Imperial Valley press., 1908-07-04
BEE-KEEPING DEVELOPS INTO PROFITABLE INDUSTRY IN
 IMPERIAL VALLEY.
THREE CARLOADS SHIPPED
Organization of Valley Apiarists I'm proves Market Conditions and ob- tains Increased Priees-ouality of Imperial Honey Superior to Coast Region Product.

Imperial Valley may complacently measure itself by the biblical standard set for richness of a country-a land of milk and honey. The dairy herds have expanded until the creameries are turning out from 1000 pounds of butter per day upwards, and the honey industry is developing into one of much importance.
 This week the third carload of honey for this season is being loaded at Heber and El Centro for the east ern markets. The honey is of choice grade and is in demand. It will net the bee-keepers a higher rate than has heretofore been obtained, and this, it is said, is due to their con- certed action through the recently formed Imperial Valley Bee Keepers Association.
 Heretofore the honey buyers of the coast have had things pretty much their own way, and have refused to pay more than AZ cents per pound for the choicest Imperial Valley honey. When the coast buyers sud denly found that fully ninety per cent of the valleys honey product was un- der direct control of the new associa- tion, they immediately made an offer of five cents per pound. But the asso- citation will do it's own marketing. It has selected D. D. Lawrence of El Centro as it's business manager, and the prospects are bright for his ob- taining such results from the East ern market that the wisdom of their action in deciding to handle their products will be justified.
 The car loaded here this week will contain 300 cases of honey, or 36,OOO pounds. Each case contains two six ty-pound cans of honey. The first carload shipped out contained 225 cases, and the second one held 300 cases.
 This means that the busy little bees of Imperial Valley have brought over $4000 in cash to their owners this season, with bright prospects ahead. The honey is of a light amber color, of delicious flavor, and pre- ferred by many to that raised in the mountain regions. The bee paSturage is mostly alfalfa and melon blossoms, and the source of supply is said to give a combination hard to excel
 At the present time over 1000 stands of bees are located in Imperial Valley The number of stands has trebled within the past year. Lack of rains in the mountain districts and along the coast made honey-gathering material very scarce there and as a result, several well-known bee-keep- CTS transferred their interests to Impe- rial Valley, where the irrigation of crops make the supply of blossoms a certainty.
 The sections east and west of Impe- rial, west of El Centro, surrounding Holtville, and to the north of CaleXico and east of Silsbee are the localities 
 wherein the bees are doing especially we'll this season. It is the purpose of the Bee Keepers Association to watch the placing of new stands of bees and to endeavor to scatter them throughout the Imperial Valley so that there will be no crowding of the pasturage. They believe that if this policy is followed the honey indus try will become one of much import ance here.
 The bee men organized and incOr- porated under the State laws on June 9. J. w. George of El Centro was elected president Since the organ ization selected MT. Lawrence as it's business agent, it has found a de- mand for carload lots of it's honey from ogden, Utah, Indianapolis, lndi- ana and New York. Inquiries have also been received from Chicago and Philadelphia, and it has become ap- parent that Imperial Valley honey will not have to lag on the markets.