962 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



and no doubt know your market prices of honey, 

 you certainly can estimate better than one who 

 sells in another market. A neat and attractive la- 

 bel, and one that suits the package. 

 Louisiana. E. ( . P. L. Viallon. 



a. I have never handled packages of less than 10 

 pounds for extracted honey. Dealers have gener- 

 ally handled honey for me for one cent per pound, 

 b. Tin. c. One having good plain type, so they can 

 be read easily— not too coarse and gaudy, like the 

 cheap-soap advertisements. 



Wisconsin. S. W. S. 1. Freeborn. 



a. We should pay more for a pound package, per 

 pound, than for a 5-pound , package. We pay about 

 3 cents per pound of honey for the small ones, and 

 1V 2 to 2 cents per pound of honey for the larger 

 sizes, b. We prefer tin. c. Large labels, explain- 

 ing that granulation is the best proof of its purity, 

 and how to liquefy granulated honey. 



Illinois. N. W. Dadant & Son. 



a. I don't know. I haven't retailed any for sev- 

 eral years in anything else than yellow pails. I 

 should prefer tin; and for the pound, a can without 

 bail. Two to three cents a pound, I judge, would 

 buy them. A neat and fair-sized label, in propor- 

 tion to size of package, would be better than too 

 much display. Its purity would be less questioned 

 if without any label. 



New York. C. P. H. El wood. 



a. I don't know. I have had but little experience, 

 my honey being mostly sold by the gallon, to con- 

 sumers, b. I saw some very neat paper packages 

 at the Detroit exposition, that I should think would 

 be nice for the purpose. The cost would be less 

 than one cent per pound, c. If the package is large, 

 use a large label; if small, use a small one. If tin 

 is used, cover with a neat label; if glass is used, 

 use such a label as will allow the honey to be seen. 



Ohio. N. W. A. B. Mason. 



The less we have to pay for a package, the more 

 honey we can sell put up in that package. For any 

 thing over a quart, I prefer tin to glass, especially 

 for liquid honey. The package should be useful 

 after the honey is taken from it, and we have no 

 tin receptacle of less than that capacity that is of 

 any use. Liquid honey sells best in glass, but can- 

 died honey better in tin. Glass jelly-tumblers do 

 well for a small package, but are too expensive to 

 sell a great quantity of honey in. Until the house- 

 keeper gets all the jelly-tumblers she wants, they 

 are the best thing we can get for a small package. 

 The label for a glass package should be small. For 

 a tin package it should cover the entire surface as 

 far as possible. 



Illinois. N. C. J. A. Green. 



The subject of this question is one of great inter- 

 est and importance to bee-keepers. We can stand 

 it to pay a cent or half a cent per pound for the 

 cost of packages— I mean per pound of honey they 

 contain; but you see when we get down to half 

 pounds and pounds they must necessarily cost very 

 much more. There is where the trouble is. In my 

 opinion, tin is not going into general use for honey. 

 Honey is not a staple, and never will be at any 

 price for which we can afford to produce it. It is a 

 fancy luxury, first, last, and all the time, and glass 

 is the thing to put it up in, in packages of less than 

 half a gallon. Use a small label on glass, so the 



contents will show off well, 

 prefer to label it all over. 

 Michigan. S. W. 



If I used tin I should 



James Heddon. 



This would depend upon the style of package. If 

 the package itself would enhance the price of the 

 honey, we could perhaps pay 2 cents a pound; but 

 for a 5-pound package, the price should not be 

 much over one cent. Our 5-pound packages, with 

 label, cost 1J4 cents, b. We prefer tin for %%, 5, and 

 10 pound packages; glass for anything smaller. 

 The latter should come under the head of fancy 

 packages, c. For a 5-pound pail, a plain label, to go 

 about half way around— the same size label used 

 on all of our tins. For glass, a small fancy litho- 

 graph label. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



I think we should keep the cost of package be- 

 low 2 cents a pound, although for one-pound pack- 

 ages it may be necessary to go higher. I prefer tin. 

 As to label, I am just heathen enough to think it is 

 a good plan to sell honey without any label at all. 

 The general public know more than you give them 

 credit for, brethren. They actually know that it 

 takes time and expense to make honey-packages 

 look like Solomon in all his glory, and that they 

 have to pay for it all. With all the wealth of orna- 

 mentation that we have now almost everywhere, 

 they don't care to have their honey-cans decorated 

 by Raphael and Rubens. One of the best strikes a 

 body can make is to induce his customers to think 

 he is trying to furnish them with good honey as 

 cheaply as practicable. People like to believe this 

 —and if it is true, it is not so very hard to induce the 

 belief. To avoid all needless clap-trap that makes 

 expense, is one good way to convince people that 

 you are thinking of their interests as well as your 

 own. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



There seems to be a pretty fair agreement 

 all through the above answers. Two of the 

 friends, however, Elwood and Hasty, sug- 

 gest that, under some circumstances, honey 

 will sell better without a label than with. 

 After people get acquainted, and know you, 

 they do not care any thing about a label. In 

 fact, I have noticed the disposition that 

 friend Hasty speaks of. It is something 

 like this : " Give me some honey as cheap 

 as you can, and in the cheapest possible 

 package. I do not waut any show or dis- 

 play. 1 just want some genuine honey." 

 When we first began selling horseradish on 

 our wagon I thought it was very important 

 to have a label on it, telling that the horse- 

 radish was put up with the very best quali- 

 ty of white-wine vinegar, and that the en- 

 tire work was in the hands of careful wo- 

 men in our establishment, so it was pure, 

 clean, and wholesome. The boys, however, 

 very soon began to report that people pre- 

 ferred it without any label. The label made 

 it look as if it came from a city manufac- 

 tory, and they preferred home-made horse- 

 radish in plain clean bottles. White flint- 

 glass bottles, instead of green window- 

 glass, was a decided improvement. When, 

 however, some careless packer let a fly or 

 two get into the bottle in such a way that 

 customers could see it, it was an advertise- 

 ment in the wrong direction, you may be 

 sure. 



