1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



193 



honey, at the current market price 

 on day bills of lading are received: 

 50 per cent of remaining amount 30 

 days later, and final settlement with- 

 in 90 days. 



To further protect the purchaser, 

 each member must sign a statement 

 in triplicate to be attached to all 

 bills of lading, guaranteeing that his 

 honey is packed in accordance with 

 Association grading and packing 

 rules, and that he will be responsible 

 for any loss occasioned by failure to 

 put up a standard product. 



.Members can, on election, sell their 

 honey direct, but it cannot then bear 

 the Lone Star label. 



Finding Purchasers 



Mr. LeStourgeon outlines the meth- 

 od of selling as follows: "The mem- 

 bers of the Association receive on 

 the first of each month a blank form 

 which they are required to fill out. 

 The information which this blank 

 contains gives the manager an idea 

 of the condition of the honey plants, 



handling the Texas honey crop. They 

 are relieved entirely of advancing 

 any money on shipments. They are 

 relieved of storing it and of a great 

 deal i if bookkeeping. All they do is 

 to take the order for the honey and 

 remit to the Association office upon 

 receipt of bills of lading. Many job- 

 bers are so interested in this plan of 

 marketing that they have offered as- 

 sistance to the Association, some of- 

 fering to take stock in the Associa- 

 tion in order to guarantee the enter- 

 prise." 



The ingenuity of the plan is at 

 once apparent. The wholesaler's 

 order-taking machinery is used to 

 get the retailer's orders, but the 

 wholesaler never handles the honey. 

 It is shipped direct to the retailer. 

 This eliminates much breakage, leak- 

 age, rehandling charges, etc. Again, 

 having one man in charge of the en- 

 tire distributing enables him to avoid 

 allowing any market to become glut- 

 ted. 



Brand used by the Texas Honey Produc 



the amount of honey actually on 

 hand, the locations where honey will 

 be available for the market and on 

 what dates; also, kind and how 

 packed. With this information the 

 manager approaches the wholesaler, 

 who can then instruct his traveling 

 salesmen of the price of honey for fu- 

 ture delivery, taking orders from con- 

 suming points for direct shipment. 

 I hese orders are mailed back di- 

 rectly to the manager, wdio in turn 

 directs the honey producers where to 

 send their honey. The honey is 

 shipped direct to the consuming 

 point in the amount desired. At- 

 tached to bills of lading is a state- 

 ment giving the grade, the amount, 

 the manner of packing, and the guar- 

 antee. A certain claim period is al- 

 lowed the purchasing merchant. If the 

 honey is not up to standard, the As- 

 sociation protects the buyer. 



"Under this method the manager 

 receives and solicits orders, both 

 great and small, for honey, bees, 

 wax, etc., from all parts of the coun- 

 try, together with the price the pros- 

 pective customer will pay. 



"The jobbers and wholesalers are 

 much pleased with this manner of 



sociation in marketing honey 



Prices are established in April and 

 full publicity on them sent out to the 

 trade. 



Advertising of a general nature has 

 not yet been done, but in addition to 

 using a standard label, each case con- 

 'ains a display card for the retailer 

 to use to call attention to the honey. 



Influences Legislation 



This closer association of the 

 honey interests of the State has also 

 improved their ability to favorably 

 uifluence legislation affecting their 

 industry. This fact was notably 

 proved when the Texas Senate pro- 

 posed to lop $2,000 from the foul- 

 brood appropriation. Within 48 hours 

 the Association had engineered in- 

 dignant protests from the "folks 

 back home" and prevented the cut. 



Again, when the Washington au- 

 thorities were considering the tin 

 ran shortage, and the committee had 

 tailed to list honey as a perishable, 

 she Association was able to claim at- 

 tention for honey and assurance of a 

 supply of honey cans. Here the As- 

 sociation performed a national ser- 

 vice for its industry. 



A third interesting instance of in- 

 fluence with Government authorities 



occurred during the mobilization of 

 troops on the Mexican border. It 

 was impossible to sell honey for 

 irmy use, because honev was not on 

 the regular army ration nor on the 

 inversion tables of the War Depart- 

 ment. The Association took the mat- 

 ter up, and in less than six weeks 

 nermission had been granted to add 

 honey to the troops' bill of fare. 

 r his opened a market for thousands 

 of pounds atCamp Wilson alone. 

 A Financial Success 



In July the Association will be two 

 *'ears old. That they have been 

 highly successful years is evidenced 

 ■•>y the actual figures on higher prices 

 secured for honey and savings on 

 purchases of supplies, given in the 

 tirst installment of this article. In 

 both its selling and purchasing de- 

 partments the Association has been 

 financially successful in a very 

 marked degree. 



But the mere fact that it has or- 

 ganized the industry has had far- 

 reaching effects. It has earned the 

 resnect of the trade, the state and 

 national authorities, and the con- 

 suming public, with the result that 

 'he Texas honey industry has been 

 resurrected. Producers are no longer 

 rutting each other's nrices and un- 

 dermining each other's security; the 

 trade can get a standard product, 

 uniformly packed, and with satisfac- 

 'ion guaranteed, and the consumer 

 can leel he is buying a product of 

 merit when lie asks for Lone Star 

 brand. 



In conclusion, a word about the 

 membership rules may be of interest 

 'here arc no annual dues. Shares are 

 $10 each, and ownership of one share 

 entitles the holder to all privileges 

 One hundred shares is the limit for 

 individual ownership. Profits of the 

 Association are rebated to members 

 m proportion to business done. 



Centralizing Bee-Yard Control 



By J. J. Wilder 



W II ILL we are learning more 

 an, I more every season to 

 control our bees, holding 

 them under check and managing 

 more of them with the same help, we 

 must learn to control the group of 

 yards as well as the bees in them. 



In the South many outapiaries are 

 now being established making this a 

 timely subject which it pavs to look 

 into. 



I have looked over our country, 

 picked out locations and established 

 nearly 100 yards and I know what it 

 means to make a mistake in this 

 work; and, on the other hand, what 

 it means to get the proper location. 



I once placed a yard on a creek 

 just one mile from the highway, 

 with a rough, crooked road leading 

 to it. and the only way out was to 

 back out to the highway. 



While the location on the creek 

 was ideal in surrounding and in dis- 

 tance from other yards, yet the 

 difficulty in reaching it made it a 

 failure. We finally moved this yard 

 near a good road, where we had to 

 pass on our way to other bee-yards. 



