432 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
of dark honey are stored around the edge even of the section, it 
places the whole in a second grade. 
When honey is removed from the hive, never place it down cellar; 
that is the worst thing you could do, because there is always more 
or less moisturein acellar. If you place your honey down cellar, I 
will tell you what happens. The honey takes on moisture, and, as 
two particles cannot occupy the same space at the same time, the 
cells are expanded, the capping bursts, the contents of the cells be- 
come more watery, part of it oozes out,a chemical process takes 
place, and the first you know that honey is all over the floor. You 
taste of it,anditis sour. I presume what I have just related takes 
place in nine-tenths of the grocery stores in the country. Grocers 
are in the habit of keeping their molasses, vegetables and other 
produce in the cellar; naturally the honey goes down there also, 
The honey is damaged more or less according to the length of time 
it has been subjected to this process of taking on moisture; the cus- 
tomers pay twenty to twenty-five cents for a comb for that stuff 
called honey; they take it home, and they taste potatoes, onions, cod- 
fish and everything usually kept ina grocery cellar. That fine fla- 
vor that beekeepers talk about is gone—they don’t like honey, any- 
way. Then people talk about adulterated honey, and no wonder. 
What shall we do? Ripen our honey above ground, in some 
dry, clean, warm room. where the air is pure, so that what surplus 
moisture there is will evaporate. Ifthe weather is damp and rainy, 
use a stove to dry the air; then the honey will thicken and preserve, 
its flavor. When you sella box of honey, tell the party not to put 
the honey in the icebox nor down cellar, but rather put it on the 
pantry shelf. If your customer is a grocer, give him a few pointers 
in a friendly way. 
And now I come to the fourth point, that one pound is the stand- 
ard. The pocketbook argument should have its effect here. First, 
if you use an odd size you must expect to pay the supply dealer 
from 50 cents to $1.00 extra on a thousand, because it is more trouble 
to make odd sizes than regular sizes. Second, you must expect to 
get less for your honey.I will show you how much you would lose if 
you used a two pound section. Supposing two thousand one pound 
sections to cost at the factory $5.00, you could not expect to geta 
thousand two pound sections forless than $4.00, and, supposing two 
thousands pounds of honey to sell at fourteen cents a poundsin one 
pound sections, you could not expect it to sell for more than thirteen 
cents a pound in two pound sections; in proof whereof, I quote from 
the Minneapolis market report in the Minneapolis Journal, dated Jan- 
uary 4th, 1895. 
“Honey—the market is slow and prices are steady:— 
MannesotaGw hite Clover. 20 96-2 cues essa = oe 36 3 Rese $ .14@$ .15 
Wisconsin: White Clover. - asc ssac\-els cle seis te ieiats = 14@ .15 
Dark Toney 2.6: 12.-.- psew- ae ae oo ede Bie en ee 10@ 12 
Extracted Honey 22.2. cbe-» sk as oe a ee a rae ne . 7@ 
Two Pound: Combsidracocks apsiet team eee ace Stolen s - 3@i ae 
Then we have saved $1.00 on the cost of the sections and we have 
lost $20.00 on the honey. $19.00 would bea big Christmas present, 
