108 BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTH 



the activity of agents of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 One of the best of these, the Tupelo Honey Exchange at Wewah- 

 itchka, Florida, was organized during a visit made there by the 

 writer. There can be no doubt but that this was a move in the 

 right direction, as the region served by this exchange has re- 

 ceived but little of the benefits of war time prices. In Mississippi 

 the writer has been informed by R. B. Willson that a number of 

 the county agents, in localities where much honey is produced, 

 have aided their beekeepers in marketing coopera'tively. This is 

 a movement which is bound to spread. m 



I 

 The Texas Honey Producers. 



One of the most notable and most successful moves among 

 beekeepers of the South for marketing their honey and receiving 

 an adequate payment for their labor, is the case of the Texas 

 Honey Producers Association of San Antonio, of which E. G. 

 LeStourgeon is manager. This association handles the output 

 of most of the large apiaries of Texas, has its own brand, enforces 

 honest grading and safe packing, and has added several cents per 

 pound, in many cases, to the total received by Texas beekeepers 

 for their product. The association is also cooperative in buying 

 supplies for the beekeeper and has served to put beekeeping of 

 Texas on a more safe and sound basis. This is a system which 

 could be adopted safely by many other sections and is a method 

 of selling which must be adopted in some form, before the South 

 as a whole is to receive her just deserts in the honey markets of 

 the world. 



Southern Production. 



The total production of the South is low, when the total 

 number of colonies of bees in the entire region is considered. 

 Some whole counties have been gone over by the writer, with 

 never a sight of a modern hive. The work of county agents, who 

 have gone into such regions, with a modern hive strapped on the 

 back of their buggies, where an auto could not go and the best 

 means of travel was horseback, notably northern South Caro- 



