AliasT, HH'tt 



I. K A \ I N (1 S IX B K K (' r l.'P 



475 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Southern California. 



This h :i s 

 bc't'ii one of 

 the Loulest Juiu's ovor known. It has surely 

 been a boon to the southern California bee- 

 keeper, and here 's hoping that July will be 

 as favorable for the flow of nectar. 



The orange honey crop for 1920 has been 

 harvested and, generally speaking, it has 

 been very satisfactory. In some cases bee- 

 keepers were in a hurry to move to the 

 sages, and it happened that the neighbor who 

 kept his bees on the oranges a few weeks 

 longer, got niucli the best crop. A rank 

 second growth on the black sage in most 

 sections ga\e a big flow. The purple sage 

 yielded well in only a few sections. Gen- 

 erally speaking, it proved to be a great dis- 

 api>ointnient. The \vhite sage jiias been 

 blooming for a month and in many places 

 will eontinue well thru the month of July. 

 The flow has not been at all abundant and 

 in certain localities is reported as not yield- 

 ing any honey. With us it has ]>roved to be 

 uncertain from year to year an<l this year 

 has been only fair. The wild buckwheat is 

 secreting nectar quite freely. In places 

 where moisture is suflicient this shrub con- 

 tinues to furnish some honey until tlie frost 

 comes. 



The Imperial Valley is getting its normal 

 crop. They never have had a failure there, 

 and it is only a question of a larger or sniall- 

 •er crop from year to year. 



Some large apiarists in southern Cali- 

 fornia figured on 100 per cent increa.°e and 

 an orange-honey crop. In a few ca^es, ac- 

 cording to the reports, they succeeded. 



We hear that the Orange County beemen 

 are getting the best crop in 40 years. There 

 are perhaps two or three years in the last 

 4I» years that about ecjual this year for 

 average production, but the high price of 

 honey will make this, financially, the banner 

 year during that period. Old-time apiarists 

 say that ISS-i and 1895 were great years for 

 honey-making. The secretary of the Orange 

 County Beekeepers' Club says that he be- 

 lieves that the county this year will pro- 

 duce loll tons of Iioney. The mountains are 

 still covered with bloom, and the bees are 

 working to their full capacity. Honey is 

 bringing a good price. The beekeepers are 

 retailing it at from 22 to 25c per pound, and 

 the stores are selling it for from 30 to 33c 

 per pound. 



Buyers have Vjcen around from time to 

 time but they are not as plentiful as before 

 the Exchange was organized. They are 

 ready to buy if they can get the honey a few 

 cents below the market price. Before the 

 honey was ready for market, they talked 

 about 20 and 21e; but now they give us the 

 old "dope" of a lower market price, a big. 

 crop, etc. It has gotten to that stage where 

 the beekeeper is better informed than he 



was a few years ago, and he is much more 

 able to look out for his rights. 



The California Iioney Producers' Co-oper- 

 ative Exchange now advances 60 per cent 

 of the market price or the price that a cer- 

 tain grade of honey is selling for at the 

 time of its delivery to the warehouse. Ad- 

 ditional advances are made from time to 

 time as the pool in which the honey has 

 been placed is sold. When the honey is all 

 sold, the final adjustment is made and the 

 balance remitted to the beekeeper. Many 

 beekeepers object to the *' ' long wait for 

 their money, ' ' as they call it. It is an inno- 

 vation in the way of selling our honey, and 

 the writer is frank in saying that he did not 

 like it at first. But the more it is thought 

 over and its workings observed, the more he 

 is convinced that it is a good thing for the 

 great majority of honey-producers. 



Heretofore Mr. Buyer came along and 

 said, "Well, how is the honey, Mr. Jones?" 

 ''Oh, I have a few tons." "Want to sell 

 it ." ' " Yes, ' ' says Mr. Jones, ' ' I need a 

 litt'e money and would be glad to sell it." 

 "All right," says Mr. Buyer, "I was out 

 this way and just thought I'd call and see 

 you. The market is a little weaker, but we 

 have an order for a car and will place one 

 if we can get it at the right price. I can pay 



you , " naming about what we now get 



as the 60 per cent advance in the Exchange. 

 "Well, that is pretty cheap, but I want to 

 jret rid of my honey and you can have it. ' ' 

 The money is praetioally all spent in a few 

 Aveeks and then — well, there 's a wait until 

 next year. In the Exchange we get our 

 money from time to time, over a period of 

 several months or, when the wax is included, 

 thruout the year. In this way we are never 

 "broke," as the saying goes. The fellow 

 outside, by standing under our umbrella, 

 will sometimes get more for his honey and 

 will not share in the expense. But every 

 Exchange in California has proved the sal- 

 vation of the industry it represents. 



The county ordinance plan of making laws 

 or ordinances for the moving or shipping in 

 of bees is getting to be a nuisance in (Cali- 

 fornia. One beekeeper, wdio had his ajiiary 

 pre])ared and ready to ship, at a considerable 

 exiieiise of time and money, found at the 

 eleventh hour that the supervisors of the 

 county into which he expected to move had 

 passed an ordinance prohibiting the moving 

 in of bees except in combless packages. 

 Xow it seems to me that the State should 

 have laws strict enough to protect each 

 county, and yet liberal enough so that the 

 honey crop of the State can be harvested to 

 the best advantage. This should be done 

 irrespective of the fact that a county line 

 separates a location on which an early honey 

 flow is the only one, and V)y moving a few 

 miles a beekeeper can take advantage of the 

 probability of two or three different sources 



