204 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



which are always Carniolans. During our 

 honey-flow the Italians are always crowding 

 the brood-nest with honey, and we are com- 

 pelled to extract them many times during 

 our honey-flow to give the queens empty 

 combs to breed in. This is not the case 

 with the Carniolans, as many of the queens 

 will lay in every comb in a ten-frame brood- 

 nest, and many of the combs in the first su- 

 per will be filled with brood until the flow 

 becomes heavy. We then space all combs 

 to eight in the supers, and use two supers 

 on each hive, as it would be impossible to 

 crowd all bees into a two-story ten-frame 

 hive. With these mammoth colonies one 

 should be surprised at the amount of honey 

 colonies of medium strength will gather in 

 what would be called a poor season. If we 

 expect to clean up European foul brood we 

 must first have colonies strong with bees; 

 and to get strong colonies I know of no way 

 but to use Carniolans. The last season 

 proved to many of our valley bee-keepers 

 that the Carniolans would withstand this 

 disease when the Italians in the same apia- 

 ry were infected and reinfected. The Car- 

 niolans have proven themselves superior to 

 Italians in this section of California. 

 Fresno, Cal. 



CO-OPERATION IN SELLING HONEY. 



An Association of Bee-keepers Suggested for 



the Purpose of Disposing of Honey; How to 



Take Care of the Small Producer. 



BY J. K. HEDSTROM. 



The object that we as honey-producers 

 wish to attain is a reasonable price for our 

 honey— sufficient to give us a liberal return 

 on the capital and labor invested. A nor- 

 mal price is more to be desired than a high 

 price. We may as well face the situation 

 squarely and not deceive ourselves. 



Mrs. Consumer calls up the grocer, asks 

 the price of honey, and finds that she can 

 get nine pounds of extracted honey put up 

 in cans for ninety cents (a far too reasona- 

 ble price). She knows that her husband's 

 wages have advanced very little, although 

 every thing is so high; and as she wishes to 

 live within her means she inquires in regard 

 to the price of the syrups, and finds that 

 they are one-fourth or one- third cheaper 

 than honey. This causes her to reason 

 something like this: "I know honey is the 

 better, and we all like it; but it seems so 

 dear I do not think we can afford it. I 

 know, too, the cheaper syrups are made of 

 glucose, and flavored; but they are so much 

 cheaper, and, after all, they taste sweet, and 

 that is what we want. I think I had better 

 get the syrup." 



Now, a few of the larger bee-keepers get 

 together to sell honey on a cooperative plan, 

 but somehow they do not seem to get the 

 reasonable price that they expected. Tney 

 talk the matter over, and find that there is 

 honey on the shelf beside theirs at a lower 

 price. A small bee-keeper had to sell his 



crop, as he needed the money; and as the 

 commission man wanted to make a little 

 something for his trouble, this small pro- 

 ducer was forced to take less for his honey. 

 In selling honey, therefore, it &eems that 

 we have to deal fairly with Mrs. Consumer 

 by asking a reasonable price. This could 

 be accomplished by cooperation if the small 

 producer could only be managed. Nothing 

 could be better in theory, but every small 

 producer can testify to the contrary from 

 experience. If we place every bee-keeper of 

 less than 200 colonies in the class of small 

 producers, on the assumption that any one 

 with 200 colonies or over has enough invest- 

 ed, both in capital and labor, to take a vital 

 interest in the welfare of bee-keeping as a 

 business, we may begin to draw conclusions. 

 The small producer (and he is legion) has 

 one bad failing — he does not depend entire- 

 ly on bees for a living, consequently his 

 only interest is to sell his honey quickly 

 and get back to whatever occupation he 

 left. It is impossible to organize this class, 

 although it is entirely feasible to organize 

 the larger producers, and this should be 

 done on lines similar to those carried out in 

 the fruit-growers' and dairymen's associa- 

 tions; that is, the organization should be 

 conducted under the laws of that State by 

 most of the larger producers, within a rea- 

 sonable radius of some large shipping-point, 

 such producers to hold a controlling inter- 

 est of stock, always. The plan of the asso- 

 ciation would be to issue a certificate to the 

 small producer for his honey, a previous ar- 

 rangement having been made with some 

 bank to cash these certificates at, say, two- 

 thirds their value. For instance, some kind 

 of chattel-mortgage arrangement could be 

 made between the association and the bank 

 as security. The certificate should state 

 that the association had received a certain 

 number of pounds of honey (kind and grade 

 mentioned) of the small producer, and it 

 should direct the bank to pay this producer 

 on whatever basis the chattel-mortgage ar- 

 rangement reads between the association 

 and the bank. Then a separate agreement 

 should be given the small producer by the 

 association, to the effect that he is to receive 

 the rest of his money plus or minus the ad- 

 vance or loss the association has made at 

 the end of the year after all expenses of 

 marketing have been deducted, it being un- 

 derstood that these expenses are to be com- 

 puted c )llectively on the number of pounds 

 marked by the association. 



It should be understood that whoever sub- 

 scribes tor stock of the association is to re- 

 ceive, say, eight or ten per cent fixed divi- 

 dend. Any bee-keepers desiring stock 

 might give their honey (two-thirds value 

 of, or whatever assessment the bank puts on 

 it) , in place of cash to pay for stock. With 

 an alert, honest business man to manage, 

 the association would very quickly set the 

 price for honey, and would gel all the mar- 

 ket will stand. If the plan proved a success 

 it would be copied all over the country, and 

 gradually bring about a higher price for 



