1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



385 



sections of New York — the "Buckwheaters" as 

 they have been termed. 



The outlet for extracted buckwheat is very 

 limited, and we have noticed a general falling- 

 off in the demand of late years, which is very 

 likely to continue. We do not believe that we 

 shall ever have such a demand for buckwheat 

 extracted again as in former years. 



Now as to buckwheat comb. We could not 

 fill our orders in the season of 1899, and have 

 not been able to supply our customers from 

 the beginning of the season, last fall. Ex- 

 tracted honey we can get from all over, while 

 we had to depend largely on the East for 

 comb honey, though we have been receiving 

 some comb honey from the South — Florida, 

 Georgia, North and South Carolina — for the 

 past two years, where the production of comb 

 honey seems to be increasing. However, as 

 this is ready, and sent to market in the late 

 spring and summer, it is generally disposed of 

 before the Eastern honey comes to the mar- 

 ket, and, therefore, will not conflict with the 

 increased production of comb honey in the 

 Eastern States. 



city. We have heard them universally well 

 spoken of by bee-keepers everywhere ; and 

 because this is so it is a pleasure to speak of 

 them in this connection. 



We believe Mr. Segelken is right in saying 

 that too much extracted honey is being pro- 

 duced for the Eastern markets ; and it would 

 be well if some of the producers of the liquid 

 article would turn their attention toward the 

 production of comb honey — something that 

 always does have a sale, and at a great deal 

 better prices than extracted, as a rule. In 

 Cuba, bee-keepers are beginning to learn this 

 same lesson. But there are some honeys 

 which, if put on the market in the comb, 

 would have little or no sale. Such honey is 

 used only by tobacconists, bakers, and the 

 like, for manufacturers can not use honey in 

 the comb. As a rule we may say that, when 

 honey is rank in flavor, and is not used by 

 consumers direct in the extracted form, it 

 should not be marketed in the comb. 



Our honey-man, Mr. Boyden, has been say- 

 ing for some time that bee-keepers were mak- 

 ing a mistake in putting so much of their 





A SAMPI.E OF CUBAN HONEY IN PI,AIN SQUARE SECTIONS. 



We have just received from Cuba a ship- 

 ment of comb honey, in plain square .sections, 

 28 to crate, with glass front, packed in ship- 

 ping-cases with handles. The honey arrived 

 in first class condition, and is nice and white. 

 We think this is the first comb honey ever 

 shipped from Cuba to the United States. We 

 have noticed some correspondence in Glean- 

 ings by Cuban bee-keepers, wherein they say 

 that all they receive for their honey is about 3 

 to 3>^ cts. per lb. At this we should think 

 that it would pay them to produce comb hon- 

 ey, for, instead of figuring on twice the price 

 for extracted, they could safely figure on three 

 times the price at least. There seems to be no 

 doubt that comb honey could be produced in 

 Cuba to advantage. Whether it will be done 

 extensively is another question, unless Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers follow it up. In the course of 

 time, however, Cuban comb honey may be- 

 come quite a factor on our market, to be reck- 

 oned with ; but we think that that time is, as 

 yet, at a distance. 



New York. Mar. 6. 



[Mr. Henry Segelken is one of the firm of 

 Hildreth & Segelken, a concern that handles 

 such large amounts of honey in Ne v York 



product into extracted form — that there ought 

 to be a larger per cent of it in comb. As Mr. 

 Segelken's experience is quite in line with our 

 own, bee-keepers may well consider how they 

 shall put out their honey for the coming sea- 

 son. 



I suspect that one reason why buckwheat 

 extracted and other dark grades do not sell as 

 they formerly did is because of the large im- 

 portation of Cuban extracted honeys of better 

 flavor and of better color. The buckwheaters 

 of New York may well consider the matter of 

 producing honey in the comb. 



There is another reason why the darker 

 grades do not sell as well as they formerly did, 

 and that is, the general distrust against all 

 honey in the liquid form. Consumers, as a 

 rule, are getting to have confidence in honey 

 put up in comb, as they believe it to be pure, 

 in spite of the yarns that were circulated a 

 few years ago over the country to the effect 

 that comb honey could be successfully coun- 

 terfeited by means of appropriate machinery. 



Mr. Segelken sent us a photo of some of 

 the Cuban honey to which he refers in his ar- 

 ticle, and this we have reproduced for the in- 

 spection of our American honey-producers. 

 If the Cubans are finding it to their advantage 



