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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



No. 12. When No. 12 is empty, or nearly 

 so, we fill it with sweetened water again, 

 and it makes No. i for next year. Noth- 

 ing helps so much to make vinegar clear 

 and sparkling and sharp as the working 

 from one barrel to aiiothe'-. It seems to 

 act like kneading on dough. It sounds, 

 to tell of it, like a lot of work; but, really 

 when one has good faucets in all the bar- 

 rels it doesn't take long to run a few 

 pailfulsfrom one to another of the whole 

 lot. I try to get at mine once a month, 

 and oftener when we sell a large quantity. 



Our neighbors come to get honey vine- 

 gar in preference to cider vinegar at the 

 stores. We have kept some in the stores, 

 but have never had enough to supply 

 them yet. We use all kinds of refuse or 

 waste honey, such as broken combs and 

 dark unfinished sections, and this year we 

 had about 300 pounds of dark strong hon- 

 ey that came from weeds before alfalfa 

 bloom. That will go into the vinegar 

 next year if I don't need it to feed my 

 bees in the spring. 



I believe the secret of success in the 

 bee-business lies in looking after every 

 part of the business, and saving every 

 thing produced; and what can not be 

 marketed as first-class honey should be 

 turned into first-class vinegar. 



I have been asked if honey vinegar will 

 keep pickles. I have put up qvtantities 

 of them in the last three years, and have 

 never lost any, but have sold a great 

 many, both of whole and mixed pickles. 

 We are using mixed pickles now that 

 were put up last August, and they are as 

 firm and brittle as they ever were. If the 

 vinegar is old enough, and has been prop- 

 erly handled, it is of the very best quality 

 for pickling or anything else that vinegar 

 is used for. 



SELLING HONEY IN POOR YEARS. 



Limiting the Commission man as to Price 

 Sometimes an Advaulage. 



Considerable has been said of late in 

 the Review in regard to the marketing 

 of honey. As this is the time of the year 

 when most of the honey is sold, such 

 discussion is certainly timely. The point 

 of limiting the commission man as to the 

 price at which the honey is to be sold 

 has been touched upon, and the advice 

 given has been that a producer ought to 



know his ground pretty well before tak- 

 ing such a step. The following article 

 from Mr. H. D. Rurrell, and published 

 in the American Bee Journal, shows one 

 instance in which this plan proved profit- 

 able; and, better still, it tells the condi- 

 tions, or the reason why it was profitable. 



A very small crop of honey is reported 

 from nearly all sections this season. Be- 

 ciuse of this fact, it seems to me the pres- 

 ent quotations for honey in the city mar- 

 kets are too low. There has been a sharp 

 advance in prices in most lines of goods 

 in the past 18 months — why should not 

 honey prices advance also ? 



A little experience of mine has a bear- 

 ing on the matter. Some 1 2 or 15 years 

 ago I was fortunate in securing a good 

 crop of fireweed honey. We lived then 

 near a large tract of land over which a 

 fire ran the year before. In this country 

 fireweed grows, usually profusely, for one 

 season after such a fire. Then there is 

 little of it seen until after another fire, 

 which may not come for several years. 

 In this particular year, bee-keeping 

 neighbors, who lived out of bee-range of 

 this fire-swept tract, got a poor crop, and 

 I had little except fireweed honey. This 

 honey is light in color, and of good flavor, 

 and will pass for clover honey, except 

 with experts. 



When the comb honey was ready for 

 market, I packed about 500 pounds and 

 went to Chicago. The year before there 

 had been a large crop, and prices had 

 ruled low for those times, and there was 

 still some old hone}- in the commission 

 houses there. I talked with many com- 

 mission men. They thought about 15 

 cents was the right price for honey — pos- 

 sibly 16 for a fancy article. I knew from 

 various sources the honey crop was light, 

 and decided my honey must sell for more 

 than that. I selected a good house, and 

 told the manager he could have my hon- 

 ey if he would hold it for 20 cents. 

 "Well," he said, "we have room to 

 store it, and can hold it, if you wish, vin- 

 til you order it sold for what it will bring. 

 But there is no use trying; we can't sell 

 it for that price." "All right," I re- 

 plied, "when I want it sold for less I will 

 write you." 



Three days later a card came saying 

 the honey was sold, and they could use 

 more at the same price; that "buyers 

 thought it an extreme price, but the qual- 

 ity was so fine, and the packing so at- 

 tractive, it sold readil}'." 



In a short time my comb honey was all 

 sold at 20 cents. 



