1921 



at a low price, even though poorly put 

 up, is less apt to take mine later if 

 the price variance is so great. The 

 same is true as between the pro- 

 ducer's and the packer's brands. The 

 result is that the market will 1 kely be 

 bare during a portion of the year," the 

 higher price honey seeking a market 

 where the cheap competition is lack- 

 ing. 



Co-operation should tend to estab- 

 lish an approximate uniform price — 

 competitive, of course, but near 

 enough so that a lack of supply of 

 honey of one source could be offset 

 by fresh supplies from another 

 source, thus keeping the market con- 

 stantly supplied. 



We lack advertising — publicity. 

 How much does the average person 

 know about honey? How many even 

 know that there is such a commodity 

 as honey available? Advertising 

 costs money, but we must agree that 

 it brings results. How else can we 

 justify the enormous outlays repre- 

 sented by only one month's publica- 

 tion of our national magazines? I 

 venture the assertion that an outlay 

 of one cent per pound for honey ad- 

 vertising would enable an increase 

 of four cents per pound in th"? selling 

 price of honey, if indeed the bee- 

 keepers were aisle to supply the de- 

 mand. 



Thirdly, we lack distribution. Many 

 communities now would buy honey 

 were it available. One town may be 

 so well supplied that no outside honey 

 is required. In a neighboring town, 

 either there may be no local bee- 

 keeper, or else he sells all direct to 

 the jobbber and the town is honey 

 dry. 



Possibly, also, the honey industry is 

 suffering from lack of specialization. 

 Might it not be better to devote our 

 vifhole time to production, as the beef 

 cattle men do, and leave the packing, 

 advertising and distribution to the 

 middleman? We would suffer peri- 

 ods of depression, as the cattlemen do 

 today, but we would get national dis- 

 tribution. 



In conclusion, there are three ways 

 open. We may go on as before, some 

 cheapening the market by selling low, 

 others endeavoring conscientiously to 

 hold it up to a normal level; the 

 packer grabbing what he can under 

 the circumstances; or we may ignore 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



the packer altogether, co-operate and 

 handle as a class, all of our own pro- 

 duction, advertising and distribution; 

 or we may, last of all, co-operate as 

 between ourselves and as between 

 produce!- and jobber — sell all we can 

 at a good stiff average price and urge 

 the jobber to get in where we leave 

 off, aid and, if possible, duplicate his 

 advertising, further his distribution 

 and encourage as many of them as 

 possible. 



To my mind, under present condi- 

 tions, the last road is the proper one. 



THE IDEAL BEE 



By John Prothero 



American textbooks, published in 

 recent years, seem to take for granted 

 that the Italian bee has established its 

 reputation as the best. They appear 

 to regard the matter as finally settled. 

 Several pages are usually devoted to 

 praising this race and advocating uni- 

 versal Italianization; the others are 

 cursorily mentioned and dismissed. 

 Superiority is claimed in nearly eveiy 

 quality and attribute of bee ex- 

 cellence for the Italian, and state- 

 ments are made which many foreign- 

 ers would challenge. There is a 

 strong probability that the strain 

 found best in Florida would not be 

 best for high altitudes in Montana 

 and Idaho. May not the e.xcessive 

 swarming propensity of Carniolans be 

 due to placing Alpine bees on hot 

 plains? Does not the whole question 

 require revision? 



As in all live stock, there is an 

 ideal bee, the type which shall com- 

 bine the good qualities of all known 

 strains. Of course, we shall never 

 produce it; it will remain an ideal; 

 but, in pursuing it, we shall undoubt- 

 edly arrive at a better bee. The 

 process should be that which is best 

 exemplified in modern poultry breed- 

 ing. We want to breed certain quali- 

 ties into one strain from another. In 

 making this cross, we introduce some 

 undesirable qualities, which we then 

 proceed to breed out again. It is a 

 long business, with many intermedi-' 

 ate stages, and throw-backs will in- 

 sist on breaking out just when the 

 final result seems attained. 



I was once consumed with an ambi- 

 tion to originate a new breed of dog, 



353 



the Dalmatian-Dach.shund. Dalmatian 

 coat on Dachshund figure, a long, low, 

 lizardy creature, white, dabbed with 

 black spots, like raisin bread. Every- 

 body to whom I mentioned it showed 

 the utmost enthusiasm for the project 

 and hastened to bespeak the pups. 

 Other interests supervened, and the 

 D. D. never materialized; it has re- 

 mained an ideal. I am now advocat- 

 ing a less showy but more useful ex- 

 periment in cross breeding. 



The parcel post package is as yet little appreciated. 



Tall-lOoz. 

 Capacity 16 oz. 

 Screw Cap Jar. 



Poultry breeders have done mar- 

 vels in producing new and improved 

 strains. Perhaps Darwin, with his 

 patient experiments in pigeon varia- 

 tions, pointed the way for those who, 

 without any theory to prove and with 

 purely material objects in view, have 

 originated breeds combining the 

 qualities of several older ones and 

 moving towards an ideal type. Gen- 

 erations follow one another so rapidly 

 that much can be done within the 

 span of a few years. The poultry 

 men have shown beekeepers what can 

 be done and what ought to be done. 

 Ah, but the drone difl^culty! The 

 drone is certainly a difficulty, but he 

 does not amount to an impossibility. 

 The solution lies in isolation. A ring 

 of outapiaries, making a rough sort 

 of circumference to a central queen- 

 yard, is usually a suflicient insurance. 

 There are islands available, too, 

 though this would be more a task for 

 the Department of Agi-iculture than 

 for the individual breeder. Still, we 

 must not wait for the happy day when 

 a generous appropriation will main- 

 tain an isolated queen yard, devoted 

 to the production of improved bees. 

 Mr. Barratt, of Sheffield, England, 

 has produced some startling i-esults 

 by means of hand fertilization, but 

 this is never likely to get beyond the 

 stage of interesting experiments by 

 experts. The breeder will have to do 

 his best and risk the drone. 



Breeding, up to the present, has 

 been confined to the improvement of 

 particular races. Penna, Plana and 

 Bozzalla are developing the leather- 

 colored Ligurian, the dingy cousin of 

 our bright Italian bee. Jan Strgar is 

 developing perhaps the most promis- 

 ing material in the world, the Carni- 



