378 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



the local trade and circularizing 

 them. Gradually he secured custom- 

 ers, and many of them became steady 

 customers. Drumming up of trade be- 

 came less and less necessary. Also, 

 he began to need men to look after 

 his secondary duties for him, when 

 shipments began to be heavy. 



These large organizations resem- 

 ble to some extent the sales organi- 

 zations built up by private manufac- 

 turers. They seem large and costly. 

 They are. But when properly man- 

 aged they represent vast economies. 

 The California Fruit Growers dis- 

 pose of their fruit at the same cost 

 as do the Colorado Honey Producers 

 their honey, namely, 3 per cent. An- 

 other efficient organization, that of 

 the California Walnut Growers, does 

 its selling through carefully selected 

 brokers, paying them only V/Z per 

 cent commission. They charge their 

 smaller customers 2 z / 2 per cent up. 



And, finally, this discussion would 

 not be complete without mentioning 

 an independent type of distributing 

 organization which has grown up 

 apart from any special marketing as- 

 sociation, and specializes in dis- 

 tributing and selling for farmers' or- 

 ganizations which do not want to 

 build up their own distributing sys- 

 tems. The largest, probably, of these 

 great sales agencies is the North 

 American Fruit Exchange and Gen- 

 eral Sales Agency. If we should sep- 

 arate the California Fruit Growers' 

 Exchange into its two primary parts, 

 namely, the close-knit organization 

 of farmers in California, and the 

 wide-flung net of salesmen blanket- 

 ing the country, this second part, the 

 selling part, would resemble the 

 North American Fruit Exchange. 



This Exchange will distribute for 

 any farmers' organization whose 

 proposition it can practically handle. 

 It has sales offices in every important 

 market, and these offices sell not one 

 product, as does an office of the 

 American Cranberry Exchange, but 

 many products. One of their prod- 

 ucts is Skookum Apples, for example. 

 The apple growers of the northwest 

 thought better to affiliate with this 

 Exchange than to build up their own 

 private organization. 



It is interesting to learn in this 

 connection that the California Fruit 

 Growers' Exchange is beginning to 

 offer its sales service to one or two 

 other organizations. For several 

 years it has handled the output of a 

 large deciduous fruit association in 

 California, charging a commission 

 just as a broker would. Recently it 

 was stated that negotiations were 

 under way whereby it would also 

 handle the output of a California 

 vegetable association for a limited 

 However, it should not be un- 

 derstood that the Exchange is mak- 

 ing of its distributing system a sep- 

 arate commercial enterprise. The 

 deciduous fruit proposition just hap- 

 : to fit in very nicely with cit- 

 rous fruits and with practically no 

 overhead increase, while other affilia- 

 n may make will usually be 

 found to be for the purpose of keep- 

 ing its organization busy in what 

 happens to be a dull season. 

 Investigation into methods of ag- 



ricultural distribution will reveal 

 many surprising facts which indicate 

 that the old, inefficient methods are 

 passing. The co-operative idea does 

 not always develop spectacularly. 

 Few farmers realize the great extent 

 of co-operative activity in this coun- 

 try, either in successful operation or 

 in process of development. It is a 

 subject every farmer should study — 

 for more and more is co-operation 

 proving its value. The farmer who 

 deprecates the co-operative system 

 may awake some day to find nearly 

 the whole of the industry in which 

 he is engaged pushing forward under 

 co-operative auspices and leaving 

 him behind. 



Texas Beekeeping 



By C. S. Engle 



MOST of the beekeepers in this 

 part of Texas own several 

 hundred to a thousand or 

 more colonies of bees, all of which 

 are probably located in outapiaries. 

 Many of the beekeepers live in the 

 cities and towns and maintain no 

 home apiaries. r he larger beekeep- 

 ers use automobiles in their bee 

 work and it really makes little dif- 

 ference whether they lvjve home api- 

 aries or not. About SO to 75 colonies 

 are generally kept in each apiary, for 

 it is an easy matter to overstock a 

 locality. The bees gather most of 

 honey and pollen from shrubs and 

 flowers found in uncultivated por- 

 tions of the country. As some land- 

 owners have large tracts of land 

 cleared and put into cultivation, at 

 times the beekeeper is not alwaj - 

 sure of a permanent location for his 

 apiary an 1 often has to move his 

 bees to new fields. 



One can readily understand that 

 where there arc many small apiaries, 

 and the locations uncertain the bee- 

 keeper would not be over-anxious to 

 build honey-houses at his apiaries. 

 The honey produced is extracted and 



bulk comb; section honey is a curi- 

 osity. 



My outfit for taking honey con- 

 sists of a two-frame reversible ex- 

 tractor, an uncapping tub, uncapping 

 knife, butcher-knife to cut up the 

 bulk comb honey, pails for handling 

 honey in, honey strainer, cases of 

 pails and cans, a light canvas tent 

 "and camp outfit. The camp outfit is 

 a necessity, as my helper and I must 

 stay over night when taking honey, 

 if the apiaries are located many miles 

 from home. This outfit seems smail 

 and incomplete to most beekeepers, 

 no doubt, but remember that there 

 are not many colonies at each apiary, 

 and one wants to haul around no 

 more than absolutely necessary. 



The tent shown is the coolest one 

 I ever worked in. There is a double 

 flap door in the front of the tent 

 with string for tying it shut. In each 

 corner I use a 6-foot 1x4 to hold 

 up the tent; a small rope runs from 

 knob on top of poles to stakes driven 

 in the ground. In center of the top 

 is a long rope that I throw over a 

 limb and draw top of tent up tight. 

 This does away with a center pole. 



For carrying honey into the tent I 

 use what I call a "horse," generally 

 made by nailing four legs to a shal- 

 low super and two' pieces on the 

 sides about four and a half feet long 

 for handles. On the horse I spread a 

 heavy cloth or burlap sack ; then 

 place on top of that an empty super. 

 As fast as the combs of honey are 

 brushed free of bees they are placed 

 in the super and covered with a bur- 

 lap sack to keep out the bees. Two 

 men can carry two ten-frame full 

 depth supers of honey with case on 

 such a "horse." I find it faster than 

 using a comb bucket or one man car- 

 rying a full super at a time, and 

 straining his back, too. 



I believe that an outfit such as 

 herein described could be used with 

 profit in many parts of the country 

 other than Southwest Texas. 



Beeville, Texas. 



