206 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



also the fact that we must have an expensive 

 sealing package. If the package be glass, we 

 have increased freights. Retail packages that 

 do not seal cost from 13^ to 3 cents per pound; 

 and those that seal, from 3 to 5 cents per pound. 

 Add to this the freights, and the getting of the 

 crop marketed is as expensive as raising it. 

 Then after we have done ail this, and the honey 

 is marketed in nice shape, it candies before the 

 consumer gets it. Some of our honey candies 

 so quickly that, if it were transported long dis- 

 tances, it would be solid before it got there. 

 So you see at every turn there is something in 

 the way. With these difficulties in the way we 

 must be content to let it remain as it is — ex- 

 tracted always at a disadvantage, and comb 

 only a luxury— or find some better method of 

 marketing. 



We must lessen the cost of retail packages; 

 ship so that we get low freights and commis- 

 sions, and put the goods up so that the con- 

 sumer gets it in the original package. What 

 this package shall be I do not, know; but cer- 

 tainly if we could put it into cheap tins, and 

 seal, say, in something like the square oyster- 

 can — a package that is so cheap as to be thrown 

 away, as are those of all fruits and other canned 

 goods — then with each can printed instructions 

 to the consumer, that each one who uses it will 

 liquefy for himself, we could then afford to 

 raise extracted honey; and not only that, but 

 find it successfully competing with other 

 sweets, and holding its place. I could put up a 

 large tank, and heating appliance, to hold a 

 big crop; then if I get the crop I could buy the 

 cans, and pack for market. The purchase of 

 cans need be only what is needed. It would 

 then make no odds if the honey did candy; for 

 it would remain so until the consumer got hold 

 of it. It would not bring quite so high a price 

 in the retail market; but the intermediate ex- 

 penses would be much less, and so benefit both 

 producer and consumer. 



I do not think that we shall altogether do 

 away with glass; but the main crop must be 

 in a very cheap package, and go to the con- 

 sumer candied, the glass and fancy packages 

 being left for the fancy trade. If this can not 

 be done, then the trade in extracted honey 

 must always be a very uncertain thing until it 

 can be produced at a price less by considerable 

 than the price of sugar. I say less than sugar, 

 because of these difficulties in the marketing of 

 it. It would be quite different if we could keep 

 and handle the honey as easily as we do sugars. 

 With a simple cheap package, and the goods 

 sold to the consumer in the original package, 

 it will become more and more of a staple and 

 more and more a common article of diet. 



Loveland, Colo., Feb. 26. 



[This is one of the best and one of the most 

 comprehensive articles on this subject that we 

 have ever received, and I commend its careful 

 reading to every producer. Barrels, whatever 



may be their advantage in the Middle and { 

 Eastern States, are not suitable for a large part ' 

 of the West, where the climate is dry, like that 

 of Colorado and California. Tin or glass pack- 

 ages, or something that will not shrink, must 

 be used; and, besides, as friend A. well says, 

 they are more suitable for liquefying. We have 

 tried spading the honey out of barrels; and we 

 can't afford to buy in barrels, spade out, and 

 liquefy, and run into smaller cans, and make 

 any money out of it. But instead of spading, 

 we find it cheaper to set the barrel in a large 

 tub of hot water, and keep the water hot with 

 a steam-pipe. But, few have the steam, and so 

 the spade process is the one usually employed. 

 But honey in square cans can be liquefied easily 

 by any one. We set ours in a coil of steam-pipe. 

 We must, as producers, have our packages 

 suitable for the honey market, and, so far as 

 possible, far the consumer. If it is true, that 

 honey in barrt^ls must be spaded out by the av- 

 erage commission house, and if he can't doit 

 exci'pt at a loss, sooner or later he is going to 

 make the producer pay for it in a reduced 

 price. As square cans are so ucar the cost of 

 barrels, per pound, it will be seen that they 

 have a big advantage, not only in this one mat- 

 ter of candying, but in the fact that the bulk of 

 honev can so easily divided upon the multiple 

 of 60 lbs.— Ed. 1 



RIPENING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



SHOm.D HONEY BE EXTKACTED THROUGH THE 



SEASON, OR LEFT ON THE HIVES TO BE 



EXTRACTED AFTER THE SEASON? 



By E. France. 



Mr. E. J^ra?ice;— Having read your articles 

 in the late issues of Gleanings with much in- 

 terest, I should like also to get your views, if I 

 can, on one question that I have had upon my 

 mind for some time. I believe Mr. A. I. Root 

 advocates letting the bees cure the honey, leav- 

 ing it in the hive until the latter part of the 

 season, so it may cure well. It has also been 

 our experience, that honey left in the hive 

 toward late or until fall, is better in all respects 

 than honey extracted, say, in June. I believe 

 that you and a good many others extract at 

 intervals during the whole season, commenc- 

 ing as early, even, as apple-bloom. Now, my 

 question is. How do you manage to turn out a 

 good article, extracting so early? or, how do 

 you cure your honey? I should like to make 

 or get out honey of the best quality, and am at 

 a loss to know how it can be done without 

 its being cured in the hive. I think I have 

 seen in your writings that you put it in kegs as 

 soon as extracted. I have read that curing in 

 open barrels or crocks would be about as good, 

 but I don't know. Do you extract any but that 

 which is capped over? G. A. Lunde. 



Stoughton, Wis., Feb. 17. 



[Mr. France replies:] 



My friends, this is a big question; and an an- 

 swer that would be all right for one place could 

 not possibly work in some other location. Some 

 locations have long steady flows of honey; oth- 

 ers, a short heavy flow, a sudden stop, and then 



