222 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



On reading over the symposium in that is- 

 sue, I see there is one point that should be 

 explained more fully, in justice to the method 

 advocated by Mr. Deadman and myself. If 

 the honey is kept quite hot, say at 160°, dur- 

 ing the process of filling the bottles or glass- 

 es, it will be found that the bubbles will all 

 rise to the top in a very short time. Now, I 

 contend that, as this takes place before it has 

 time to cool, it makes no difference at all 

 about its candying afterward. There will be 

 an air-space at the top, just as in canned fruit, 

 so the result is the same by either method. 



I see the editor infers by my former articles 

 that I am put to some trouble in exchanging 

 jars at the grocer's on account of their getting 

 candied. I will explain that, since we have 

 improved our methods of putting up, the ex- 

 change business is done away with. I no 

 longer need to exchange, although I still 

 agree to. In fact, only one jar has been ex- 

 changed during the past year. 



Oberlin, Ohio. 



[In reference to the matter in 3-our last two 

 paragraphs concerning pouring honey hot and 

 honey cold into glass jars, you are probably 

 right in saying that the bubbles will rise to 

 the top, where they will do no harm. So we 

 shall have to conclude that the question 

 whether we shall pour hot or cold honey into 

 the jars is rather one of convenience than one 

 of difference in results. — Ed ] 



RETAILING EXTR.\CTED HONEY. 



Bottled Goods v. Those Put up in 8-Ib. Pails for 

 Ji.oo ; a Valuable Article. 



BY THOS. SL.^CK. 



I have been a good deal interested in the ar- 

 ticles you have published from time to time 

 on putting up and marketing extracted honey, 

 etc. This is a very important point in any 

 business, for it is of little use manufacturing 

 or producing a nice article and then realizing 

 only half price for it. R. C. Aikin comes 

 nearer my idea of the right thing than any of 

 the rest, but I differ with all of ihem in one or 

 two points, although it may seem rather cheeky 

 for me to say so, as many of your correspon- 

 dents sell tons where I sell hundreds ; but I 

 doubt very much if they could sell any more 

 than I can on the ground I cover with my 

 market-wagon, some 21 miles in three direc- 

 tions each week in the summer. My sales 

 have always been limited by the amount of 

 honey I could produce or buy at a low enough 

 price to pay handling. Candied honey can be 

 sold to a limited amount here ; but liquid hon- 

 ey sells as ten to one against candied Most 

 of my customers are farmers, mechanics, or 

 laborers (no stores), or people who have to 

 earn their own living, and a fancy price can 

 not be looked for — about 12^ cents a pound. 

 One year I sold at 10 cents. 



Bottling hot or bottling cold will never 

 trouble me, as I have no use for either. I give 

 my ideas from my standpoint here for this 

 section, and I do not think it differs much 



from any good farming section with good vil- 

 lages or small towns scattered around it. I 

 never touch comb honey to sell. Loss from 

 breaking down just wipes the profits clean 

 out. I never sell a single pound of extracted 

 honey. My unit in selling is $1.00. If a cus- 

 tomer asks, " How much is your honey this 

 fall?" I say, "Eight pounds for §1.00, pail 

 included." Perhaps, if a stranger to me, they 

 will say, "I want only one or two pounds." 

 I explain to them I can not very well carry 

 conveniences for weighing on my wagon, and 

 I have it all weighed up in pails nicely labeled, 

 a card explaining that the honey will likely 

 candy in cold weather, but that it can be 

 brought to a liquid state again without hurt- 

 ing the flavor, and telling how to do so. 

 Pasted on the pail it prevents the trouble Mr. 

 Aikin speaks of, of losing a customer because 

 his liquid honey candied. If possible, have 

 them taste the honey, and do not have any 

 that is not fit or a pleasure to taste. If the 

 customer wants honey I very seldom miss sell- 

 ing him a pail. I used to put the honey up 

 8 lbs. net, the pails to be returned when emp- 

 ty ; but this did not work well. After losing 

 about 125 pails one summer I set my thinker 

 to work, and struck the following plan : 

 Weigh up 8 lbs. gross for $1.00, the pail a 

 legal tender for 10 cts. if returned in good or- 

 der. This works perfectly — no friction, no 

 loss. I do not believe in putting up honey in 

 glass or selling by the pound, for the follow- 

 ing reasons : Too costly and too much bother 

 for one thintr ; but more particularly because, 

 if a person buys a bottle or a tumbler of hon- 

 ey, the price is prettv high including the glass. 

 Now, very few families (about one in twenty, 

 not to be wild, probably nearer one in one hun- 

 dred) eat honey. I do not mean to say they 

 do not taste it, but they do not look upon it as 

 food, something to nourish the body with. If 

 they buy a nice white section of honey, that 

 sacred thing is put aside against company com- 

 ing. If a tumbler, it is put aside as a nice 

 thing in case of colds, etc. The children 

 must not touch it. Come and try to sell them 

 some honey. " Thank you, not any to-day ; 

 we have some on hand," and you do not sell 

 them any until some one of the family has a 

 cold or company does come. With a pail in 

 hand there is a feeling of plenty. As I heard 

 a man say once, " I do not suppose I can or 

 do drink more milk out of a pan in the milk- 

 room than I can out of a tumbler in the house, 

 but all the same I like to drink out of the 

 pan. There is a sense of freedom about it 

 that suits." The children want some honey 

 with their biscuits ; there is plenty, and they 

 have it. It is put on day after day, until, hal- 

 loo ! the bottom of the pail is reached ! They 

 have acquired a taste for honey (the older 

 people as well), and got into the habit of eat- 

 ing it, and another pail must be bought, add- 

 ing much to their comfort and good health, 

 and profit to the seller. I believe, and feel 

 quite sure, that I can sell more good extracted 

 honey at 8 lbs. for $1.00 than I can for 10 cts. 

 a pound. As A. I. R. once said. "If there is 

 one thing I excel in it is being able to employ 

 a lot of help and make them earn their wages. ' ' 



