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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping Among the Mockiei 



''esley Foster, BotiMer, Colorado. 



BEEKEEPING IN BOULDER. 



There are quite a number of the residents 

 of Boulder who are keeping bees in the city. 

 wMeh, however, is a small city — hardly 

 metropolitan. The bees may fly to the foothill 

 ravines and canyons where hawthorn, thim- 

 bleberry, ehokeeherry, and scores of other 

 flowers furnish nectar early in the season. 

 Then close ujj to the city limits are alfalfa- 

 fields that often yield nectar. The bees in 

 the city, however, upon the average do not 

 yield more than fifty per cent of the amount 

 secured from colonies in apiaries located in 

 the alfalfa districts further from the city. 



THE LOCAL HONEY MARKET. 



This is the first year for us here in 

 Boulder when the old comb honey on hand 

 has interfered with the sale of the new. A 

 good many grocers will not buy the new 

 until they have cleaned up on the old. The 

 new honey generally brings $3.50 to $4.00 

 a case for the first few cases, but this year 

 $3.25 is the most that has been paid in the 

 local market so far as I know. The demand 

 for honey from a distance has been better 

 than for several years. The excellent crops 

 in the dry-land country in eastern Colorado, 

 western Nebraska, and western Kansas, is 

 going to make a large market for a good 

 proportion of our production. 



WORKING UP A MARKET. 



The letter of Ray Mittower to Dr. Miller, 

 page 373, May 15, is as interesting as it is 

 important. Located as Mr. Mittower is, he 

 is interested to know whether he can profit- 

 ably produce comb honey and make a good 

 living. Perhaps he has seen comb honey 

 literally dumped upon his market, and the 

 price shattered or lowered to where the 

 profit is microscopical. The centers of large 

 production are rapidly increasing their 

 shipments, and the marketing and distribut- 

 ing of these increasing crops is going to 

 require work. But if I were in Mr. Mit- 

 tower's place I would not fear outside honey 

 greatly. I would build up my trade with 

 local dealers and cater to the fancy trade, 

 and I feel sure that I could always dispose 

 of my product at a good figure. I would 

 not put my honey in the hands of dealers 

 any more than I could help, but would try 

 to sell direct to the large retail grocers. 



The commercial producers will eventually 

 be forced to adopt methods similar to the 



California Fruit-gi-owers' Exchange, and 

 then every honey-producer who wants to 

 market his honey with the least effort will 

 doubtless find it pays to deal with the or- 

 ganization. There always will be a profit, 

 doubtless, for the man who has the time and 

 inclination to work his own local trade ; and 

 if it is large enough to take all he can pro- 

 duce he is fortunate in comparison to the 

 producers who are long distances from the 

 markets. I think that the young man has 

 as good chances now as ever to do well with 

 bees, but, of course, he will have to keep up 

 with the times in the marketing end as well 

 as in the production end. 

 * * * 



MARKETING HONEY. 



James H. Collins has a very interesting 

 article on selling honey in the June 13th 

 issue of the Country Gentleman. This is one 

 of his " Selling Service " articles that are 

 running in that paper. Many of his state- 

 ments have to be taken vei-y generally, but 

 the suggestions are good. It would pay many 

 a beekeei^er to send for a copy through the 

 local newsdealer if a copy cannot be found. 

 He says that the beekeepers have worked in 

 too general a way. He thinks general pub- 

 licity has failed, and that what is needed is 

 for every beeman to use more printers' ink 

 in the way of circulars and honey leaflets, 

 advertising honey locally and building a 

 trade close at home. 



Mr. Collins recognizes that the great 

 difficulty is that, when the individual bee- 

 keeper has made his rounds among his 

 customers and disposed of his crop, the 

 customer does not see him again till next 

 year; but Mr. Collins does not give a rem- 

 edy for this condition, except to suggest 

 that the beekeeper should work more inten- 

 sively — that is, work a smaller territory, 

 and it is inferred that he would then have 

 to spend the whole year selling his crop ; 

 while, by spreading out, the beeman can 

 dispose of his crop in a few weeks. When 

 the beeman can dispose of his crop in a 

 short time it is not likely that he will adopt 

 the slower method, even though the condi- 

 tion of the public thought regarding honey 

 as a staple product instead of a luxury 

 might be established. We all look pretty 

 close to our own noses, and the betterment 

 of the general honey market cannot hope 

 for much help from the beeman working 

 individually. If the price could be raised 

 fifty per cent by holding the crop through- 

 out the year, the proposition would be a 



