138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tries purchased beeswax in St. Louis, sliip- 

 ped it by rail to San Francisco and then by 

 steamer to destination, wliicii sliows the 

 circuitous routes the currents of trade will 

 sometimes take. My correspondents in- 

 formed me that they paid in St. Louis .50c. 

 per fi). And yet the same identical pound 

 of wax could have been purchased in San 

 Diego for less than 30c., saving the cost of 

 a 3000 mile trip to St. Louis and back. 

 These things, in time, will regulate them- 

 selves, and the advantage of an organiza- 

 tion is, that we can greatly hasten the time 

 to our own advantage. I believe our 

 organization is proving itself to be a suc- 

 cess; it has been but 7 months in existence, 

 and the reports of the secretary and of Mr. 

 Fox, our most eflicient agent and vice-presi- 

 dent, will show results which could not 

 possibly have been obtained by the mem- 

 bers in tiieir individual capacity. 



Our great need now is clieaper transpor- 

 tation.' Could the exhorbitant charges we 

 now pay for freigiit to the East be reduced 

 to a fair rate, our bee-keepers would enter 

 upon a season of great prosperity. We 

 hope, by an organized effort, some reduc- 

 tion may be made. As our organization 

 becomes older and better known it will 

 have more influence abroad and become 

 more valuable to ourselves. Honey, with 

 our "grade certificates" upon it. will be in 

 greater demand and bring better prices, and 

 though now in its infancy it is only a small 

 institution, yet 1 look forward to its becom- 

 ing of great importance, not only to its own 

 members but to the business interests of 

 San Diego County. 



The dii'ectors reported that they obtained 

 a good brick building as a warehouse, em- 

 ployed an experienced man as grader, made 

 contracts for drayage, etc., had prepared 

 printed certificates of grades to be affixed 

 to cases of honey, and made arrangements 

 with the steamship company for careful 

 transportation, and other minor details. 

 Under these arrangements they have dur- 

 ing the past six months received, stored, 

 and graded as follows : 



rases of comb honey 14331^ 



Cases extracted 13 



Barrels ext racted 21 



They have shipped as follows: 



Cases of comb honey 10583^ 



Cases exi racted 13 



Barrels extracted 31 



Total 109214 



Leaving hi wiirehouse at date of Feb. 1. 375 



To St. Louis and Cincinnati, 1 car load 

 each; to St. Paul and Boston, J^ car load 

 each. All had been received and acknow- 

 ledged, but no returns had yet been made. 



C. J. Fox, their special agent, reported as 

 follows: 



The honey business of Southern Califor- 

 nia, though of very recent origin, has grown 

 to large proportions. San Diego county 

 alone produced in 1877 about 1.2.50,000 lbs., 

 four-fifths of which was shipped in the 

 comb and one-fifth extracted. Our facilities 

 for raising honey and increasing our stock 

 of bees are the best in the world. Through- 

 out our honey range, which extends back 

 from the coast to the high mountains, a dis- 

 tance varying from 40 to 100 miles, ice and 

 snow are unknown, while frost occurs so 

 seldom as to be very little regarded. Dur- 

 ing 8 or 9 months of the year no rain falls, 

 no hail or thunder storms interfere with the 

 breeding or working of the bees, and there 



are not more than 2 or 3 months when they 

 have any difficulty in provitling for them- 

 selves. The season for the i)roduction of 

 surplus honey lasts from 4 to G monthss dur- 

 ing which there is an almost constant suc- 

 cession of wild honey-producing plants or 

 shrubs, and there is probably no other place 

 in the world where honey is gathered so 

 rapidly as it is here while white sage is in 

 bloom. We do not need to plant clover or 

 buckwheat or mignonnette, for white sage 

 and other indigenous plants produce honey 

 as white and of as fine flavor; we do not 

 need to build houses and warm them or put 

 in cellars to protect them from the winter 

 cold, for while our Eastern friends are con- 

 triving how to save their colonies through 

 the long period of ice and snow, our bees 

 are flying abroad providing for themselves. ' 

 Under tnese circumstances it would seem 

 that the business here should be more 

 profitable and make a better return for 

 capital and labor than anywhere else. But 

 there are some drawbacks as there are in 

 every business, and it is for the purpose of 

 meeting and overcoming the difficulties of 

 our position that our Association was form- 

 ed and that I am now addressing you. The 

 problem of how to raise honey in large 

 quantities has been solved, mainly by the 

 indomitable energy, preseverance and skill 

 of our townsman, Mr. Harbison, to whom 

 we are indebted for the first commencement 

 and most of the methods at present in use 

 among us. 



The first question in regard to any article 

 of commerce is how to produce it, the 

 second is how to transport it, and the third 

 is how to dispose of it profitably. As I 

 said, the first is practically solved among 

 us. Improvements can yet be made, no 

 doubt; economy of labor and increased pro- 

 duction may be attained, but we can al- 

 ready produce an amount much larger on 

 the average than any where else we know 

 of. The second question, transportation, 

 has been only imperfectly solved, and much 

 yet remains to be done. Several difficulties 

 stand in our way. One is careless handling 

 and too many reshipments; another, high 

 rates of freight and irresponsibility of rail- 

 roads and shipping agents. During a trip 

 of 3 months East the past season, and while 

 acting as agent of our Association, I made 

 efforts to meet some of these difficulties. I 

 found the owners of the steamship line 

 from San Diego to San Francisco willing to 

 do everything in their power. They issued 

 orders to their employees to handle comb- 

 honey with care, to have it all carried by 

 hand on and off the steamers, and to see 

 that it was not thrown down or roughly 

 treated. Since these orders were issued we 

 have had but little to complain of in this 

 respect. When a consignment of honey 

 reaches San Francisco it is very important 

 that it should be received and cared for by 

 some one who thoroughly understands the 

 importance of care in handling. To secure 

 this I made an arrangement with a very 

 thorough and careful business man, Mr. R. 

 Dixon, who, as soon as he received advices 

 of shipment and destination of a consign- 

 ment, made arrangements with the C. P. R. 

 R. for a car; as soon as the steamer was 

 discharged, had the honey carefully con- 

 veyed on spring wagons and loaded in the 

 car nnder his own supervision; and so well 

 has he done this that all he has shipped has 

 reached its destination in as good condition 



