660 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



sas City territory. Our trademark brands 

 of lioney are handled by over eight hundred 

 grocers in Kansas City alone. 



We are blending the white, mild-flavored 

 honey with the darker, stronger-flavored 

 grades from the territory we serve, and 

 have learned to put out a product that 

 surpasses in color (a beautiful golden light 

 amber) the water-white, and in flavor gives 

 more general satisfaction than the mild 

 flavors or the pronounced grades. We put 

 out a grade that can be put out in quantities 

 the year round, and we have it always on 

 hand. 



Concerning the handling of comb honey, 

 our members vary somewhat in grading 

 methods ; and while standardization is advo- 

 cated, our market is so wide that various 

 kinds of honey can be placed fairly well. 

 If a member's grading is faulty, he hears 

 from the manager and also suffers in the 

 price secured, just as he should expect to. 

 We do not expect to have to curry favor 

 with the beekeepers, neither will they have 

 to scrape to the association. If they are 

 honorable and fair in their dealings, the 

 business will be satisfactory all around. 

 Beekeepers who can do business on business 

 principles are welcome, and the other kind 

 are not wanted. In fact, the best way for 

 prospective members to do is to deal with 

 the association some and find out whether 

 they want to come in. 



The prices secured for members have not 

 been much higher than the market, but it 

 has helped numerous beemen to dispose of 

 crops that could find no market. It is sim- 

 ply a commission business owned by the 

 beekeepers. Whether it succeeds greatly is 

 not important; it has succeeded nominally. 

 The beekeepers are learning to trust each 

 other, work together, and put out a product 

 more suited to the market. No single mem- 

 ber of the association can put up a product 

 so uniform thruout the year. 



Our finances are still low, and we will 

 have to wait and build slowly. This is as 

 much an advantage as a disadvantage. 

 Some funds have been advanced by the di- 

 rectors to pay part on members' honey. 

 The beekeepers have been very patient in 

 waiting for their money, and this helps in 

 starting any co-operative enterprise. 



Concerning the future of co-operation, 

 the writer believes that it will not be many 

 years until there will be a federation of co- 

 operative honey-marketing associations for 

 securing various desired objects, the de- 

 velopment of more markets, the better dis- 

 tribution of the honey crop preventing a 

 glut in any one place. This federation will 

 doubtless be rather loose in form at first : 



that is, it will not affect the local associa- 

 tion's management to any extent. In time, 

 the federation may be so centralized that it 

 will dictate that all of a member's product 

 shall be marketed thru his association, and 

 thus thru the federation. This may never 

 come, for the reason that beekeepers will 

 not find it expedient or feasible to curtail 

 the individual work of beekeepers develop- 

 ing their local markets. No association 

 should hamper the beekeeper's activities 

 along this line. 



The various local associations organized 

 into a federation would doubtless put out 

 four or perhaps six brands of extracted 

 honey to cater to the tastes of the various 

 sections of the country, and use ujd the total 

 surplus extracted-honey crop. There should 

 be trademarked "baking honey," a trade- 

 marked " fruit-canning honey," and sever- 

 al brands of table honey. 



The comb honey could be cartoned and 

 trademarked to suit the market and the 

 product. This trademarketing is now done 

 by our association and several otheijs. If 

 t!iey all got together in a federation, it can 

 be easily seen that something of the same, 

 along advanced lines, would be taken up. 



A conference of the various honey-mar- 

 keting associations would be conducive of 

 good results, and there will doubtless be 

 such a conference before many years pass. 

 Our association will gladly co-operate with 

 others in the work. 



THE NATIO^^AL HONBT-PRODUCEES' ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 



The president of the National Honey- 

 producers' Association is Mr. I>. C. Polhe- 

 mus, of Lamar, Colorado. Mr. Polhemus 

 owned and operated the honey business in 

 Kansas City taken over by the association. 

 He is a man of large experience in produc- 

 ing and marketing honey. His apiaries 

 comprise more than two thousand colonies, 

 and his honey sales are much greater than 

 his own production. He is a man of 

 standing in his community and enjoys the 

 confidence of all who have done business 

 with him. 



Mr. G. P. Stark is the manager in charge 

 of tlie Kansas City store. He has had large 

 experience in the honey business in Kansas 

 City, and is thoro, business-like, an/I 

 straightforward in all his work, and is en- 

 thusiastic, and is building the business very 

 substantially. Mr. Stark is one of the mem- 

 bers of the association, and will be glad to 

 have beekeepers visiting Kansas City call at 

 the store, 928 Garfield Avenue, Kansas City, 

 Missouri. 



Boulder, Col. 



