82 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fel. 6, 



work of the organization. Under this there are local organi- 

 zations for each district. Each orchardist may purchase 

 stock up to the limit of five shares per acre of his actual acre- 

 age of orchard, though all purchases of stock and all transfers 

 must be approved by the Executive Committee that manage 

 the local exchange. This committee is elected by the votes of 

 the stockholders, each space of stock giving a vote. The 

 directors of all the local exchanges elect the central man- 

 aging Board. This Board districts the markets of the coun- 

 try, and prepares to supply each market according to its needs, 

 as determined by a careful estimate by experts previous to the 

 opening of the year's trade. This central body also receives 

 from the manager of each local exchange, before the season 

 opens, a careful estimate of the probable output of its or- 

 chards. Thus when the season opens, each local exchange is 

 ordered by the central body to furnish its proportion of the 

 fruit needed to keep all the markets supplied ; care being tak- 

 en that no market shall be glutted and no market destitute of 

 fruit. 



Each Exchange secures by vote of its Executive Board, a 

 bright, active, wide-awake, rustling, capable manager, who 

 receives orders from the central Board and apportions these 

 orders to the several growers of his precinct. He also is an 

 expert, and looks to grading, packing and shipping. Thus 

 the grading is well done, and the packing and shipping very 

 cheaply done. A saving last year of ten cents a box in the 

 Claremont Exchange vpould amount to a total saving of over 

 $20,000. A rebate on freight, which previously went to the 

 commission-men, now goes direct to the producers, and aggre- 

 gates many thousands of dollars. 



The Exchange is a powerful organization, and is interest- 

 ed in low freight-rates, as the commission-men never could be, 

 and is able to secure not what the traffic will bear, but what 

 is just. Add to this the better markets, the better distribu- 

 tion, and the intelligent effort to develop the markets before 

 the season, and we do not wonder that the Exchange has al- 

 ready won for itself the respect of the orange-growers, and 

 also the praise of bankers and business-men generally. 



The bee-keepers hope — and not without reason — to do all 

 that the citrus fruit men have accomplished. They expect to 

 deal with the manufacturer of supplies and save one or two 

 fees iu this purchasing. They expect to gain as much in reg- 

 ulating of freights and advance in the markets as the citrus 

 fruit-producers have secured through the fruit exchange. A 

 very able committee held a prolonged session last week in Los 

 Angeles, and will soon publish a scheme that will no doubt 

 meet the approval of the apiarists of the State. No doubt but 

 they will copy largely after the Fruit Exchange. It may 

 even be thought best to work with the latter body in working 

 up the Eastern markets, though at present it seems more prob- 

 able that some able, capable, experienced manager will be se- 

 lected, who will, under an executive board, negotiate for sup- 

 plies, develop markets and conduct the business of the en- 

 tire exchange. 



Every bee-keeper in California should at once write to 

 Secretary J. H. Martin, of Bloomington, giving present year's 

 crop, amount and kind of honey on hand ; and like statistics 

 and name and address of bee-keeping neighbors. 



Claremont, Calif. 



Locating Apiaries in Sheltered Places. 



BT C. DAVENPORT. 



I believe it is claimed and accepted as a fact by all, that 

 it is best to have an apiary located in a well-protected or shel- 

 tered spot. I have some strong doubts whether this is true, 

 and will give my reasons for so thinking. 



Some years ago I had an apiary for two years located in 

 a very sheltered spot. Right back of this yard, on the north, 

 and partly on the northwest side also were high hills. It was 

 protected on the east side by a dense grove, and on the south 

 by high ground. But while the grove on the east, and the 

 high ground at the south protected the yard from most of the 

 wind from those directions, they were at such a distance that 

 they did not prevent the yard from receiving the full benefit 

 of the sun. 



I had had this place in mind for sometime, as a very favor- 

 ble place to locate a yard. For sometime I had a yard located 

 near this place — but it was in a high and exposed position. 

 Still, it had always done well, for this was a good range. The 

 first spring that I put bees in this sheltered place, nearly half 

 of them died from spring dwindling. I thought it was lucky 

 that I had placed them in this well-protected spot, for as so 

 many died there, I thought if I had placed them in their old 

 and exposed location near by, probably nearly all of them 



would have died, for that was a cold, late spring. Still, I was 

 puzzled about the matter somewhat, for the loss in the home 

 yard, which, at that time, was in a location where it received 

 the full sweep of the wind from all directions, was not one- 

 third as heavy as it was in this out-yard. But I accounted 

 for it at the time by thinking that those that were removed 

 to the out-yard had, on account of being moved, filled them- 

 selves too full of honey, and thus weakened their vitality, or 

 something of the kind. 



The next year we had a warm and early spring, and in 

 the home yard there was practically no loss from spring' 

 dwindling. But the loss from this cause in this out-yard was 

 very heavy again, though not as bad as it was the first year. 

 This second year I decided that the spring dwindling in the 

 out-yard was caused by its being in such a sheltered spot. The 

 way I account for it is, that in this locality, no matter whether 

 the spring is early or late, there are a good many days when 

 the sun shines brightly, but on account of cold winds the bees 

 perish if they fly and remain out long. Now, this yard being 

 practically protected from these winds, especially on the north 

 and northwest, it was often so warm and pleasant there that 

 the bees would come out and fly, and perish in the cold winds 

 which blew outside of the warm ravine where the hives were. 



Now, I am fully aware that those two seasons were not 

 enough to prove this matter conclusively, and that some other 

 cause foreign to this might have been the real cause of so 

 many bees dying in that yard those two springs. 



I think it is much better to have a yard protected on the 

 north, and partly on the northwest side also, but I do not be- 

 lieve this protection should consist of very high hills, or, in 

 other words, I believe if a yard is too well protected from the 

 wind, it is worse than no protection at all in this locality. 



I should like to have others, who have had experience in 

 this matter, give there opinions about it, whether it coincides 

 with mine or not. Southern Minnesota. 



Some Subjects Reviewed and Commented Upon 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



NoN-SwARMiNQ. — Was it the irony of fate, or was it pure 

 cussedness on the part of the editor, that gave in the same 

 number on page 54 that sentence quoted from Doolittle in 

 which he takes the ground that " better results can be ob- 

 tained where bees swarm than would be the case if we could 

 breed out the swarming trait," only five pages after the place 

 where he commits himself as very much interested in breeding 

 out the swarming habit? But it ought to be remembered 

 that, like every sensible man, Doolittle grows, and he expressly 

 says in his article that his opinions have been modified to a 

 considerable extent. [No ; that sentence quoted from Mr. D. 

 was simply taken from his book. — Ed.] 



While we may not reach a strain of bees that can never 

 be induced to swarm, it would seem well worth while to have 

 bees such as he speaks of having obtained that give only one 

 swarm to where he used to have ten. For whatever plan may 

 be used to prevent swarming — and thousands are doing what 

 they can to prevent it — prevention will probably be easier 

 with those least given to swarming. Certainly, Doolittle's 

 philosophy see'ms reasonable, that where queens are reared 

 consecutively for generations from colonies that have never 

 thought of swarming, the habit of swarming will grow 

 weaker. 



Swarming Without a Queen. — Very interesting is A. 

 Getaz' account, on page 51, of the deportment of colonies 

 swarming when the queen is not allowed to accompany them. 

 Each failure makes them more desperate, and I once had a 

 swarm at an out-apiary that hung on a bush two days and 

 nights without a queen, which, I suppose, had been battled 

 several times. In another case they swarmed out with not a 

 cell of eggs or brood in the hive except one queen-cell with an 

 egg, but with honey in the super. 



That Bee-Keepers' Union Eeport (see page 59) makes 

 good reading. Until I read it I hardly realized that the Union 

 was still doing so much good. Whatever the General Manager 

 may think about his successor, I hardly think the successor 

 will be elected just yet. 



Buying Honey to Sell Again. — On page 57 you say, 

 Mr. Editor, "any reasonable customer wouldn't care a fig 

 where the honey came from, so long as he was satisfied of its 

 purity." It may be that the average customer is not a " rea- 

 sonable customer," and it may be that elsewhere customers 

 are different, but I am very sure that in my bailiwick custo- 

 mers do care several figs whether honey comes from my apiary 



