1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



139 



right for small lots. I would a great deal 

 rather handle a large crop in barrels. I have 

 tried tin cans, and do use some yet for small 

 shipments. For large lots barrels are cheaper, 

 ship for less freight, in less carload lots. I 

 don't know how it would be in car lots. When 

 extracting in our out-apiaries we can with less 

 trouble put the honey in barrels, and load them 

 easier, than we could cans. With a pair of 

 skids three or four boys will roll into a wagon a 

 few barrels very quickly, whereas cans would 

 have to be lifted in two at a time— heavy work; 

 and when the cans are used, and the honey gets 

 candied, they arc a miserable thing to get the 

 honey out of. First the cans must be tilled full 

 to hold ()0 lbs. Now, it must be melted to get 

 the honey out; and unless you are especially 

 fixed for the work it is no fool of a job. I have 

 set a can in a wash-boiler: have set them in 

 the water-reservoir back of the stove, and it 

 lakes a long time to melt, as the honey is in 

 one solid chunk. The screw-cap must be 

 taken off: then, ten chances to one, the honey 

 will swell up and run out of the top before it is 

 melted, making a loss and a muss; and a6(»-lb. 

 can is a pretty heavy thing to lift up high 

 enough to put into a boih^r on the stove. First- 

 class oak, iron-bound barrels cost me, made 

 here, ipl..50 each, holding :!70 lbs., warranted not 

 to leak. I have handled our honey in such 

 barrels for -several years, and they do not leak. 



As for melting the honey in the barrels, I 

 don't do it. I take the hoops all off' at one end 

 of the barrel, then the head will come out. 

 Take out the head, drive on the hoops again. 

 Now dig the honey out of the barrels, and melt 

 it in a tin pail; set in a kettle of water over the 

 fire, or melt it in whatever you please; but 

 have your melting-dish set in water to prevent 

 scorchingthe honey. I can pack honey in bar- 

 rels, and sell it for half a cent a pound less than 

 if packed in OO-lb. tin cans ; and then the 

 shipping freight is a good deal less. 



But there is a growing demand for (50 lb. 

 cans. I suppose that is for the reason that 

 such kegs as molasses is packed in are not suit- 

 able for honey-packages. They are too frail, 

 and leak. A good oak keg, made suitable to 

 hold honey, costs too much. When I first be- 

 gan to extract honey I had very much trouble 

 to get a good package. I went to the best 

 cooper in town, and bought some kegs that 

 held 140 lbs. of honey-oak, with iron hoops. 

 Being a cooper myself, I thought they were all 

 right. He brought them out of the cellar. I 

 took them home and filled them — 14 of them; 

 also got one barrel that held 500 lbs. I had 

 them in a room above ground. In a few days 

 they began to leak, and made me a great deal 

 of trouble. That year my home market took all 

 the crop at retail, so 1 had all the kegs left over 

 to fill again the next year. I made up my mind 

 that honey kegs and barrels should be kept in 

 a dry place; then, as fast as I get one empty, I 



put it upstairs in the shop, first washing the 

 keg out clean inside, and putting in the head. 

 I let them stay there and dry out until I wanted 

 them the next year. I got some new barrels 

 made and put them up stairs also. Result- 

 when I wanted them the next year they were 

 dried out. I drove the hoops, and they were 

 tight. I filled them with honey, and there was 

 no leaking. We have never been troubled with 

 leaky barrels since. We now have our barrels 

 made in the winter. We put them in a dry warm 

 place until wanted; and if they are well made 

 they won't leak. It won't do to keep honey- 

 barrels down cellar. Barrels will soon leak 

 when taken from the cellar and filled with 

 honey. Honey doesn't seem to keep barrels 

 from drying out. Leaky barrels filled with 

 water will soon swell and hold water; but not 

 so with honey. It won't do to pick up any 

 thing you may find down town, for honey- 

 packages. They will be sure to leak, as they 

 are kept in a cellar. I think the honey will 

 pay for a good package, clean and tight. 



After we had found out how to fix barrels so 

 they would not leak, we found we could save a 

 little money by buying barrels that would hold 

 .5,30 lbs. in place of the ones we were using, 

 that held 370. The small ones cost $1.50, the 

 large ones f l.fiO, so we got 50 of the large ones. 

 We found the large ones unhandy. They are 

 too big. A 370-1 b. barrel is about right, we 

 think. For retail trade we use tin pails. One 

 and two quart sizes take the best in Platteville. 



Platteville, Wis. 



[Many of the difticulties between the bee- 

 keeper and the buyer of honey is over leaky 

 barrels. The one says that so much honey was 

 lost, and the other doubts his statement, and so 

 on the trouble goes. All of this may be avoid- 

 ed by reading carefully what Mr. France has 

 to say above. The trouble in many of the 

 cases is not so much with the commission mer- 

 chant or buyer as with the producer, or, rather, 

 his (the producer's) lack of knowledge. Al- 

 though the Dadants the Muths and ourselves 

 haverepeatedly said. that barrels should be kept 

 in dry places, and that they should not be soaked 

 with water before putting in honey to make 

 them tight, yet almost every vear there are a 

 lot of bee-keepers who go on and do this same 

 thing, and as a result reap the natural conse- 

 quence—loss of honey, and a distrust of the 

 buyer. I think it would pay every bee-keeper 

 who ships his honey in barrels or kegs to paste 

 this up in his honey-house, where he can read 

 it once in a while. 



The editorial referred to was by our business 

 manager, who has had some of the troubles 

 above mentioned, and his solution of the diffi- 

 culty seemed to be in the use of tin cans. When 

 I visited Mr. France last summer I saw stacks 

 of barrels of honey that were perfectly tight, 

 not even showing the least trace of leakage. 

 These same barrels, as Mr. France explains, 

 were bought some time ahead, and kept in a 

 dry place, and allowed to shrink all they 

 would; then after being carefully coopered up 

 they were ready for the honey. 



Regarding the square cans and barrels, it' 

 seems to be largely a question of locality. In. 

 California and certain parts of the West, on ac-' 

 count of the dry climate, square cans are used as 



