16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



ment, according to advices received from the 

 central organization. 



It is believed that this scheme is entirely 

 practical, and already there is a spirit of hope- 

 fulness among bee-keepers that fould not exist 

 when all the profits went to the middlemen, or, 

 as is too often the case, more than the profits 

 went to unreliable and dishonest commission 

 men. 



The fact that all or nearly all bee keepers 

 are intelligent, reading men. and are united, 

 through the infiuenci' of the excellent bee- 

 papers, makes it possible that the Honey Ex- 

 change will more readily secure full coopera- 

 tion among bee-men than has the Fruit Ex- 

 change among orange-growers. 



Every honey-producer in California should 

 at once write to Secretary J. H. Martin. Bloom- 

 ington. San Bernardino County, Call fornia, giv- 

 ing him the number of colonies of bees in his 

 apiary, the amount of his present crop, and 

 also the names and addresses of all the bee- 

 keepers in the region. This will greatly hasten 

 the work of the committee in putting the Ex- 

 change into complete working order. 



Claremont, Cal., Dec. 12. 



[This is a very imnortrtnt subject. As Prof. 

 Cook truly says, " Nothing succeeds like suc- 

 cees." If the Citrus Fruit Exchange had not 

 left such a splendid record of its work during 

 the two years of its existence, we might look 

 with some hesitancy on the efforts of bee-keep- 

 ers to protect themselves in a similar way. I 

 hope the foregoing article will be read careful- 

 ly by every honey -producer, not only in Califor- 

 nia, but in every State in the Union: and I 

 trust, too, we may have the subject more fully 

 discussed by others who may be interested. 

 Gleanings will be very glad to assist in the 

 enterprise in any way in its power. — Ed.] 



SIX YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN SELLING HON- 

 EY FROM A COMMISSION HOUSE. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A NEAT AND 

 ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE. 



By S. T. Fish. 



Ir. Root: — If you will give us'lthe space in 

 your vaiuaole paper we will speak candidly 

 our opinion, formed after having a honey^de- 

 partment for six years. We have several de- 

 partments in our business, and honey is by no 

 means classed as a large department. Ever 

 since we first went into the honey-business we 

 have had a honey-room which in winter we 

 keep heated with a coal-stove. Since the in- 

 ception of this department we have endeavored 

 to perfect it for the handling successfully of all 

 our receipts. Aside from the extreme West 

 there has been no honey crop this year. 



The last of August we bought a car of comb 

 honey produced in California, from a middle- 

 man who makes it a business to pick up small 

 lots and ship a car. This honey was sold to us 

 to be in the regulation shioping-crate, all fan- 



cy white, made with separators. We paid the 

 draft; and when we looked at the honey we 

 found some of it was in cases that had v;-lncb 

 boards on each side of the case to fill it out, and 

 li-inch boards on the top of the sections, as the 

 case was too deep for that size of section. Some 

 of the sections were woven so that we could not 

 separate them, and certainly this honey was 

 not made with separators. 



Right here we want to say that it is to the 

 interest of every bee- keeper to buy a perfect 

 case fnr his honey — to make separate grades, 

 using a letter for each grade, and not try to de- 

 ceive any one when they ship. Gleanings- 

 should continually harp on the topic of " per- 

 fect cases." We strongly advise using such 

 cases as are made by the A. I. Root Cotnpany, 

 or any other firm capable of making them a& 

 good. 



Oct. 26th we bought two cars of Utah comb 

 honey, and paid cash, about fliOOO for the two 

 cars. No other firm in this city dared to risk a 

 venture of this kind, considering that Utah 

 comb honey candies very easily in cold weath- 

 er. We hope that at any future time when 

 TTtah puts up comb honey they will leave out 

 sections that are not capppd, as. when we show 

 a customer a case, and any of the sections are 

 not capped, it causes trouble, and it is just as- 

 convenient for the bee-keeper to keep that hon- 

 ey, and make a separate grade of it. We also no- 

 tice in these carloads, one bee-keeper broke the 

 comb with his finger. No doubt it occurred in 

 scraping the sections. We want the bee-men 

 to mark the gross, tare, and net on each case 

 of honey. They can ascertain the tare of the 

 cases by weighing several of them separately. 



One California bee-keeper sent a car of hon- 

 ey to this market, and wanted us to pay his 

 draft (which with the freight made over $2000),. 

 without being permitted to inspect the car. 

 No firm in the United States would do this. 

 We had no objection to paying the draft, if we 

 could see what the honey looked like; buthis- 

 instructions to the railroad were, not to allow 

 inspection; we therefore had our suspicions as 

 to quality. 



The word "commission merchant" has been 

 so scandalized by irresponsible firms that it is 

 no wonder that bee-men are cautious in their 

 shipments. Recently we observed a commis- 

 sion firm well spoken of by a bee-paper, and we 

 doubt whether this firm has any rating in the 

 mercantile agencies. 



Let us sum up this article by saying that it 

 is to the interest of bee-keepers, in putting up- 

 comb honey for market, to have a neat pack- 

 age; to grade their honey carefully; for if it is 

 not graded, the poor honey is liable to sell the 

 good honey; and whenever good honey sells 

 poor honey, you can depend upon trouble or a 

 deduction in price. 



We have been successful in having a certaia 



