1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



337 



Ault's spring protection for cell-building colon 



dependable flows, the production of 

 honey is usually considered more 

 profitable than either queen-breeding 

 or the package business. Some of 

 the most extensive queen-breeders in 

 America would be producing honey, 

 if the honeyflows in the places 

 where they live were heavy and de- 

 pendable enough to give profitable 

 crops. In this North Texas country 

 the early package business offers a 

 solution of the swarming problem. 

 If the bees are allowed to continue 

 excess breeding for two months 

 ahead of the honeyflow, large quan- 

 tities of honey are consumed in rear- 

 ing useless brood, and much manipu- 

 lation is necessary on the part of the 

 beekeeper to control the swarms. T. 

 W. Burleson, of Waxahachie, is a 

 large honey producer, having 750 

 colonies of bees. He has found that 

 by selling bees to the early trade he 

 can turn his excess bees to profit 

 early in the season, and still give the 

 bees plenty of time to build up for 

 the honeyflow from cotton. 



There are not many localities 

 where the selling of bees and the 

 production of honey can be com- 

 bined to as good advantage. Where 

 it can be done, it furnishes the ideal 

 condition for profitable beekeeping. 

 The bees are sold in early spring, at 

 the time when prices rule highest, 

 and the marketing of the honey crop, 

 which comes on later, gives the bee- 

 keeper a long season with a depend- 

 able income. Mr. Burleson is of the 

 opinion that one of the secrets of 

 success, in shipping bees, is to gorge 

 them before delivering the package 

 to the express company. If given all 

 the syrup which they will take, in 

 advance of shipment, the bees cluster 

 much more quietly and go through 

 in better condition. A common way 

 of feeding is to spread the syrup 

 over the screen of the cage with a 

 wide brush. 



There are numerous queen-breed- 

 ers in Texas, and each locality pre- 

 sents conditions peculiar to itself. 

 The writer was not able to visit as 



in South Texas. 



many of the queen yards as he 

 wished, because the time available 

 for the trip was not sufficient. In 

 some important honey-producing 

 sections of Texas, commercial 

 queen-rearing is not profitable be- 

 cause of a shortage of pollen at 

 some seasons of the year. This and 

 other locality peculiarities will be 

 considered further in later articles. 



Co-Operation Brought Higher 

 Prices 



By Chilton Gano 



BEEKEEPERS of the Northwest 

 — Idaho and Oregon — have 

 proved that successful co-op- 

 erative selling of honey need not be 

 confined to Colorado and Texas. The 

 story of the Idaho-Oregon Honey 

 Producers' Association has been one 

 of financial success from the first 



season, 1915. To indicate at the start 

 the scope of this success it may be 

 stated that in 1914 Northwestern ex- 

 tracted honey was selling as low as 5 

 cents, whereas this season the asso- 

 ciation's minimum price is 18 cents. 

 This advance cannot, of course, be 

 attributed entirely to the association. 

 Advances in production cost due to 

 the war, and the scarcity of sugar 

 have had much to do with it. But an 

 account of the association's history 

 will show that the present prosperity 

 of the Northwest beekeepers is due 

 in part to organization. 



The present organization is an out- 

 growth of the Southern Idaho-East- 

 ern Oregon Beekeepers' Association, 

 which was a social organization. 

 Prior to 1914 members of the organi- 

 zation had from time to time bunched 

 supply orders, or occasionally com- 

 bined to make up a car of honey for 

 shipment to the coast; but such ac- 

 tions were not included in the asso- 

 ciation's functions. 



In December. 1914, the time seemed 

 ripe for adopting a definite plan for 

 co-operative buying of supplies and 

 selling of honey. A meeting was held 

 and the result was the incorporation 

 df the Idaho-Oregon Honey Produc- 

 ers' Association. The association 

 was to buy supplies of all kinds, 

 bunching all members' orders, and to 

 market all the honey of its members, 

 withholding 5 per cent of gross sales 

 to cover expenses and returning any 

 surplus from this amount to the pro- 

 ducers at the end of each season. 

 Prices were to be determined by 

 public discussion at the Annual Field 

 Meeting, held in July of each year, 

 a schedule being determined on for 

 the three grades of comb honey. 

 Producers of extracted, however, 

 were to be allowed to set their own 

 prices. The association was to- en- 

 deavor to secure the schedule prices, 

 but was empowered to sell at market 

 price whenever it appeared advis- 

 able. 



Big Savings in Supplies 



First, as regards purchasing of 



Hives protected with earth in Ault's 



This would not do 



