194 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



Mar 1 



MARKETING HONEY IN MASON JARS. 



R. C. Aikin's article, page 955, prompts me 

 to write some of my experience and make a 

 few remarks anent the retail business of ex- 

 tracted honey. I began tentatively some 18 

 years ago to retail extracted honey in divers 

 kind of packages. I soon perceived and found 

 that, for my locality, the Mason pint fruit-jar 

 was the thing. As long as glass fruit- jars 

 shall be used, I believe they will sell as honey- 

 packages, for the obvious reason that, when 

 empty, they are worth very nearly as much as 

 new jars, and are used again in all families. 

 I never used or thought well of honey-bottles, 

 useless when emptied of honey. I have dis- 

 couraged the use of tumblers, as they are too 

 small. A pint, \% lbs., is small enough. I 

 have a gross of tumblers in a box ; have had 

 them four or five years ; had a few calls from 

 grocers for tumblers, hnt put them off one 

 way or another. 



I sell to about 100 grocery dealers, in nine 

 or ten towns, about 250 dozen pints a year. 

 Price now, $2.25 a dozen, cash down. Until 

 last spring I sold both for cash, or on commis- 

 sion at 15 cts. more, to be paid on next trip, 

 or about 60 days. I warrant the honey every 

 way, and secure the dealer against all losses 

 on account of honey candying, getting shabby, 

 dauby, etc. ; take up and exchange, and would 

 buy back if required. I have done and do 

 that yet, on account of prejudice, and to in- 

 spire confidence in both myself and my honey. 

 My success is gratifying. Many are getting 

 educated in regard to both extracted and 

 candied honey. Of course, I have a nice ex- 

 planatory label on every jar. 



While it is well to cater to public taste and 

 demand in these matters, 1 believe we ought 

 to and can also educate and form those tastes 

 and demands in a measure, being careful not 

 to indulge the public too much in matters of 

 niceties and quantities. Why, they would 

 buy honey a penny's worth at a time, or re- 

 quire half-pound or five-cent sections if you 

 would start them that way. Your polishing 

 sections, both before and after being filled, 

 then enclosed in a nice pictured cardboard 

 case, etc., is, in my opinion, an unnecessary 

 and burdensome thing. I sell, also, many 

 hundreds of pounds in common tin pails, 1, 

 2, and 4 qts., 3, 5, and 10 lbs., at 30 and 50 

 cts., and $1.00 respectively. 1 use largely, as 

 store-cans, second-hand lard-cans. They must 

 not be filled too full, else they will not handle 

 well in melting the honey. A. Mottaz. 



Utica, 111., Dec. 22. 



[I think there is no question but the Mason 

 jar — an article that is in demand in almost 

 every household — is the most common pack- 

 age for extracted honey in the rural districts ; 

 and when one buys such a jar of honey he is 

 not paying for a package that will be of no 

 use to him in the future. The same is true, 

 but to a lesser extent, of jelly-tumblers. 

 These are cheap and very handy, and can be 

 made to hold honey on the plan described by 

 Chalon Fowls, on page 961, Dec. 15th issue. 

 But in selecting a package for the local honey 

 market we must bear in mind locality. Selser, 



Ponder, Tweed, and a number of others who 

 use Muth jars, or bottles of similar shape, ca- 

 ter to an extra-fancy city trade. Some of this 

 is represented by the poorer class who want 

 only a dime's worth of honey at a time ; and 

 other portions belong to the " upper ten " 

 that want something fancy. With the last 

 named the cost of the package cuts no figure. 

 They seek something that is attractive in ap- 

 pearance, irrespective of price. The question 

 of package, then, should be decided by local 

 conditions. — Ed. ] 



We have been having steady cold weather, 

 with scarcely any warming up, for about three 

 weeks. We see by the papers that a large 

 amount of snow has fallen all over the North- 

 ern States. As I have before stated, heavy 

 snowfalls generally indicate a good crop of 

 white clover. 



We are receiving more matter, I fear, than 

 we shall ever find room for — matter that is 

 "good stuff," and worth publishing. Al- 

 though our two last issues were enlarged 16 

 pages, and although we shall continue to print 

 extra pages for some time to come, it now 

 looks as if we should never find room for all 

 we have on hand and which we should like to 

 publish. If any of our good friends get im- 

 patient, let them write and we will return the 

 manuscript. It is not possible to print articles 

 always in turn, as some things would be out 

 of date unless given insertion at once ; and 

 even as it is I fear some up to-date matter is 

 held until it is out of date. 



the CALIFORNIA CROP FOR 1901. 



Mr. M. H. Mendleson says we eastern 

 bee-keepers need not be alarmed by the glow- 

 ing prospects of honey in California. While, 

 undoubtedly, there will be a heavy honey- 

 flow, there are not a quarter, he says, of the 

 bees there were formerly, to gather the crop. 

 He does not think, therefore, that California 

 honey will be very much in evidence in the 

 eastern markets, even this year, as the local 

 consumption will probably take care of all 

 there is produced. 



THE MICHIGAN FOUL-BROOD BILL. 



This measure, about which so much was 

 said in our last issue, has, as I am informed by 

 Hon. Geo. E. Hilton, passed the Senate, and 

 is now in the hands of the State Affairs com- 

 mittee of the House. Mr. Hilton has seen the 

 members of this committee, and also the 

 Speaker of the House, and writes that he has 

 the promise of their support. He says, more- 

 over, he will stay and see the Ways and Means 

 committee, to whom the bill will next be re- 

 ported, and that, if he can get both commit- 

 tees to agree to offer a favorable report, we 

 may expect it to pass. 



