1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



695 



BEES KEPT IN A TOWN WITHOUT ANNOY- 

 ANCE TO NEIGHBORS. 



BY ARTHUR RHOADS. 



The apiary shown in the engraving is in 

 the heart of the town, and the bees have 

 never given any trouble to any one. The 

 colonies are all in standard eight and ten 

 frame hives, each group of five resting on 

 cement bases, which have proved to be very 

 satisfactory. 



Coyle, Oklahoma. 



WHAT IS THE PROPER PACKAGE FQR RE- 

 TAILING HONEY? 



BY GEORGE SHIBER. 



There has been a good deal said lately on 

 the subject of selling and extracting unripe 

 honey. I feel that this is important, and 

 personally I wish that the time might come 

 when not an ounce of honey could be ex- 

 tracted until rii)ened. Honey should weigh 

 about 12 lbs. to the gallon. What happens 

 to honey when it leaves our hands? For in- 

 stance, a man buys a gallon of honey in a 

 pail without a cover. Perhaps he tries to 

 keep it covered up; but, after having it a 

 few weeks, it absorbs a little moisture, then 

 the flavor is gone. A year or so ago I sold 

 one party about 25 lbs. of honey, putting it 

 in a tin water-pail which he brought for the 

 purpose. A few months later this man 

 told me that the honey had soured; and 

 after some questioning I discovered that he 

 had put it in a cellar with a single thick- 



ness of newspaper over it. Of course, honey 

 would sour under such circumstances. 

 Lately, I am in the habit of impressing ev- 

 ery customer with the great imi)orta7ice of 

 keeping the honey sealed up air-tight all 

 the time. 



THE 60-LB. CAN TOO LARGE. 



I am coming more and more to the belief 

 that the (JO-lb. can is too large for family 

 trade. In the first place, it is no easy task 

 for an inexperienced person to pour out a 

 l)ound or so of honey from such a can; and 

 if a good big lot does not drizzle out on the 

 carpet or floor it is a wonder. In time the 

 operation of getting the honey out of the 

 can comes to be dreaded. Then when the 

 honey is about two-thirds gone the rest will 

 have candied; and in order to liquefy it a 

 wash-boiler has to be utilized. In view of 

 all this the chances are that the consumer 

 will no longer bother with it; and next year, 

 when he is ai)proached by the bee-keeper, 

 who wants to sell him another can, he re- 

 fuses, for the reason that he still has some 

 of that purchased last year. Sixty pounds 

 at one time is too much for the average 

 family. They get sick of the honey before 

 it is gone. Honey is good to eat, as scrip- 

 ture informs us, but we should not stuff our 

 customers until they are sick of it. 



^^'ell, after having had the above experi- 

 ence I finally began using the one-gallon 

 tin cans holding 12 lbs. I charge 10 cts. per 

 lb. to every one, and sell the gallon cans for 

 $1.30 each to cover the cost of the can. I 

 am quite sure that I could get $1.85 just as 

 easily. Anyhow, if we do not ask a price 

 somewhere near what an article is worth, we 

 certainly won't get it. The gallon can has 

 given the best of satisfaction. I never agree 



CONCRETE SLABS AS FOUNDATIONS FOR FIVE HIVES EACH. 



