340 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Reader, let me beg of you to open 

 your eyes to the possibilities that are 

 in store for bee-keeping. Swarming 

 controlled, foul brood under our 

 thumbs, hundreds of colonies scattered 



around the country and cared for by 

 one or two men; then commercial or- 

 ganization in the marketing of the 

 product, and bee-keeping is no longer 

 "puttering," it is business. 



EXTRACTED DEPARTMENT. 



A HONEY PRODUCERS' ASSOCIATION. 



An Outline of how the Association is 

 Managed. 



Now that commercial organization 

 on a national scale is under contem- 

 plation by bee-keepers, it will be wis- 

 dom to examine and consider the 

 methods that have proved successful 

 in smaller organizations. Over in 

 Canada they are discussing this kind 

 of organization, and have been making 

 inquiries with a view to taking a step 

 of this kind. One man of whom in- 

 quiries were made was the efficient 

 manager of the Colorado Honey Pro- 

 ducers' Association, Mr. Frank Rauch- 

 fuss, of Denver, and I copy his reply 

 from the Canadian Bee Journal. It 

 was as follows: 



"In reply to your favor of recent 

 date, would say that our Association 

 was organized five years ago, but did 

 not incorporate until 1899. Our aim 

 is to supply the members with their 

 bee supplies as cheaply as possible, 

 quality considered, and to sell their 

 honey and beeswax at as good a 

 figure as possible. 



"To enable us to get our supplies at 

 the right price, we must buy in car- 

 load lots and discount our bills. By 

 doing so we are also in a position to 

 sell supplies to bee-keepers outside 

 of our Association and make a small 

 profit on them. We have a wareroom 

 in the business portion of the city 

 where we keep a large stock of sup- 



plies and store our honey until it is to 

 be shipped out. With the assistance 

 of a helper, I attend to the selling of 

 the bee supplies and the handling of 

 the honey crop. I also attend to the 

 book-keeping and correspondence. 



"All honey sold under the trade 

 mark of the Association must be 

 graded according to the rules laid 

 down by the Association, and to make 

 sure that this is done every lot is in- 

 spected upon delivery; lots found de- 

 fective must either be graded over or 

 they will be sold, without our trade- 

 mark attached to the cases, as mixed 

 lots. 



"We have now built up a splendid 

 carload trade in comb honey, and, ow- 

 ing to our close grading, we are able 

 to obtain better figures for our crop 

 than others. We nearly always sell 

 our honey on the terms of spot cash as 

 soon as car is loaded. Then we have 

 several houses that will send the 

 money for a carload with their order 

 and leave the selection of the lots of 

 honey to us; this shows that we have 

 the confidence of the trade. 



"We charge everybody, member or 

 non-member, 10 per cent commission 

 for all sales of honey, but if after the 

 close of the year our books show a 

 surplus, the same is then divided 

 among the members according to the 

 amount of commission paid by them. 

 The year before last, when we had 

 only a wareroom from July to Decem- 

 ber for the storing of our honey, our 

 expenses were very light and it cost 

 our members only one-tenth of one per 



