10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



not care to sell seeds at retail, so you may 

 send your orders to us, if you please. 

 Should you wish seed, however, to sell 

 again, perhaps the better way would be to 

 buy directly of friend M. The above letter 

 was probably not intended for publication ; 

 and while friend M. thinks he can, on alarge 

 scale, raise cauliflower seed at $15.00 a pound, 

 I presume none of our readers will under- 

 stand that he proposes to sell a single 

 pound at that price. In regard to the ad- 

 dress of the experimental colleges, I think 

 our readers in the different States can give 

 friend M. the addresses he desires. 



SELLING EXTEACTED HONEY. 



MRS. HARRISON GIVES US SOME OF HER EXPERI- 

 ENCE. 



IT BEE-KEEPEB of this State wrote to me to 



/l\ know it I could not sell extracted Spanish- 

 jf4 7 needle honey, put up in twenty-gallon kegs. 

 -^*- I made inquiries, and the result was some- 

 thing like this: Going into a drugstore, the 

 proprietor said, " Buy a twenty-gallon keg of hon- 

 ey! Oh, my! that would last us twenty years. I 

 would buy twenty pounds." After trying: the re- 

 tail drugstores I went into a large wholesale estab- 

 lishment. In answer to my inquiries the proprietor 

 said, " I had some difficulty in obtaining honey this 

 fall, but I have a supply now. I had honey in bar- 

 rels offered me at 7 cents per pound; but I did not 

 want it. What I bought is put up in tin cans, like 

 fruit, and will not granulate. I paid from 12 to 14 

 cents per pound for it." 



I kept thinking about that honey that would not 

 granulate, so yesterday I took the street-cars and 

 went to buy a can. There was a placard stuck up, 

 saying, " No goods sold at retail." The clerks said 

 no. I went to the proprietor, and told him I want- 

 ed to buy a can of honey; that I had honey at 

 home, but that I wanted to learn how the trade pre- 

 ferred it put up. He put a speaking-tube to his 

 mouth, and soon had a can upon his desk. I paid 

 45 cents for a three-pound can. 



I weighed this can just now, and it weighed 3% 

 pounds — honest weight, surely. The cover was 

 fastened down with something like plaster of Paris, 

 in lieu of sealing-wax. 1 dug a little place at one 

 side with the point of a knife, and easily pried it up, 

 with the sealing attached to the cover. I should 

 think the can would hold 4 pounds, as there is more 

 than an inch of space above the honey. 



WHAT I FOUND IN THE CAN. 



The children had a great deal of curiosity to see 

 what was in the can, as well as myself. The first 

 thing I saw was three legs, and a wing and a leg to- 

 gether, floating, which had once belonged to the 

 busy workers. Perhaps these were put in as an 

 evidence that it was bee honey, as the label declared 

 it to be— just as an Irish girl, seeking a situation, 

 showed her hands on being asked if she could make 

 bread. " Sure, here is the dough under me finger- 

 nails from my last baking." I took a saucer and 

 teaspoon, and dipped out some of the honey, and 

 then went out to the honey-house with another 

 saucer and spoon, and brought in what I knew to be 

 basswood honey, while the baby stood by saying, 

 " What are you goinsr to do, mamma? Compare it. 

 I can tell it. That one is brown, and this one is yel- 

 low." She was correct. Our basswood is alight 



yellow, while that from the can was dark. The can 

 is labeled, " White clover and basswood," and below 

 it says, " It is not possible in all cases to have the 

 contents of each jar entirely from the blossoms 

 named, yet sufficiently so to give distinctly their 

 characteristic flavor." 



1 saw that this honey was the product of this 

 county, and was puzzled to know how it could be 

 white clover, as it has failed here for two years, 

 the label should have been erased, and " fall flow- 

 ers" put in its place, as it is thick, well-ripened 

 honey, the product of Spanish needle and other fall 

 flowers. It will injure the trade in honey in cans, 

 if it is not what it purports to be. The honey is liq- 

 uid on top, but about as thick as hasty pudding 

 below. I will make a selection from a letter before 

 me, with reference to Spanish-needle honey granu- 

 lating. 



"I have been in the bee-business for 15 or 30 

 years; I keep my honey in barrels and cans for a 

 year, and never had any granulate enough so but 

 that it would run out of a bung-hole whenever the 

 weather was not too cold. Nine-tenths of our hon- 

 ey is Spanish needle, which does not granulate 

 when well ripened; but if extracted too green (if 

 that is the word) it will granulate." 



In purchasing this honey I thought I was going to 

 find out how to put up honey so that it would not 

 granulate, which would be a bonanza to bee-keep- 

 ers, but I failed. The proprietor of the drugstore 

 thought so, but was mistaken. Our basswood hon- 

 ey is liquid up to date, Dec. 7, but the weather has 

 been uncommonly mild. It is in a tin can which 

 has a cover that fits down closely, while a jar stand- 

 ing near containing mixed honey with a cloth tied 

 over it is solid. I infer that honey that is exposed 

 to the air granulates sooner than that which is not; 

 for a pitcher of basswood honey that I kept to pour 

 out of to customers is now solid. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Mrs. H., there is something a little singu- 

 lar about that inscription on that can of 

 honey you bought. The first extracted hon- 

 ey we ever put up, nearly twenty years ago, 

 I began labeling "White Clover," " Bass- 

 wood, " etc.; but an old bee-keeper at once 

 commenced finding a good deal of fault. 

 He said that the bees never gather honey 

 entirely from one source, and that I could 

 not possibly furnish a jar of honey that was 

 all of white clover, or all basswood, etc. I 

 admitted the truthfulness of his criticism, 

 and at once added to the label the words 

 you quote — " It is not possible in all cases," 

 etc. As you have given it word for word it 

 is a copy of my label, for it could not have 

 been otherwise. 1 believe that any honey 

 is much less liable to granulate when left in 

 the hive until it is thoroughly ripened by the 

 bees. I do not know what process they put 

 it through, but they seem to know better 

 than anybody else just what to do to honey 

 to prevent granulation. I believe that it is 

 at least generally true that well - ripened 

 honey from Spanish needle seldom if ever 

 granulates. We have had it a great many 

 times, and kept it where it was so cold you 

 could almost cut it with a knife, but there 

 was no granulation. Of course, every bee- 

 keeper or packer of honey should be very 

 careful to have the label state correctly the 

 contents of each can or jar. 



