News From the Locals.

Dear Mr. Editor:

The question is often asked by some of our members: "When will our pools be closed and why can't we have all of our money, say about April the first, 1921?''

Now all depends on how much we ask for our honey. I am told that one of our new members in Shasta county had been offered 8 cents for light amber. Now if we sell our light amber for 8c, and white for about 10c, I can't see why our pools should not be closed about New Year, and the members informed that they have received too much money, and please refund.

But if we intend to get a top price by selling the bulk of our honey in small packages, as we are doing now, and intend to supply the trade the whole year around with honey, it would not be wise to sell out all the pools before the new crop of 1921 comes in. If we want to retain our trade, we got to be able to supply that trade the whole year around.

Our members have been getting from 9 cents up as their first payment on light amber honey. We are ahead of the game now, and we will be still further ahead as times goes on, and more honey is sold. One beekeeper near Sacramento with about 200 cases of honey told me a few weks ago: "Oh, I like to get all my money at one time." Maybe he thinks 8 cents better than 9 cents to 15 cents on light amber honey. Some of our members talk like they never had to wait for their money when they sold their honey under the old way, but I know some are still waiting. I know I had to wait many times. I still remember when in March, 1912, I sold a large part of my 1911 crop to a dealer for "cash." I waited, and waited, for money, but none came. Later on I found that the buyer had gone to the national Democratic convention at Baltimore, and of course "forgot" to pay for the honey. I got the money late in June after he returned from Baltimore. I don't know whether he made the money in Baltimore or not.

Our friends, the speculators, have always used our money to plunge us deeper into bondage to them, and when the producer finally wakes up and undertakes to break the chains of bondage he is called any old name. It is not so long ago since the profiteers have been loud in telling us 66 Competition is the life of trade."' Which is, and will always be a rotten lie. Had the

world cooperated instead of competed, we would not have death and desolation today. Competition always means war. Cooperation will bring peace. Our whole creation is based on cooperation. How long would it take a colony of bees to produce a pound of honey if the bces in that colony competed, instead of cooperated, with one another? C. HAUSER.

To the Members of Our Local:..If you have any beeswax to send in, send it now. Storage charges are all the same, as this year we are paying so much for space, not per case of honey and per sack of wax. Instead of paying this month over $100 for storage, our bill is only $45.

C. HAUSER, Sec.-Mgr.

CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION

MAY MEAN CHEAPER FISH

LOS ANGELES HARBOR, Nov. 8.Fishermen here are up in arms over the alleged unfairness of prices that they receive and the great disparity of the wholesale and retail price, claiming that while they get only a cent or cent and a half a pound that the same fish are sold to the consumer at from 15 to 35 cents a pound.

As a result of the dissatisfaction a co-operative marketing association has been formed which takes in forty-eight San Pedro independent fishermen.

California Man to Go East to Plan Building of Fruit Steamers. It is expected that a representative of the California Fruit Growers' Exchange here will leave for the East in a few days to confer with officials of the United

States shipping board on a plan of building refrigerator vessels to carry fruit and produce to eastern markets, it was learned today.

At the convention of the state fruit growers and farmers, C. C. Teague of the Exchange in Los Angeles stated that both the concern which he represented and the California Associated Raisin Company were planning to build ships.

Jenkins was sitting down to breakfast one morning when he was astounded to see in the paper an announcement of his own death. He rang up friend Smith at once. "Halloa, Smith!" he said. "Have you seen the announcement of my death in the paper?"

"Yes," replied Smith. Where are you speaking from?"-Co-operators Herald.

A correspondent gives one reason for a system of state control in apiary inspection which ought to be sufficient, in itself, to secure such a law: "Our county will not pay enough to a good man to waste his time on this inspection job; and I don't see why they should, with only 3100 colonies in the county.'

County inspection alone is never worth its cost, save with the most conscientious and interested of men, and even his efforts are largely nullified by the political wire-pulling of his comrades over the county lines of adpoining counties.

Why not remedy this by a statute giving state uniformity of inspection?

BEES FOR SALE-150 stands, single, all young queens and in 10-fr. hives, at $10 apiece. A. DAVIS VIPOND, Brawley, Calif.

Heavy rains over most of the sage sections have brightened the honey outlook for next season.

BEEKEEPERS ARE ASKING

FOR REPRESENTATION

The bee-men in Santa Cruz county have held special meetings at Watsonville and have decided to organize a Santa bee department of the Cruz county farm bureau, along lines similar to hog raisers and dairymen's departments in other county farm bureaus.

The bee-men are represented by Mr. M. L. Cox, who appeared before the farm bureau directors at their Watsonville meeting recently. He was extended a hearty welcome, and the directors promised to co-operate with all means available for the organization of bee departments in each of their centers. In this way the bee-men all over the county may be actively organized through each farm center with a beeman director on the county board of directors.

Sugar's Fatal Influence.-The old saw about history repeating itself may not apply in the present case, but it is a coincidence at least that, dealing with the sugar situation in England and the United States, the London Economist prints the following in a recent issue:

Lord Brougham, in his "Historical Sketches of Statesmen,'' relates the following anecdote of the elder Pitt, when he dominated the House of Commons. He began a speech with the words, "Sugar, Mr. Speaker," and then, observing a smile to pervade the audience, he paused, looked fiercely around, and with a loud voice, rising in its notes and swelling into vehement anger, he repeated the word 'Sugar!' thrce times; and having thus quelled the House, and extinguished every ap pearance of levity or laughter, turned round and disdainfully asked, 'Who will laugh at sugar now?' Nearly a hundred years later Disraelo wrote, in his 'Life of Bentnick': 'Sugar has been embarrassing, if not fatal, to many governments. Strange that a manufacture which charms infancy and soothes old age should so frequently occasion political disaster!'

The stock of orange blossom honey in the hands of the Exchange is prac tically exhausted, only a few small, scattered lots remaining.

Same Old Experience. One of the usual occurrences that has taken place during every good honey crop season has been the very free offering of honey as soon as it could be harvested and lowering of prices on the part of individual beekeepers and dealers in honey in order to move it quickly. The result in every case has been the lowering of the prices to unwarranted levels in the eagerness to dispose of the honey crops, only to be followed later with a barren market and stiffening of prices. The same situation seems to prevail at the present moment. Although much honey has been produced in favored sections of the Southwest, it does not mean an over-supply if it were properly distributed.-Beekeepers' Item.

crs

Just a month ago the Walnut Grow

were in the dumps regarding the sale of their crop, in face of a thousand-ton carry-over and big foreign importations. Today, all No. 2's are oversold, budded stock all sold out and advances of 2 to 1 cent per pound on remaining grades. Ninety-two per cent of the entire crop is already sold, and growers are beginning to "holler their heads off" because the price was not set higher.

Nothing like having a good article and having faith in it, when the public is ready to buy. There may be a surprise coming, yet, in the honey market.

The Exchange is indeed fortunate in having the invaluable aid and extensive experience of the head of the commercial department of the New York Globe and Commercial Adviser, in its selling campaign of package honey. They achieved the (believed) impossible in selling to retailers more than 400,000 pounds of California Co-operative Honey Exchange package honey in eight days.

This exhausted the stock on hand and it will be twenty days from that date, Oct. 23rd, before another shipment will arrive. With the sailing the present week of the vessel now loading at San Pedro, 750,000 pounds of Mr. McCann's Pedro, 750,000 pounds of the million pound order will have gone forward.

Gentlemen, this was some feat--and some honey!

Set your hives to face north during the winter, and if they are shaded, so much the better; it will tend to keep the bees quiet during warm winter days. This advice for the citrus districts, particularly.

American foulbrood epidemics are the direct results of incompetent inspection and lax enforcement of the apiary laws.

No "shasta" honey this year. The yellow star-thistle, from which it is produced, was a failure on account of drowth.

One of the factors in the decreased demand for sugar for use in manufacturing industries has been the tremendous slump in the export candy trade, which has fallen to little more than onetenth its volume at the beginning of the year. Not only has there been a serious decline in actual exports, but some shipments made several months ago have been returned to the manufacturers.

They tell a story which illustrates the laxity of our go-as-you-please, county option inspection law:

A bee-inspector moved his private apiary into a certain locality where foul-brood was known to be prevalent. A fellow-beeman asked him, "Aren't you afraid to move in there, when Ahas a badly-infected apiary within half a mile of you, and B-, only a mile away, has the distase still worse?"

“Well,” replied the official, “Guess you needn't worry about me; I moved in nothing but diseased bees!"

We are going to need uniform and thorough inspection more within the next two years than ever before, owing to the great increase in small lots of bees on nearly every ranch in the state.

SOLD WORMY APPLES.

H. J. Ryan, horticultural commissioner for Los Angeles county, reports that there is a disposition among apple growers to keep their wormy apples off the market, now that the standardization law is being rigidly enforced. One apple grower who offered for sale apples 35 per cent wormy was fined $100 in a Los Angeles justice court. The law allows less than 10 per cent wormy apples in the box.

Note. One of our local Exchanges passed a resolution at their last annual mceting, penalizing any member two cents per pound who delivers dirty or sour honey to the Exchange. This is certainly a move in the right direction, for one of the objects of the Exchange is to improve the standard of quality, and every member should take pride in giving this his whole-hearted support.

GERMANY'S SUGAR PLANS.

Berlin, Sept. 23.-Official announcement has been made that government control of Germany's sugar industry will not be continued after September, 1921, with the beginning of the 1921-22 fiscal year.

This announcement is regarded as of the utmost importance in its effects upon the planting of beets next spring and the consensus of opinion is that, now relinquishment of control has been definitely pledged, a very large acreage will be planted, with a consequent increase in prospects of a crop sufficient at least to supply Germany's normal pre-war demand of 1,250,000 metric

tons.

The retail price of sugar, it is expected, will naturally be considerably increased at first, but under the present government program, all exportation of sugar will be forbidden during the year 1921-22. Families will be given the preference in securing sufficient sugar supplies, and manufacturers requiring large quantities of sugar will be permitted to import whatever they may require without limit as to the total amount used by them. Each manufacturer will be allotted a certain amount of German sugar, and any effort to increase that amount by purchase from other recipients of sugar of the home crop will be punished; foreign sugar, however, may be imported in any quantity.

The provision relating to the various sugar using industries goes into effect at once, and manufacturers are accord

ingly now free to purchase imported sugars for their use.-Facts About Sugar.

THE SUGAR BUGABOO.

Dr. A. F. Bonney in
American Bee Journal.

It would appear that it is about time to drop sugar when talking about honey for it is doubtful if the price of our product is affected by that of the other. The writer is young in the honey game, but has lived to see honey sold at about the same price as sugar, for twice that, and now many are getting two to three times as much for honey as sugar is selling for.

The producer of maple syrup and sugar seems to pay no attention to the beet and cane product, and is getting as much for his swcet as we are for ours, and it is not nearly as good as honey; still there be those whose perverted taste calls for the condensed sap, and will pay the price asked.

When customers go into a store and ask for jam, marmalade or fruit butter, they do not consider sugar. They want what an acquired taste calls for, take it and pay the price. It is the same with honey. If they did not relish it, and want it, and have the price, they could not be induced to buy it, no matter what the cost, which is an argument in favor of popularizing honey. Induce people to eat it. Advertise it. Give samples to your neighbors, and in time they will get the honey habit and the demand for our product will increase rapidly.

Let us cut out this talk about sugar going up or down. Honey is a delicious food product and in a class all by itself. There is nothing that compares with it. It cannot be imitated. The demand will continue to increase. The production is also increasing, and it would seem that honey will again take the place it held before cheap sugar came on the market.

ENGLAND CUTS SUGAR RATION.

A return to a weekly household sugar ration of six ounces per person has been imposed upon the British public as a result of the general strike of British coal miners. Reduction of the ration from the former figure of eight ounces was one of the first emergency measures taken by the government.

No change was made by the Royal Commission on the sugar supply in price limits for October. Sugar for domestic consumption remains at 1s. 2d. a pound retail.

BUSINESS METHODS.

We have reached a point in the farming business where its very existence depends upon the employment of certain recognized rules of business. Industrial enterprises succeed because these rules are persistently applied. In the majority of cases the demand for manufactured products must be ccreated. In the farming business the demand is ever present. Some years it is more insistent than others, but it is always there. People may go without automobiles, without furniture, or without clothes even, if necessity forces them to do so, but take away their food and they perish. Therefore, the greatest obstacle which obstructs any business is, in the farming business, oversome by the demands of nature herself.

The farmer is, therfore, left fairly free to turn his attention to the best means of production, to the discovery and application of economies in the distributing of his products. By the very nature of his business he can do nothing single-handed. There are six million farms in the United States, each competing with the other. If left to their own devices they could, in time, all but destroy each other by overproduction and the selling of their products below cost. They have virtually been engaged in a destructive competition for years and didn't realize it. But today when the bidding, the supplies and labor between the country and the city is so spirited, forcing the farmer to secure a greater return than ever before from his farm, the need for organized co-operation that will end ruinous competition is cearly seen. The form organzations are turning their attention more and more to the business end of farming, and while some of our over-cautious city cousins express fear of the organized power of the farmer, we do not share it.-Michigan Business Farmer.

The olive growers in the vicinity of Lindsay, Exeter and Porterville have arranged a meeting for the purpose of formulating a plan for pooling olives and obtaining a uniform price for the sale of olives from groves in that vicinity which were not already a part of some other association or sales plan.

The beet growers of Santa Barbara county are standing together for the first time and holding out for a fairer contract. In Lompoc the growers have signed 90 per cent of adaptable acreage with a committee of growers and farm bureau directors who will negotiate the contract with the sugar companies.

KEEPING OF ACCOUNTS AID TO FARM CREDIT.

Farmer Jones desired to negotiate a loan at his local bank.

"Just what is your financial condition?" the banker asked him.

"Why, said Jones, "I own a house and land and a couple of horses and some cows and live stock and an orchard and- 99

"I

"Have you а detailed inventory showing the value of these things?'' the banker interrupted him. "No--0," the farmer replied. haven't time to bother keeping books." "Good gracious, man!'' exclaimed the banker, anyone can keep books. The way things are worked nowadays it doesn't require more than five minutes' work a day. Then when you come here for a loan you could produce a sheet of paper and say, 'Here's what I've got, here's what I owe, and here's what I'd have in cash if I sold out tomorrow.' As it is, I'm afraid I can't let you have the money until I have this information."'

The average beekeeper is even less methodical than the average farmer, if anything, and fully as much in need of some record of his financial transactions.

While an inventory is generally the first thing a banker asks for when making a loan, he also wants to know the sources of income. By going just a little further the farmer can keep records that will enable him to know his profits and losses.

Full details regarding the various phases of farm bookkeeping are _contained in Farmers' Bulletin 511, "Farm Bookkeeping"; Farmers' Bulletin 572, "A System of Farm Cost Accounting," and Farmers' Bulletin 782, "The Use of a Diary for Farm Accounts." These bulletins can be had upon request of the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

SYRUP MARKET REMAINS DULL.

The market for the week has been without animation in either syrups or blackstrap, transactions having been limited to moderate parcels at about steady prices for domestic consumption. Export demand has been conspicuous by its absence. Prices ranged about as follows: fancy grades, 30 to 40 cents per gallon; medium grades, 25 to 30 cents; low grades continued saleable only on blackstrap levels of value.

Molasses blackstrap is very firm, demand being well up with supplies, on a basis of 22 to 26 cents in barrels and 16 to 18 cents in bulk.