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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 2, 



the hive is wide. These strips are for the sides of a box. Then 

 cut the end-pieces and tack on a bottom of thin stuff. This 

 makes a box, and it wants to be only }^-inch or so deep. 



Now cut three or four small holes that the bees can get 

 through nicely, in one of the edges of the side, and in the 

 other side cut just one hole just large enough for one bee to 

 get in. Now, if the bottom-board does not project out in 

 front of the hive, place some board down just level with the 

 bottom of the entrance, and turn this box bottom side up on 

 this board, tight up to the hive, with the surplus of holes next 

 to the hive. This gives ample room for all guard bees to get 

 In, and when a robber gets in through that first hole, and 

 thinks she is going to crawl safe up into the hive, she has just 

 made a mistake. When she gets into that "scrap-tox," as I 

 call it, her time is very short. Just try it, bee-keepers, and 

 note the efifect. Mecosta, Mich. 



California Bee-Keepers' Exchange. 



An outline of an essay read at the San Jacinto Farmers'' Institute. 

 BT J. H. MARTIN. 



The California Honey-Industby. — The production of 

 honey has been practiced for the past 40 years in California 

 upon what might be termed a very loose system. There has 

 never been a season since the State has been extensively 

 stocked with bees, that the output of honey could be definitely 

 ascertained, and for statistics in relation to shipments we 

 have to depend upon figures from the various transportation 

 lines. The same lack of system and uncertainty prevails in 

 relation to the number of colonies of bees owned, and even 

 the number of persons engaged in the business is left largely 

 to conjecture. San Bernardino county is not so largely en- 

 gaged in bee-keeping as some of the adjoining counties, but 

 being the most progressive and the largest in area, it has not 

 allowed the bee-keeping industry to remain a hidden factor. 

 From a county ofEcial I find fully 100 bee-keepers, owning in 

 the aggregate 6,000 colonies of bees. 



The yield of honey for the past year was 325 tons, or 27 

 carloads. This amount of sweetness should have brought into 

 our county over §35,000, but owing to the depressed markets 

 and the lack of system in marketing, the cash received will 

 fall below $25,000. 



When we consider that the above statistics apply to only 

 one of the many counties of our State, the magnitude of the 

 industry can be dimly realized. In Southern California there 

 are over 1,000 bee-keepers, and the product, as far as can be 

 ascertained from railroad statistics, is over 7,000,000 pouuds 

 for the year 1895, and while Southern California boasts of 

 the largest area and variety of honey-producing plants, and 

 honey of the finest quality, we are reminded that central Cali- 

 fornia, from Bakersfield to Fresno, is becoming a large pro- 

 ducer of honey from its great area of alfalfa fields. 



One Line of Progress Open. — The appliances for the 

 management of bees and the production of honey have been 

 improved to such au extent that we cannot expect any further 

 startling inventions in that direction in the future. There is, 

 however, a neglected field where great improvement can be 

 made, and that is ia the improved methods of marketing our 

 product, and the most healthful signs of the times is the wide 

 attention this subject is enlisting. California, the banner 

 State for co-operative associations, has lately added to the list 

 The Bee-Keepers' Exchange. 



The one great aim and end of our Exchange is to bring a 

 measure of prosperity and happiness to the honey-producer 

 and his family. To reduce the cost of production puts cor- 

 responding profits into the pockets of the producer. In that 

 direction the Exchange reports progress, for we have secured 

 control of the leading supplies used in the manipulation of 



bees, and every member can save a large percentage that has 

 hitherto gone to local speculators. There is such a multitude 

 of these appliances used that this feature alone would warrant 

 the creation of an exchange, and the securing of a large mem- 

 bership. 



New Packages. — One important feature of reform sought 

 is to put our product into new and clean packages. Hundreds 

 of carloads of honey have in past years been shipped East in 

 second-hand gasoline, and even kerosene, cans. The Ex- 

 change proposes to supply the producer with new cans at re- 

 duced rates, and if he cannot comply with the excellent regu- 

 lation he will have to stay outside the Exchange. Another 

 radical improvement is to put our best grades of honey into 

 small packages for the retail trade, and it is to be hoped that 

 the brand of "The California Bee-Keepers' Exchange" will 

 carry with it such a guarantee of quality that there will be no 

 suspicion of mixed goods. 



What is to Be Gained. — From this small-package pro- 

 posal there is much to encourage us. When we consider that 

 the annual output of honey in the United States is only about 

 63,000,000 pounds, and the population 70,000,000, there 

 is something radically wrong in our present system of mark- 

 eting. The best liquid honey produced in California, or the 

 world, commands only 4 or 4}^ cents per pound, still, there is 

 not enough produced to supply one pound per capita to the 

 people of the Nation, not mentioning a large foreign marlcet. 

 The remedy can be found in a more equal distribution of the 

 product; along these lines the Exchange proposes to work. 

 The Exchange is purely a co-operative association. It is not 

 a joint, stock company where a few, if so disposed, can get 

 control of the product for selfish ends, but every member has 

 equal rights and privileges. One dollar with an assessment 

 of 25 cents per month for the first year secures a membership 

 certificate. Every member agrees to market his honey 

 through the Exchange, the latter receiving 5 per cent, of the 

 proceeds for handling it. Other features too numerous to 

 mention at this time, are embodied in the by-laws which are 

 accessible to bee-keepers and others. 



Box 152, Los Angeles, Calif. 



A New Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 



American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 



subscriber who sends us 15 cents. It is called "The Wood 



Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 



arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 



Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 



Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 



reference, and ai the low price of the Binder you can afford to 



get it yearly. 



^ . ^ 



Tlie Alsike Clover Leaflet consists of 2 pages, 

 with illustrations, showing the value of Alsike clover, and 

 telling how to grow it. This Leaflet is just the thinff to hand 

 to every farmer in your neighborhood. Send to the Bee Jour- 

 nal ofBce for a quantity of them, and see that they are dis- 

 tributed where they will do the most good. Prices, postpaid, 

 are as follows : 50 for 25 cents ; 100 for 40 cents ; or 200 

 for 70 cents. 



-»-•-» 



The Xames and Addresses of all your bee- 

 friends, who are not now taking i;he Bee Journal, are wanted 

 at this ollice. Send them in, please, when sample copies will 

 be mailed to them. Then you can secure their subscriptions, 

 and earn some of the premiums we have offered. The 

 next few months will be just the time to easily get new sub- 

 scribers. Try it earnestly, at least. 



TUe McEvoy Foul Brood Treatment is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamnhlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational 'Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for .§1.10. 



