THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



135 



a radical change in the style of package, es- 

 pecially for extracted honey. While the GO 

 lb. can is the standard for wholesale ship- 

 ments from California, smaller packages of 

 ten and five lbs. would have to be used. In 

 this matter of distribution in small pack- 

 ages we have a very good example in the way 

 maple syrup is put upon the market, and of 

 small packages for honey I find California 

 remarkably free. A small stantard pack- 

 age for this State and the sale propdrly 

 pushed would result in a large home demand 

 for our proauct. 



The small package in connection with the 

 larger wholesale package would give our 

 product a wider application in trade and 

 would enable the producer to sell his honey 

 direct to the consumer under his own label 

 or trade mark. If bee-keepers themselves 

 would put their honey upon the market in 

 this way instead of allowing the adulterator 

 to repack it for him, there would be less dis- 

 satisfaction with the honey markets. 



In studying the fruit and bee-keeping in- 

 dustries of California and comparing their 

 past history, present condition and future 

 prospects, I believe that the bee-keeper has 

 less external obstacjes to contend with than 

 the fruit grower. Fruit production is enor- 

 mously on the increase and a greater amount 

 is thrown upon the market every year. Hon- 

 ey production on the other hand fluctuates, 

 and if the production has not already at- 

 tained its highest point it will do so in the 

 near future unless a cultivated honey plant 

 comes to the front. The sterile mountains 

 do not yield honey in amount equal to the 

 fertile valleys, and the rank growth of hon- 

 ey plants in the valleys, where our tons of 

 honey have been distilled, is being rolled 

 under by the plow of the home-seeker, and 

 the bee-keeper is compelled to fold his tent 

 and depart. 



The proper distribution of honey is not 

 only of vital interest to the California bee- 

 keeper, but it has an equal bearing upon the 

 eastern producer. It is a well known fact 

 that towns of 10,000 population and under, 

 that are remote from the great centers of 

 distribution, seldom have upon their mar- 

 kets honey from California. It is also a fact 

 that thousands of towns of 5,000 population 

 and less are inadequately supplied with hon- 

 ey of any kind. 



The first movement then toward the de- 

 velopment of a new and better method of 

 distribution and sale is a thorough organiza- 



tion of bee-keepers ; next is the working up 

 of the home markets ; next the outlying 

 unsupplied markets ; these points attended 

 to, the great centers will take care of them- 

 selves. At this stage of bee-keeping it is 

 time to give the problem of distribution 

 more attention. Let us heed the signs of the 

 times and be up and doing. 



Rambler. 

 Redlands, Cal. March 16, 1893. 



Criticisms on the B. Taylor Plan of Pre- 

 venting Swarming and the Offering 

 of a Substitnte. 



H. P. LANGDON. * 



J^nHAT bees can 

 iT be worked as 

 commoners with- 

 out fighting a s 

 Mr. B. Taylor says 

 en page 71 March 

 Review, is a set- 

 tled fact, and 

 thereon hinges 

 the key to the im- 

 portant question 

 of non-swarming. 

 Mr. Taylor says 

 he sometimes had great loss of unsealed 

 brood by exposure in trying to work two col- 

 onies together. This has not been my ex- 

 perience in running bees from one hive to 

 another ; but supposing this does occur, why 

 is it any worse than caging or removing the 

 queen entirely for two or three weeks at the 

 beginning of the honey season, as do 

 Manum, Elwood, Hetherington and a score 

 f other head lights ? They claim it to be an 



* Herbert P. Langdon is 30 years of age and has 

 always lived in Constable, his native town. His 

 father and grandfather, who were farmers, hav- 

 ing kept a few bees, and he. being more of a 

 mechanical turn of mind, than a "born farmer," 

 became interested in them, and when they finally 

 got down to one swarm "' fnssed " it to death. 

 In 1882 his father purchased him eight colonies, 

 from which he has increased to 175, and in 1892, 

 just over the Canadian line where his out-apiary 

 was located in 1890, he built the largest house 

 apiary in the world. Bees have been the means 

 o' bringing him the greatest hajjpiness of his 

 life, as they have some other bee-keepers, for he 

 was married to the daughter of a prosperous 

 Scotch Canadian farmer in 1892, and an acquain- 

 tance comically said : " What is the difference 

 between Sampson and 'Herb.' Langdon? One 

 found the honey while he was going to see his 

 best girl, while the other found his best girl 

 while going to see to his honey." He was elected 

 and ordained to the office of Ruling Elder in the 

 Presbyterian church at the early age of 26. 



