1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



909 



place during late j^ears, and the advent on 

 the staj^e of man\' new leaders, we of the 

 3'ounffer g-eneration are liable to forj^et the 

 names of two of the g-reat bee-lights, fathers 

 Ouinby and Langstroth, who, more th^m 

 anj' one else during- the infancy of bee- 

 keeping in the United States, first placed 

 the industry on a paying and substantial 

 basis. (Juinbj' was one of the most success- 

 ful bee-keepers who ever lived; indeed, if I 

 am right, Mr. Ouinby was the first to pro- 

 duce and ship a whole boatload down the 

 Hudson to New York city. Such an amount 

 of honey at th^it time (the early 50"s) liter- 

 all}^ broke "the market," for no one knew 

 what to do with so much honey. This re- 

 markable feat was performed with box 

 hives. Yes, father Quinby made his bees 

 pay; and, as I understand from Capt. 

 Hetherington and others who knew him, he 

 was one of the most lovable and unselfish 

 persons the world has known. Never a be- 

 ginner went to him for instructions without 

 receiving generous advice, even though that 

 advice might bring into his territory new 

 and disagreeable competitors. 



As is often true in the case of a great man, 

 we know little or nothing of the wives who 

 shared their toils equallj' in their successes 

 and failures. This is true of Mrs. Quinby; 

 but I think we may safelj' say that some 

 degree of her husband's success was due to 

 his kind and loving helpmeet who has for 

 so many years survived him. 



honey-producers that ought to be 

 scorp:d. 



We are just getting in considerable quan- 

 tities of comb hone}'. It is evident that 

 some of it, having been held back, is now 

 being unloaded on the market. This is un- 

 fortunate, but I do not know that it can be 

 helped. 



But there is one thing I feel like scolding 

 about, if I may use this disagreeable word, 

 and that is the carelessness of some comb- 

 honey producers. Much of otherwise good 

 comb honey that we have received is not 

 properly graded, with the result that we 

 are coinpelled to go over it section by sec- 

 tion. We now have on hand about a car- 

 load that will all have to be re-sorted before 

 we could offer any of it as fancy and No. 1. 

 This we must charge up to the producers, 

 for we can not afford to do this grading for 

 nothing, nor risk our reputation in putting 

 out such a mixed lot. Much of it was g^rad- 

 ed, or an attempt made iit it; but, such 

 grading! And, to make matters still worse, 

 some lots were uuseparatored, and a little 

 was either broken or leaking. 



I do not blame the commission men for 

 being disgu.sted occasionally, and for charg- 

 ing good round commissions, if this is the 

 way honey sometimes goes to market. The 

 use of separators first, last, and all the 

 time, will, in the great majority of in- 

 stances, earn from one to two cents a pound ; 

 and why will bee-keepers be so foolish as 

 not to separator (or, better, fence) their su- 

 pers? 



vStill again, we are continually getting 

 lots not scraped. One little lot was wormy; 

 and— would you believe it? — the producer 

 even went so far as to dust flour on the sur- 

 face of the sections to cover up the tracks 

 of the nasty things. 



It does not cost any more to produce first- 

 class honey, or but very little more, than it 

 does second-rate goods; and after having 

 produced some good honey, to mix that with 

 No. 2 puts it all down to No. 2 grade. 



For the sake of good prices and fair deal- 

 ing, brother bee-keepers, do be careful. 

 When I say this I am afraid I am not reach- 

 ing the very people who ought to read it; 

 but if a man will not take a bee-journal, 

 or, still worse, will not read it when he 

 does take one, he surely ought to take the 

 consequences, and will. 



MARKETING COMB HONEY; WHY GOOD HON- 

 EY SOMETIMES BRINGS LOW PRICES; 

 INEXCUSABLE IGNORANCE. 



The honey-man, Mr. A. L. Boyden, of 

 our firm, has been having some "experi- 

 ence" of late; and in response to my re- 

 quest he has prepared a statement which 

 producers of comb honey should read care- 

 fully.— E. R. R. 



As most of our readers know, we handle 

 large quantities of comb and extracted hon- 

 ey each season. Without thought of going 

 into this as a source of profit, we have for 

 years taken honey, sometimes as a conven- 

 ience to bee-keepers who had more than they 

 could use in their home markets, and want- 

 ed us to handle it for them. Other times 

 we have taken it in exchange for supplies; 

 and during the past few years we have 

 been obliged to buy large quantities to sup- 

 ply the demand of our established trade. 

 Many times we have received complaints 

 from bee-keepers that they htive been un- 

 fairly dealt with by commission merchants 

 and others to whom they had sent their 

 honey, and we are aware that these com- 

 plaints are often justly made. It has been 

 our experience, however, that many bee- 

 keepers do not realize the importance of 

 using every means to insure the delivery of 

 their honey to the merchants in a condition 

 that will be creditable to them, and bring 

 for them the best price. For years we have 

 recommended that the cases be packed in 

 crates like those shown below. As a mat- 

 ter of information we publish here the 

 directions we send out to our shippers. 



TO SHIPPERS OF HONKV. 



1. Put your name on the crate. No name on rases. 



2. Put a caution card on each crate. 



8. Put the gross weight, tare, and net weight on 

 each case before packing honey. 



4. Put the total weight of all ca.ses on the upper side 

 of the crate, so this can be found without opening the 

 crate. 



5. Mark each case with the grade, 

 (i. Mark each crate with the grade. 

 7. Put only one grade in a case 



S. Put only one grade in a crate if po.ssible. 



Never think of shipping your cases of nice comb 

 honey unprotected, for they are almost sure to go 

 tlirough in a broken or damaged condition. The 

 cases of comb honey should always be crated some- 

 thing as shown below; and in the bottom of the crate. 



