898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



died form was just as pure as that in the 

 liquid, and in his locality he succeeded in 

 doing it. 



At the outset of his talk Mr. Aikin refer- 

 red to his opponents in the discussion as 

 Irishmen ; but Mr. York, who responded, 

 retorted that there was not a drop of Irish 

 blood or blarney in his crowd unless it was 

 in Dr. Mason, and he did not have more than 

 two drops. It was evident that his good 

 friend was just Aikin to see a big fire and 

 lots of smoke. If he would wait till he 

 left the world he might see and feel more 

 hotness than he wanted — perhaps enough to 

 liquefy his granulated honey. 



Mr. York did not believe in feeding all 

 creation with honey, and almost making 

 people a present of it besides. What cost 

 practically nothing would be valued at just 

 about what it cost. Honey, he thought, was 

 different from most other table articles. It 

 was a necessary delicacy not to be eaten 

 like potatoes, soup, and corn-meal mush. 

 A little at a meal, like butter, was all a 

 reasonable person could ask unless he ale 

 with a shovel. Then, of course, granulat- 

 ed honey would have the advantage. When 

 he put up extracted honey he did not want 

 to have to spend valuable time in telling his 

 customers that it was not sugar, lard, nor 

 even "grained goose grease." Everyone 

 knew that all honey is in liquid form when 

 taken from the hive; then why not pass it to 

 the crowd in its original sparkling form? 

 Honey was a tempting thing when it glis- 

 tened through clear flint glass; and what 

 was 18 or 20 cents for a pound of such con- 

 centrated sweetness? There were a good 

 many people who would blow in ten cents 

 for a cigar, and then blow it all out in 

 smoke. How much more pleasure and 

 strength could be derived from the price of 

 two such cigars invested in a pound of hon- 

 ey? 



In the majority of retail stores, glass jars 

 holding from 12 ounces to 1 lb. each were to 

 be preferred, retailing at 15 to 20 cents. In 

 the country trade, selling from house to 

 house, the pint and quart Mason jars were 

 the best. 



In closing, Mr. York stated that Mr. Ai- 

 kin's method of retailing honey might do 

 for his locality and in his hands; "but," 

 said he, "don't any of you ever go to a 

 large city and try to put his method into 

 practice. If you do, you will regret it;" 

 and as a parting shot he invited his oppo- 

 nent to make a fire so hot that even his 

 granulated honey would all be liquefied, so 

 that even spooney people could get it down 

 without a big shovel and elbow grease. 



Quite a long discussion followed, some 

 taking one side and some the other. The 

 gist of it seemed to be that one must be gov- 

 erned by his locality. If one lived in the 

 city, then let him cater to the city trade. 

 If one lived in the country, made up large- 

 ly of working people of limited means, then 

 give them a package that would be cheap 

 or useful after the honey was out of it. 



Mr. Holley, of Fort Collins, used oj'ster- 



pails, and favored the paper bags recom- 

 mended by Mr. Aikin. 



Mr. Abbott, of St. Joseph, Mo., in refer- 

 ring to Mr. Aikin's statement that an ex- 

 pensive apparatus would be needed to bot- 

 tle honey, said that an ordinary cook-stove, 

 and the essentials found around any house, 

 would be sufficient to put one in good trim 

 for bottling honey. He did not approve of 

 Aikin's "bologna-sausage package." This 

 designation raised quite a laugh. There 

 wassuch a thing as having things too cheap, 

 and he pictured out the man who would put 

 a package of bologna honey in his pocket, 

 and how that person might get up against 

 a coil of steam-pipe, with the result that 

 the honey would liquefy and run all through 

 his clothes. 



Mr. Large had tried the bologna-sausage 

 package, and he had never yet had any com- 

 plaint that it melted down in one's pocket 

 or that it broke. In general he substantiat- 

 ed Bro. Aikin's statements. 



The cross-fire got so warm that finally 

 Mr. Aikin was drawn in again. He stated 

 that he did not claim in his paper that can- 

 -died honey could be retailed in all locali- 

 ties. He was only trying to call attention 

 to his method of putting up candied honey 

 suitable for the pocket of the poor man. 

 Referring to Mr. Abbott, he stated it must 

 be pretty hot in St. Joseph for candied hon- 

 ey to melt down in one's pocket. He was 

 sorry for Mr. Abbott, and invited him to 

 come and live in a cooler and better coun- 

 try. As to the bologna-sausage package 

 leaking, he wished to remind the Irishmen 

 that honey in bottles had a disagreeable 

 way of pushing out through the corks, run- 

 ning over the sides, and soiling the coun- 

 ters. Then he pictured how a customer of 

 York's might put a bottle of his fancy hon- 

 ey in his coat-tail pocket; how that custom- 

 er might turn on his heel suddenly, swing 

 that coat-tail against a solid object, smash 

 the bottle, and then — oh my! 



He wished to emphasize the fact that he 

 was catering to the poor people — those who 

 would buy a little sugar, then put water in 

 it to make a syrup, in preference to buying 

 honey in glass that would be out of their 

 reach. He desired to remind the gentlemen 

 on the other side that the world is full of 

 just such people who are trying to make 

 their money go as far as possible. They 

 would figure out that granulated sugar and 

 water were far cheaper than York's honey; 

 but a bag of his candied honey — and can- 

 died honey was always good and pure — 

 would compete with granulated sufrar. 

 Lots of his customers would eat it in the 

 candied form; yes, they would "shovel" it 

 in, and he had no objections to their doing 

 it, so long as they bought more, and that 

 was what he wanted. The workingman 

 will have sweets; and if we bee-keepers 

 could put honey in such a form that it would 

 compete with sugar and water, or some of 

 those nasty stuff's they called molasses, we 

 could have a trade that would be worth ca- 

 tering to. 



