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THE AMERICAJS BEE JOU'RNAL. 



For ttie American Bv*e JournaL 



Depressed Industry —Organization. 



K. J. KENDALL.© 



The following article is from the 

 Anaheim Gazette. It explains itself, 

 and I will make a remark or two 

 about it : 



" One of the unfortunate features 

 the present season is the depression 

 under which the honey industry is 

 laboring. For several years past the 

 yield has been scant, and yet the 

 price was, as a rule, below the point 

 of profit. This season the crop was 

 very good, but to offset this the price 

 has gone down to a shameful depth. 

 Sales of pure mountain sage honey 

 are reported in Anaheim, tliis week, 

 at 3 cents per pound, and he was a 

 peculiarly bold operator who paid tliat 

 price, 2% cents being the next highest 

 offer. It is needless to say that even 

 with the natural advantages enjoyed 

 by the bee-keeper of Southern Cali- 

 fornia, there is no profit in the busi- 

 ness when such prices rule. And it 

 is all the more exasperating to know 

 that it is not a fluctuation in the con- 

 sumption of honey which causes this 

 low price. It is reasonable to sup- 

 pose tiiat the use of honey is steadily 

 increasing, and more than keeps pace 

 with the production. Tlie real cause 

 of the depression is to be found in 

 the so-called honey witli which the 

 markets of the East and of Europe 

 are flooded — honey in the production 

 of which the ' busy bee ' had neither 

 hand nor part. It is glucose pure and 

 simple, and as it can be produced 

 cheaper than the natural product can 

 be sent from California, the latter is 

 unmarketable. Such, indeed, is the 

 frank statement of a commission 

 house of New York, who were asked 

 by an Anaheim firm to give a reason 

 why they would not handle pure Cali- 

 fornia honey. Against such unscrup- 

 ulous competition as this, it is almost 

 useless to struggle. The only hope is 

 in legislation, which will make it a 

 punishable offense to sell glucose un- 

 der a honey-label, just as it is an of- 

 fense in some States to sell oleomarga- 

 rine for anything but what it is. 

 Until some sucli step as this is taken, 

 there is nothing very alluring in the 

 honey business." 



I always believe that '"to before- 

 warned is to be forearmed," provided 

 the warned heed the warning. To 

 me there are evident signs that the 

 honey market is in peril so far as the 

 pockets of honey-producers are con- 

 cerned. They ought to be able to get 

 10 cents per pound for their honey, 

 and when tlie price gets below that, 

 I have very grave doubts whether it 

 pays to produce it, the supply dealers 

 to the contrary notwithstanding. 



The lioney crop is a precarious crop, 

 and as •' one swallow does not make 



a summer," so also one year of honey- 

 glut does not make the honey business 

 a substantial or paying one ; and even 

 when we do get the glut, the effect 

 seems to be of injury to the business. 



" Three cents a pound "—the words 

 are a comment and a warning, a com- 

 ment on the want of management, 

 and a warning tliat unless bee-keep- 

 ers turn their attention as well to, 

 the management of the market as to 

 the management of their bees, they 

 are going to be " worker bees "" with 

 a vengeance ; and also to find that at 

 the end of tiie season they have been 

 so robbed of their honey that they 

 will have to look for outside feeding 

 to winter on. But unlike the bees 

 they have no owner, and none to do 

 the feeding. 



What is the remedy V Undoubtedly 

 co-operation and organization. If 

 every skilled bee-keeper were a mem- 

 ber of his district association, every 

 district association affiliated to its 

 State association, and every State 

 association connected with a Na- 

 tional association, such organiza- 

 tion could control the honey market, 

 arbitrate the price of honey, and see 

 to its being evenly distributed. This 

 could be done by holding regular 

 "grange" sort of meetings, paying 

 small lodge dues, having representa- 

 tives, agents, correspondents, and a 

 perfect ramification througliout the 

 whole country. Sucli a society would 

 be a perfect barometer of tlie honey 

 trade, and would be its safeguard, or 

 could be made so. 



Suppose such an organization ; sup- 

 pose that it had its own trade-mark 

 and label ; suppose every pound of 

 honey it sold was guaranteed to be 

 honest, pure honey ; suppose every 

 member was a bona'fide, expert honey- 

 producer (I mean not a mere novice 

 or amateur) ; and suppose member- 

 ship meant knowledge of the busi- 

 ness, and honesty in it ; do you not 

 suppose that such a brand ot lioney 

 would knock '" higher than a kite " 

 this adulteration and every other 

 brand ? If instead of every man ship- 

 ping on his own hook, he would send 

 his honey to his district association 

 bottling,' canning and packing house 

 (where honey was tested and graded), 

 would not a system of this sort, or 

 something like it, be the best answer 

 to cheap prices, and the glucose busi- 

 ness. 



I am afraid we think too much of 

 managing our bees, and too little of 

 managing our market. If we are to 

 be successful we must give as much 

 thought to the latter as the former. 

 Honey will not sell itself, but if left 

 to do so, it will sell us. I wish that 

 those readers of the Bee .Journal 

 who have more and longer experience 

 would determine to take up this 

 branch of the business and let us see 

 if we cannot evolve some scheme to 

 better our present positions, and be- 

 come the masters of the honey mar- 

 ket, and not its victims. 



Austin, Texas. 



For the American 3ee JoumaL 



N. Ind. and S. Mich. Convention. 



^ We can supply photographs of 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth, the Baron of 

 Berlepsch, or Dzierzon, at 25 cts. each. 



The first regular meeting of the 

 N. Indiana and S. Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Association met at 10 a. m. in 

 Goshen, Ind., on October 3, 1884, and 

 was called to order by President A. 

 Blunt, who briefly stated the object 

 of the meeting. The first on the pro- 

 gramme was the reading of the min- 

 utes of the previous meeting which 

 were adopted. The roll was then 

 called, when 1.5 members responded. 

 An opportunity being then offered for 

 any person to join the Association, by 

 signing the constitution and by-laws, 

 6 new members were received. The 

 number of colonies owned by the new 

 members were 152, making 975 in all 

 belonging to the Association. This 

 does not include the increase of the 

 new colonies belonging to the old 

 members, as they could not give the 

 number that were strong enough to 

 winter. The Association favored the 

 doubling up of weak colonies for win- 

 tering, instead of feeding them. 



A general report was then called 

 for by the President and the members 

 responded promptly. It would be 

 useless to attempt to give a full report 

 of evervthing tliat was spoken. The 

 facts are all that will interest any one, 

 and they were : 1 . That this has been 

 a remarkably poor season for bee- 

 keepers in tins section, owing to the 

 extreme dryness of the weather. 2. 

 That the production of honey is far 

 below the average and inferior in 

 quality. 3. That many colonies are 

 unable to winter without assistance. 

 4. The best food to supply them with 

 is the best granulated sugar, dissolved 

 in sufficient water to make a thick 

 syrup, and to be fed in the hive, by 

 filling empty combs and replacing 

 them, or by the various other methods. 

 A good and convenient way is, by fill- 

 ing a tumbler nearly full and placing 

 it upside down in one end of the hive, 

 and admitting the liees by raising one 

 division-board. The only difficulty 

 experienced by feeding syrup was 

 from diarrhoea, caused by the sugar. 

 This was also produced sometimes by 

 bees eating soured or moldy honey. 

 The best means of preventing this 

 disease has been found to be some 

 alkali, as bi-carbonate of soda, one 

 tablespoonful to each gallon of syrup. 



The discussion then turned on the 

 best method of preparing bees for 

 winter, after whicli the meeting ad- 

 journed until 1 p. m. 



Promptly at 1 p. m., the meeting 

 was called to order by the President, 

 and the discussion continued on win- 

 tering bees. By the suggestion of A. 

 Blunt, the physical condition of bees 

 during winter, was added. This was : 

 1. Ventilation and the amount of air 

 necessary for bees. 2. How this air 

 should be admitted. 3. How to pre- 

 vent moisture. 



These subjects were discussed for 

 some time, and the following resolu- 

 tions unanimously passed: 



Resolved, That regular and contin- 

 ued heat with dryness are the essen- 

 tials in keeping bees during winter ; 

 therefore,, this Association recom- 



