582 



THE a:merica2v^ bee journal. 



their cells, which I as regularly de- 

 stroyed until Aug. 7. by which time I 

 was 'rather tired of the game. 



The great question was. where did 

 the eggs come from that were in the ; 

 queen-cells y If laid by a laying 

 worker, whv were not eggs laid in 

 other cells of which there were thou- 

 sands of empty ones by that time ? 

 But I could not find an egg except in 

 these cells, and not in all of them. I 

 had read of bees stealing eggs from 

 other hives, so I supplied them with 

 water and closed the entrance with 

 wire netting, and kept them all shut 

 in for two days. I then examined 

 them, and lo and behold, there were 

 the cells and eggs just as usual \ 



I was about at my wits' end. but I 

 thought of one more thing that I 

 would try. I had by this time added 

 frames to the nucleus till there were 

 four or five. I took out all the frames 

 of the cranky colony's hive and car- 

 ried them off' to a little distance, and 

 placed in the hive three frames con- 

 taining no eggs or young larvse. with 

 the adhering bees from the nucleus. 

 I then shook off the other bees on the 

 ground, dividing the empty frames 

 between the two hives, and leaving 

 the bees to find their way back as 

 they might. On looking the next 

 day. though, it was the same old story 

 — queen-cells, a part with eggs and a 

 part with none. 



The next morning I went out de- 

 termined to form a new colony by 

 taking frames from several hives, and 

 break this one up by distributing its 

 frames in their places, but first I dis- 

 covered that the queen in the nucleus 

 had begim to lay. when I thought my 

 best plan would be to unite the two, 

 and give the caged queen to the col- 

 ony for which the nucleus queen was 

 designed : this I did, and succeeded 

 in uiiiting them safely by giving the 

 nucleus one or two frames a day till 

 aU were in. Can any one tell what 

 was the matter with those bees V 



Normal.? Ills. 



Yentnra, Calif., CoDYention. 



The Ventura Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in Union Hall, at San 

 Buenaventura, on Aug. 7, 1886. Mr. 

 Wilkin was elected President and C. 

 M. Drake Secretary. 



Mr. Richardson made a report of a 

 warehouse for holding the honey xyf 

 the county. 40xHj(jx9 feet, with con- 

 crete fl'jor and iron covering, with a 

 capacity of .yjd tons of honey, saying 

 such a building would cost about S8.iX). 

 Mr. Mercer said a brick one would 

 cost double that amount. 



Mr. Corey gave several go<wl reasons 

 why honey is low. Mr. Blanchard 

 thought we should organize and work 

 together; store it and borrow upon it 

 instead of forcing sales early in the 

 season. 



The following address was read by 

 S. C. Gridley, ot Xordhofl : 



DISFOSIXG OF THE HOKEY CHOP. 



I offer these thoughts with the hope 

 that they may lead to financial good 

 to ourselves. 1 offer them as sug- 



gestions for the bee-men to think 

 over — to alter or amend for the good 

 of the cause — and if anything in this 

 essay proves to be of any benefit. I 

 shall feel that I have been of some 

 help. 



We must combine in some form to 

 protect ourselves against the middle- 

 man — the speculator— and the many 

 hands our honey passes through be- 

 fore it reaches' the consumer. We 

 must divert some of these profits to 

 ourselves, or our business is ruined. 

 The fruit-men have shown us the 

 way and the benefits derived from 

 union of interests. '• In union there 

 is strength." Why cannot we follow 

 in their footsteps V Surely we can. 

 and we must do so at once. 



Now. I propose th^ following as 

 suggestions : First, incorporate : then ', 

 build a fire-proof warehouse large ^ 

 enough to hold the crop of the county, | 

 with an office and a large room be- j 

 sides, for purposes which I will men- 

 tion further on. It is not necessary [ 

 to build this warehouse where land is 

 expensive. Find out where the rail- , 

 road line will run, and build close to : 

 it on cheap land. The railroad vrill ' 

 build a switch to it. Let the incor- 

 poration be called the " Ventura 

 County Honey-Packing Association." 1 

 or any other name that will be appro- ! 

 priate. Let the sole business be in 

 honey and wax in its various forms. 

 Let the bee-men store their honey 

 and wax in this warehouse, and ar- 

 range so that money can be drawn 

 from the association on the honey i 

 deposited in the warehouse. That 

 will give every man a chance to help 

 himself at once without waiting, and 

 will release the honey market, form a 

 selling pressure, and tend to equalize 

 the price of honey. Further. I would 

 propose to have a good, reliable man 

 — one who is used to selling goods— go 

 over the country with samples of this 

 honey and sell it. Go to the best 

 ' markets with it. Merchants buying 

 , from such an association would be 

 I assured of getting just what was rep- 

 I resented, and from a reliable source. 

 Now. use the large room I spoke of 

 before, to repack the honey as fast as 

 the orders come in. When the sales- 

 man sells to a retailer, he wants it in 

 a nice, attractive package— one that 

 will strike the eye. Well, put it up 

 so. Put up a do'zen in a case, with 

 handsome labels, the association's 

 • trade-mark, and with recipes for 

 using honey in place of sugar for 

 making cakes and preserving fruit, 

 and in this wav create other uses for 

 honey, and so 'stimulate the demand. 

 Also, put a handsome show-card, full 

 I size of case, in each and every case, 

 to hang up in some conspicuous place 

 ' in his store. Make it handsome 

 enough so that he will think it an 

 ornament and presers-e it, instead of 

 throwing it away. Let it he as hand- 

 some as the art of lithographing can 

 i make it. In this way Ventura honey 

 I will make a name for itself, and will 

 be in demand, and in the course of 

 time orders will come of themselves— 

 will need no salesman. Comb honey 

 ' should have the stamp of the associa- 

 tion on each and every section. Take 

 ' the wax as it comes in and render it 



and make it clean. Have appliances 

 to bleach it, and thereby get a larger 

 return for it. When our salesman 

 strikes a brewer or tobacconist, he 

 will want it in bulk. Well, put it up 

 to suit him too. and put the associa- 

 tion's brand on it. He wUl be suited 

 with the lower grades of honey. 



The cost of cans and cases, as we 

 all know, is a very large item of total 

 loss to the apiarist. Let each and 

 every bee-man provide himself with 

 enough barrels lined with tin or some 

 other material to hold his crop. The 

 first cost would be considerable, but 

 then they would last for years. Let 

 him put his honey in them and store 

 them in the warehouse, and let aU 

 the grading and packing be done at 

 the warehouse. It might be advis- 

 able for the association to own the 

 barrels, and rent them to the bee- 

 men at so much the season or ton. 

 The association could pack the honey 

 much cheaper than the individual, 

 for they could buy in large quantities 

 at a les's cost ; or they might have 

 machiney for making cans, and man- 

 ufacture for themselves, and save 

 all the profit. I bought caos and 

 cases in San Francisco this season at 

 65 cents each. Here they are 85 cents 

 — a wide difference. 



Now. a very important question 

 comes up: What will all this cost? 

 Uow much money will it take V It 

 will require considerable capital to 

 handle the honey crop of the county 

 this way ; but I think a finance com- 

 ' mittee appointed by this meeting 

 ' might induce some capitalist to em- 

 bark in the enterprise. I think we 

 ought to be able to make a good 

 showing for a fair rate of interest on 

 the monev— but not one per cent, per 

 month. We should be able to gel the 

 j money at from 6 to 8 per cent, per 

 annum, and I think it could be done. 

 The association would have to raise 

 the money for building the ware- 

 house and accessories among its mem- 

 bers ; but after that there will be no 

 trouble in raising money on ware- 

 house receipts. There are 600 tons of 

 honey in this county. An assessment 

 of one-quarter of one cent per pound 

 1 would bring .jS.OOO ; one-half of one 

 cent, S6.000, which would be ample to 

 build the warehouse. The beemen 

 ; could pay their assessments on honey 

 I at the market price, let it he sold, and 

 1 the proceeds devoted to building the 

 warehouse, etc. Then let the stock 

 be issued to each one to the amount 

 , of his assessment. 



j The advantages of such an arrange- 

 , ment, to my mind, would be numer- 

 1 ous. One of the greatest would be 

 i that every bee-man. big or little, 

 ! when he gathered his crop could raise 

 i money on it at once, and that alons 

 ' would be a great boon to most of us. 

 Another, we would get rid of middle- 

 men and speculators ; we would save 

 all their profits to ourselves. That 

 would largely increase the price of 

 honey to us at once. 



Now. as to the division of the pro- 

 ceeds of the business. Let a certain 

 percentage be set aside for interest 

 and the various expenses, and for a 

 sinking fund. Let the sinking fund 

 be liberal, so that the corporation can 



