship from 

 70,000 to 100,000 pounds. While it is easy 

 enough to find buyers for a small lot of 

 honey here and there to take care of quite 

 a number of these short-weight lots, yet it is 

 a much greater item to dispose of big 

 amounts of honey direct to a few large 

 buyers who maintain that they must re- 

 quire full-weight packages. 



I am aware of the fact that a few ship- 

 pers do oppose our " fight," as they term 

 it, for net-weight packages. We have been 

 assured by. several of them that they agree 

 with us that we are right in our efforts, and 

 that they will immediately step in line when 

 the change to net-weight packages is ob- 

 tained. In a joking way it was asserted 

 that I was bi'inging a great hardship on the 

 numerous beekeepers who were making a 

 practice of shipping short-weight packages 

 year after year. But to be fair in the mat- 

 ter, the only remedy would be to settle up- 

 on a full net-weight package all around. 

 And it is to be hoped that this trouble will 

 be remedied once for all time when our next 

 year's honey -shiiDping season opens. Let's 

 have a fair and square deal all around. 

 » * * 



BEEKEEPERS, GET TOGETHER MORE ! 



Never before has there been the necessity 

 of beekeepers getting closer together for 

 the discussion of their welfare, crop re- 

 sults, and marketing, than this year. There 

 seems to be very little effort on the part of 

 the gi-eat number of beekeepers to strive to 

 ascertain the crop conditions and the price 

 at which honey should be sold, early in the 

 season, so that the crop may not be sold too 

 low. There is no reason at all, in my mind, 

 why the Texas honey crop should not have 

 brought at least half a cent per pound more 



than it has brought. The entire Texas crop 

 is a short one, and the demand has been 

 most excellent. Besides this, the quality of 

 the honey was better, as a rule, thay last 

 year. All in all, it should have brought a 

 little better price than last year, because it 

 was worth more, and the demand for it at 

 the higher price was there. I know this 

 from the simj^le fact that I could have sold 

 any quantity of honey at the higher price 

 if I had had it, and that, too, in spite of 

 tlie lower prices that were maintained by 

 others wlio market a great deal of honej^ 



The unfairness of selling lower than the 

 price that ought to reign is very annoying 

 to the beekeeper who is striving to main- 

 tain good prices, when some of his custom- 

 ers comiDlain that his price is half a cent or 

 a cent higher than the j^rice at which some- 

 body else is now offering his honey. Espe- 

 cially is this annoying Avhen such a custom- 

 er has already- placed his orders for the 

 year, and more so if this customer has been 

 one of long standing, buying a great deal 

 of honey year after year. In a few in- 

 stances I have been required to cancel the 

 orders, as I have made it a rule not to come 

 down with the price that I found, through 

 careful study and investigation, was the 

 fair and proper one to be maintained. 



Of course, it is hard to give up an old 

 customer, and it is brought about only by 

 the beekeeper Avho not only fails to recog- 

 nize the price that ought to be maintained, 

 but who is only too ready to plunk his crop 

 on the market at a lower price in order to 

 get rid of it. The jobber and the retailer 

 get the benefit of this lower price, we have 

 found, in that the retail price is about the 

 same whether the beekeepers get half a 

 cent more or that much less than the gen- 

 eral market price. The loss to the beekeep- 

 ers of Texas, on the other hand, is enormous. 

 Half a cent per pound added to the price 

 of all the honey that is sold throughout a 

 single honey season amounts to a great 

 deal. And this loss is occasioned by no 

 other reason than the lower level set by 

 the careless and the ignorant beekeeper. 



Therefore it is high time that the bee- 

 keepers should get together and discuss 

 these matters. It is not actually necessary 

 to organize the beekeepers into a selling 

 organization at the start, but frequent meet- 

 ings, or even visits, among the beekeepers 

 of every beekeeping center, for the discus- 

 sion of crop conditions, and the prices that 

 ought to be maintained, in accordance with 

 the prevailing crop conditions and the mar- 

 ket, would help a great deal. 



