1887 



glea^i:ngs in bee culture. 



255 



MRS. 



HARRISON ON DISPOSING OF 

 OUR HONEY-CROP. 



KST.\BLISHlNO HONEY-ROUTES, ON THK 1>LAN C 

 MILK-ROUTES, ETC. 



fHEKE is no subject before the house that 

 comes nearer to us all than the best way and 

 means of disposing- of our honey. If a bee- 

 keeper loads up his honey and ships it to a 

 larg-e city, and sits down to smoke he will, in 

 many instances, have time for a pretty long smoke 

 before he has any returns for his season's labor. 



There are few localities where there are not more 

 than one hundred colonies kept, which would not be 

 able to consume all the product. 1 once stopped at 

 a farmhouse, five miles from any town, whei-e fortj' 

 colonies were run for extracted honey. The pro- 

 prietor said, " I never take away a pound of honey ; 

 the neighbors come with their jars and pails, and 

 take it away, and I could sell much more if I had it. 

 1 can not half supply the. demand." 



Farmers formerly, in Illinois, consumed large 

 quantities of molasses. They bought it by the bar- 

 rel or in kegs. Emigrants from Pennsylvania 

 missed their fruit-butters, for which they are so fa- 

 mous, and the large family of "spreads" scoured 

 through the woods in search of wild plums, grapes, 

 and berries, and finally succumbed to the inevita- 

 ble, and ate molasses. Since the advent of glucose- 

 factories, molasses and syrups have gone by the 

 board. Fruit is more abundant than in the early 

 settlement of the country, but it does not entirely 

 fill the gap. This class of consumers are almost 

 entirely neglected by producers. They think honey 

 is something to be sold to town-folks. How one of 

 our Western farmers would laugh if you should ask 

 him to buy a pound of honey I "A pound of hon- 

 ey ? Why, that wouldn't be a lap. Bring me fifty 

 or one hundred pounds." He has no use for a ten- 

 cent package. 



Those who farm here have lai'ge families; if 

 not many children, they have work -hands, comers 

 and goers, and there are few days when strangers 

 do not sit down to their tables— agents, peddlers, 

 etc. W^hat a bonanza would honey be to the over- 

 worked wife I It needs no cooking; she doesn't 

 have to stand for hours, either, over a hot stove or 

 by a fire out of doors, with smoke or ashes in her 

 eyes, moving a stirrer back and forth all day, and at 

 night till the clock strikes the little hours, to finish 

 it off as it boils and sputters. This class needs in- 

 structing in the use of honey, and they could be 

 easily taught, if it were only brought to their no- 

 tice. 



We never shipped any honey more than once, and 

 that was owing to the severe illness of Mr. Harrison ; 

 and if we had employed the young man who packed 

 and shipped it to have peddled it out, we should 

 have saved money and worry, as he had been in the 

 peddling business. During the winter, in most lo- 

 calities, there are plenty of young men out of em- 

 ployment, well fitted, with a little instruction, to 

 sell honey. It would be better to trust them with 

 our property than to ship it to entire strangers. 



I'm not ashamed of the business, but proud of it 

 —glad that I'm a producer of a pure sweet. In ped- 

 dling honey, the better way when it is sold from 

 house to house would be to go forth as the apostles 

 did, by twos. One could drive the team, and abide 

 by the stuff, while the other could exhibit the hon- 

 ey and solicit orders. The best assistant would be 



one who has been over the ground before. A hon- 

 ey-route, in time, would have a commercial value 

 the same as milk-routes now have. A family that 

 uses honey at all buys a good deal, while there are 

 others who can not be induced to use it; and in go- 

 ing over the ground the second time these could be 

 left out. 



Large producers must, of course, seek distant 

 markets; but "it is the little foxes that spoil the 

 vines." Small producers must sell their own hon- 

 ey at home, if they would succeed. Make honey 

 legal tender for every thing they buy. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



You make a good point, Mrs. H., where 

 you say that honey needs no cooking. Many 

 times 1 have brought company home unex- 

 pectedly, and I would Jiear my wife say, 

 " Well, there is one thing they can have 

 right away, and that is some nice honey. 

 Probably they are not used to it, and it will 

 be a treat to them, and it can be produced 

 in a twinkling," and it always turns out as 

 predicted — it is praised and "relished. And, 

 by the way, you remind me of the time 

 when motlier and I used to make apple-but- 

 ter away along into the night. Sometimes 

 the wind was contrary, and blew the smoke 

 into our eyes, etc. Your idea of having a 

 honey-ioute, something on the plan of a 

 milk-route, is certainly a good one. As 

 honey is not perishable, of course the trip 

 need be made only at intervals of a week or 

 even more ; but I am sure a regular system 

 of this kind would pay well. 



THE KITCHEN AGAIN, AND THE BEES. 



MRS. AXTELL, DISCUSSES WHETHER WOMEN ARE 

 CAPABLE OF MANAGING AN APIARY. 



^^ UK kitchen, I think, is the most cheery room 

 «l*^ in the house. A bay window is in the south; 

 ^B and on the north door, where the screen-door 

 ^^ fits in in summer, is a tight-fitting wooden 

 door, thus making a double door. There are 

 two window-sash for the window, making the window 

 double. This makes our kitchen very warm, light, 

 and sunshiny— almost like summer in zero weather 

 when the sun shines, and my four canaries seem to 

 think it is summer, as they fill the house with their 

 sweet music, seeming to sing because they can't 

 help it. One would be surprised at the warmth the 

 sun gives, as it reaches half way across the kitchen. 

 In the upper half of our south door is a glass 

 window, so that almost the whole south side of our 

 kitchen is glass. In summer time the windows are 

 all raised except the one in the door; and by the 

 use of our gasoline stove the kitchen is about as 

 cool as outdoors. 



Our apiary is located just south of our kitchen, so 

 that, when the bees swarm, we can readily see each 

 colony and be on hand— a great convenience to a 

 bee-keeper. 



The sides and ceiling of our kitchen are finished 

 in wainscoting, the whole painted a reddish pink, 

 which does not grow dull or dusky by age, as blue 

 or brown colors do if smoked a little. If finished in 

 haid wood it is very easily washed. In cold weather, 

 when boiling clothes, and the room is moist from 

 steam, a soft cloth pinned around a broom, and the 



