296 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



On routes well established that I 

 make, we will say, the first of every 

 month, my customers learn to expect 

 me without giving- notice through the 

 mail. 



My retail package is a ten-pound 

 friction-top pail, one size only. Each 

 pail is neatly labeled, and contains 10 

 pounds of well-ripened honey gathered 

 from wild red raspberry — "the honey 

 that made Michigan famous" for the 

 superior quality of its honej'. I sell 

 this 10-pound pail for $1.00, and 

 reserve the pails; picking them up on 

 my next trip. 



Selling honey in this way is a de- 

 light; one can do it with a clear con- 

 science, knowing that he is giving his 

 customers value received. We know 

 we have a good thing for sale; one of 

 the best foods God ever gave to man. 

 Let's join hands, brother bee-keepers; 

 produce the best grade of honey ob- 

 tainable and place it before the public 

 in a practical and profitable waj' at a 

 fair price. 



The key to success is fairness, good 

 weight and good quality. If it is pos- 

 sible, deliver to all customers a better 

 quality of honey than they can get 

 elsewhere. Most people are willing to 

 pay a fair price for a good article. If 

 there is anything about the honey that 

 is not exactly as it should be, call the 

 customer 'ig attention to it when the sale 

 is made, thus holding the customer. 

 No business man can afford to lose a 

 customer. 



We should show our customers that 

 they can save money by the use of 

 honey. I expect in the future to put 

 out a little circular to go to each cus- 

 tomer, telling the value of honey as a 

 food. 



ONLY THE HIGHEST OUALITV OK HONEY 

 SHOULD BE SOLD FOR TABLE USE. 



I believe it is possible to produce a 

 much better grade of extracted honey 

 than is being produced today by the 

 average producer. The average bee- 



keeper, in my opinion, looks more 

 to the quantity of his honey than to the 

 quality. Only the very best should be 

 sold for table use, and that should be 

 all capped before extracting. All un- 

 capped honey, and all ofif-grades, p >or 

 in flavor, light in bod}', or dark in 

 color should be sold to the bakeries or 

 other manufacturing companies. 



I have retailed, in small quantities, 

 several thousand pounds of extracted 

 honey direct to consumers; and I have 

 noticed, if rightly done, it brings good 

 results. 



GREAT CARE NEEDED TN LIQUEFYING 

 HONEY. 



Experience is a good teacher. By 

 experience I have learned that 60-lb 

 tin cans are very nice to use in storing 

 a crop of honey, nice also for shipping 

 the same, but not suitable for liquefy- 

 ing honey. I believe a very large per 

 cent of our fine grades of hone^' are in 

 a measure spoiled in the 60-lb cans 

 when heating the honey to bottle it for 

 the retail trade. It is next to impossi- 

 ble to melt a cube of honey 9x9x14 

 inches without spoiling the flavor and 

 color. I prefer and use open-topped 

 tubs for the storage of honey for m^' 

 retail trade. Lard tubs can be ob- 

 tained at grocers at about 10 cents each 

 and hold 95 lbs. of honej'. With a 

 large quantity of boiling water they 

 are quite easily cleaned. I fill tlie 

 tubs, then cover with a good qualit}' of 

 heavy paper and nail on the cover. 

 When granulated they are ready to 

 ship to any market. 



To liquefy the honey, I dig it out 

 with a two-inch chisel or a carpenter's 

 stick, and put it in a double tank, a 

 smaller one inside a larger one, with 

 water between. Honey melted in this 

 way requires but little heat, and there 

 is no danger of overheating, thus 

 avoiding all danger of spoiling the 

 flavor and color of the honey. 



Rapid City, Mich., Mar. 7, 1906. 



