Jan. 28, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



ill something tangible and really of valne to bcc-keepers. 



For nearly a half century bee-books, bee-papers, and bee- 

 keepers' conventions, have been devoted to the teaching of 

 bee-keeping and honey-production — to hives and apiarian 

 paraphernalia and their manipulation. It seems to me that 

 it is high time that bee-keepers begin to pay more attention 

 to the other side of their calling— to the selling side— to the 

 disposition of their honey product. The most of them know 

 how to get the honey. The next thing is to turn it into more 

 money than the most of them have been getting for it in 

 recent years. 



But I must not longer occupy the time of the convention. 

 We are here to discuss matters of deep interest to all. You 

 all have questions that you wish to ask, and all wish not only 

 to have their own questions answered, but may want to 

 answer the other fellow's questions. That is what we are 

 here for. That we may have the best and most profitable 

 meeting ever held by bee-keepers in this great, overgrown 

 city, is my earnest wish ; and that all may return to their 

 homes feeling that it has indeed been good for them to be 

 here, is my fondest hope at this time. 



George W. Vokk. 



Mr. Abbott — Is the President's Address open to discus- 

 sion ? I don't want to discuss it. I want to ofifer a protest. 

 I don't think it is fair for The American Bee Journal to ad- 

 vertise Uneeda Biscuit and not get paid for it. I move that 

 be expunged. 



Dr. Miller — How do you know that he isn't paid for it? 



Mr. Abbott — I know from the look on his face. 



Mr. Wilcox — .'Vs long as they buy our honey we will ad- 

 vertise their biscuit. 



PREVENTING HONEY LEAKING FROM GLASS JARS. 



"How do you keep honey from passing out from under 

 the rubber of a sealed glass jar, creeping out as it were?" 



Pres. York — I use glass-top jars, and the honey doesn't 

 leak out from under the rubber ring under the glass. 



Mr. Moore — My brother has put up honey for the retail 

 grocery trade for six or seven years. He has always used one 

 package, and that is the jelly glass holding, I believe, eight 

 ounces of honey. It is put up like the historical Muth jar. 

 It has flat sides to make it look larger, and is creased here 

 and there, eight creases all the way around so it makes it 

 look really fine, and looks is considerable. That trouble of 

 the honey getting out of the jars is one that has always 

 troubled the people who put honey in jelly glasses. I used 

 to blackguard the other fellow by saying that they never 

 could get good honey in a jelly glass. My brother has a steel 

 stamp. It cuts out pieces of paper just the right size so that 

 when he puts the tin cover down, it makes it air-tight — not 

 air-tight, hut honey-tight. 



Mr. Reynolds — That must be something like they are 

 using on the milk-bottles. 



Mr. France — Have you tried that with a mason fruit-jar, 

 putting a oaper underneath? 

 Mr. Moore — No, sir. 



Dr. Miller — The milk-dealers have a piece of heavy 

 manilla paper cut with a stamp that makes a tight fit, and 

 they put that down in the glass bottle, and it stays there. You 

 can turn it upside down and it stays there. 



Pres. York — You can do that with honey, with the 

 ordinary jars that are used for honey — the screw-top jar with 

 a rubber band. 



Mr. Starkey — Should the honey-jar be so full as to have 

 the manilla paper touch the honey? 



Dr. Miller — I don't think it is absolutely necessary to 

 touch it. 



Mr. Reynolds — Yes, sir. 



Mr. Smith — I have sold p. good deal of honey in jars, but 

 I have never had any leakage. I don't use rubbers. I use 

 a jar like the cylinder preserve jar, which has a screw top, 

 and on top of that it has a thick paper cut just to fit the lid, 

 and when you screw that down it lets the air pass but the 

 honey never leaks. You can turn it upside down. I have 

 had the best results with that jar. 



Pres. York — I have had the same jar, but the consumers 

 couldn't get it open half the time. They would return it to 

 the grocer because they couldn't open it. 



Mr. Moore — This question of packages for honey is one 

 that I have observed considerable. I will have to condemn 

 the Mason jar first, last, and all the time. It is the cheapest, 



most worthless jar that is made at the present day. My own 

 choice is the Lightning jar with that pry-over beer-bottle 

 snap. 1 believe you all know what it is, 



Pres. York — No, we don't all know. [Laughter.] 

 Mr. Moore — It is the only jar that is worthy of attention. 

 It has a lever fastening. 



Mr. France — We are not all familiar with beer-bottles ! 

 Mr. Moore — Honey that gets air, if it has a chance to do 

 so will expand. If you fill a jar honestly full, it will come 

 out, every tijiie. The only objection to the Lightning jar, 

 which is the only first-class jar on file market to-day, is its 

 expense. Any jar that has a leverage fastening, or a strong 

 steel bar, ought to fill the bill. The jar Mr. Smith speaks of, 

 I am not familiar with. He ought to put the Association in 

 communication with these people. If the thread of these 

 jars is good — the Mason jar is not good enough, it is too 

 short. 



Mr. Smith — Mr. York says he can't unscrew it. If you 

 will just pour a little hot water on the top, you won't have 

 any trouble unscrewing it. 



Pres. York — We almost gave away the last lot on that 

 account. ' 



Mr. Abbott — It seems to me nobody has touched the rea- 

 son why the Mason jar leaks. We use some, also another 

 jar, a round, glass one, and the glass lid fits far down on top 

 on a rump, and then a wire around the top and the sloping 

 hill on each side would come under, and that jar never leaks 

 honey. There is no chance for the honey to get up over. 

 The Mason jar with top screwed on, there is a space be- 

 tween the jar and the lid, and it never leaks until somebody 

 turns it upside down. You can fill it full and it will sit there 

 on the shelves for weeks and not leak ; but as soon as some- 

 body comes in and turns it up, there is that little honey up 

 behind, it will always stick there. It is the same way about 

 the milk. If you don't turn the jar, the Mason jar would, 

 never leak. Our jars do not. I 



Pres. York — I think there is a jar that won't leak, "" ■ i 

 Mr. Abbott— The two-pound Muth jar. ' 



■ Mr. Moore — I spent weeks traveling through Indiana a 

 year a.go on this matter of sellin.g honey, and I sold honey in 

 these jars that Mr. York handled, and the Roots are now 

 selling and using — the Tip-Top. For a J^-pouifl jar it is ab- 

 solutely the best. I am not plugging for Mr. York nor for 

 Mr. Root. It is absolutely a first-class jar to put honey in 

 to-day. Mr. Meredith puts horseradish in them. In my 

 travels I found these same jars used for everything — horse- 

 radish, jams, etc. — all over, and not a single grocer had a 

 complaint to make of it. 



Mr. Meredith — Is that the jar referred to there, having 

 the spring top? 



Pres. York — This is not the one. It is a difi'erent jar. 

 Mr. Meredith — The one I put horseradish in I find a 

 very serviceable jar for both horseradish and honey. Horse- 

 radish is put up cold, but where honey is put up warm, I think 

 often the contraction will form a vacuum that has a great 

 tendency, so much so of course, that with the rim removed, it 

 would be still tight. 



Pres. York — The question is : How do you keep honey 

 from passing out from under the rubber of a sealed glass 

 jar, creeping out, as it were? I suppose the best answer is, 

 Don't use that kind of a jar. 



Mr. France — I agree there, but, in case you do, take 

 heavy manilla paper and put on top first. I tried that to get rid 

 of some of them. I use them because after the fruit-season 

 the grocers have a lot that I can get at a discount. Put a 

 heavy manilla paper on top of the Mason jar before putting 

 on the cover. 



Mr. Clarke — I don't see why honey cannot be put up in a 

 Mason jar just the same as fruit can. Now. we know that if 

 there is any leakage with fruit, the fruit is spoiled. Why is 

 it that our best housekeepers use the Mason, or Ball, or some 

 of these jars? Merely a question of air-leakage which prob- 

 ably gets to the honey. With fruit it is spoiled if there is 

 any leakage, so I don't see why we couldn't put up honey 

 just the same way as fruit. 



Mr. France — I submit that Mr. Abbott hit the point 

 there. If it is carefully carried and put right side un it will 

 be all right, but our honey is tipped up.side down. If honey 

 were carefully handled it would be all right. 



Mr. Clarke — I think entirely different from Mr. France. 

 I know it is the law of the ladies that are successful with 

 putting up fruit (I have done a good deal of it myself) that 

 it is invariably turned upside down. The next_ day, if there 

 is the slightest particle comes out, the bottle is put to one 



