3o8 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



crop in California means unprofitably low 

 prices to the producers and ruinous com- 

 petition td Eastern bee keepers. Organ- 

 ization and co-opperation could prevent 

 these things. 



I am aware that this is one of the great- 

 est undertakings that has ever been 

 brought before the bee keepers of this 

 country, but isn't it desirable? Suppose 

 that the man with a few hundred pounds 

 of honey, or a few thousand pounds, the 

 man wno must sell, could ship his honey 

 to the nearest National warehouse where 

 it would be fairly graded, and a receipt 

 given him that would enable him to draw, 

 say, two-thirds of the value of the honey. 

 When the honey was sold he would re- 

 ceive the balance, less the interest on the 

 money advanced, and it would be sold at 

 a price that had not been run down by 

 the necessities of himself and others in 

 like circumstances. 



The man who has a crop of honey, but 

 is in no hurry to realize upon it, can ship 

 it to the warehouse where he knows that 

 it will be fairly graded and sold to the 

 best possible advantage, and when sold 

 he will get his money, less the commis- 

 sion. 



It is very seldo.n that there is an over- 

 whelming crop all over the counrry, and 

 proper distribution, together with co-op- 

 peration, could easilj" prevent a bounteous 

 crop in one section from lowering the 

 price anywhere in the country. 



Then there is the matter of putting a 

 seal upon all packages and guaranteeing 

 the purity of their contents. The matter 

 of grading and putting up the goods in 

 uniform packages. The putting of ex- 

 pert salesman upon the road. Think of 

 the towns, cities and villages, the thou- 

 sands and thousands of grocery stores in 

 which honey is never sold in which it 

 might be sold. 



It is a great undertaking, and there are 

 many points to be considered, but isn't 

 the object to be gained worthy- of the ef- 

 fort? The first step in all great under- 

 takings is that of discussion and thorough 

 consideration. Let us take that step. 

 Let each editor take up the subject in his 

 journal. If he has not already done so. 

 let him read Mr. Mclntyre's paper in the 

 last Review. Let him read the editorial 

 on "Organization," that appeared in the 

 last Review. Let him read what appears 

 in this issue on that subject Then let 

 him take up the subject in his o.vn jour- 

 nal and gel the views, plans and suggest- 

 of his readers I shall be pleased, and 

 feel honored, to have anything on this 

 subject copied from the Review. 



Brother editors, let us take hold of this 

 subject in solid, sober earnestness. If we 

 can so change and so perfect our present 

 organization that it can market the crops 

 of its members on the lines laid down, we 

 will have done more for beekeeping than 

 we have ever done before. Let's try it. 



SHOOK SWARMS. 



A Thorough Discussion of the .Advantages and 



Disadvantages of Controllini; Swarming 



by Forestalling it. 



The bee keeping world has at last 

 "caught on" to a plan of manipulation, of 

 preventing swarming V)y forestalling it, 



that is really old, and has been described 

 repeatedly in the journals. It is one of 

 those common, everyday affairs that we 

 have known about for a long time, but, 

 for some reason, its real value, its capabil- 

 ities, have escaped our notice. We have 

 all known that a colony could be divided 

 by shaking off most of the bees, and hiv- 

 ing them on the old stand, the same as 

 we would a natural swarm. With simply 



