THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



273 



the forming of a National Honey Pro- 

 ducers' Association that shall be lo the 

 whole country what the Colorado Honey 

 Producers' Association is to Colorado. 

 The coniniittee consists of F. E. Brown 

 of Hanford, Calif.; Herman Rauchfuss of 

 Denver, Colo.; W. Z. Hutchinson of Flint, 

 Mich.; Dr. .\. B. Mason of Toledo, Ohio; 

 and O. L. Hershiser of Buffalo, N. Y. 

 This connnittee held one meeting on the 

 evening of the banquet, and elected Mr. 

 Brown as Secretar}-. yir. Brown will for- 

 mulate a plan and submit it to the others 

 for their criticisms. Mr. Brown is right 

 on the ground where the citrus fruit 

 growers, and the raisin growers of Calif- 

 ornia, saved their industries by organiza- 

 tion. The condition of affairs was such 

 that one of two things had to be done, 

 either abandon the industry or organize. 

 Hundreds of acres of vines were pulled 

 up, as there was absolutely no profit left 

 in raisin growing. Organization saved 

 the day. All fruit is now marketed 

 through the exchange. No fruit can be 

 bought except through the exchange. 

 The directors meet and decide upon prices. 

 Raisins shall be sold for so much this 

 month, '4 of a cent more next month, X 

 more the next, and so on. In this man- 

 ner the association can protect buyers. 

 A buyer can buy a carload with the guar- 

 antee of the association that the price will 

 be '4 of a cent higher next month. Be- 

 fore the organization of this association, 

 buyers were often afraid to buy, unle.ss at 

 a ridiculously low figure, as they didn't 

 know where the price might be next 

 month. Now, instead of doubts and low 

 prices, there are confidence and good 

 prices, and all the result of organization. 

 The Colorado Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion practically controls the output of 

 Colorado. Suppose there was a simular 

 organization in California that controlled 

 the output of that State, then another or- 

 ganization in New York, another in Tex- 

 as, and so on, and all of these local organ- 

 izations, or branches could work in har- 

 mony with each other through the over- 

 sight of a central ollice, the profits of 



honey production would go ahead with 

 great leaps and bounds, as bee keepers 

 would be no longer competeing one with 

 another in the sale of their products. 



It is a gigantic enterprise, but I have 

 full faith that it will yet come to pass. 

 These things are sometimes slow in being 

 brought about, unless the times are ripe. 

 Colorado bee keepers worked eight years 

 before they finally succeeded in getting 

 their Honey Producers' Association into 

 actual successful, working order. If, in 

 eight years, we can have a National Asso- 

 ciation that will do for the the whole 

 country what the Colorado Association 

 does for Colorado, it will be eight years 

 well spent. 



The machinery that we already possess, 

 that is, the National Bee Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, will be a great help in working 

 out this new problem. 



SHADE AND LOCALITY. 

 If I remember correctly, when I was 

 taking a trip through Wisconsin three or 

 four years ago, one of the Wilson Bros, 

 told me that colonies standing in the 

 shade stored more honey than those in 

 the open. While on my recent Western 

 trip Mr. E. Whitcomb told me that his 

 experience was exactly the opposite. He 

 related one quite convincing statement. 

 At their State fair, premiums are offered 

 for the colonies that stored the most honey 

 during the two weeks previous to the fair. 

 The colonies are brought in at the proper 

 time, weighed, the hives sealed, and then 

 set into an enclosure surrounded by a 

 high wall of wire cloth. Upon one side 

 of this is a high board fence. Some of 

 the exhibitors placed their colonies next 

 this high fence, that they might be in the 

 shade. Others left their colonies in the 

 open. Now comes the important point: 

 xVo colony standing in the shade ever se- 

 cured the premium. Mr. Whitcomb put 

 a colony under a small tree in his yard. 

 As the tree grew in size, and cast more 

 shade, the yield from this colony decreas- 

 ed. When placed out in the open, the 

 yield again came up to the average. 



