THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



103 



liquefy in other vessels, then returned to the 

 barrels to ship, I certainly should have deci- 

 ded never ayain to produce extracted honey. 

 Bat should 1 put it into cans to ship, then I 

 must have two sets of vessels — an additional 

 expense. If I had a trade that would take 

 honey in such large packages, and take it at 

 the same price as in cans, and provided I 

 did not have to ship empty barrels a long 

 distance so that the freight would be more 

 than the tirst cost of barrels, and if I did not 

 have to liquefy before shipping, I could use 

 barrels. If the barrel could be kept from 

 year to year, and the crop sold at retail, it 

 might be a cheaper package in the end, for 

 it will last for years ; but if I have to spade 

 out the honey and put it into other vessels, I 

 should build a wooden, tin-lined tank that 

 would hold my entire crop, and do it at much 

 less cost than the cost of barrels to hold the 

 same : or, what would be better, a metal 

 tank with a heating appliance, and liquefy 

 the honey in the tank. 



Just recently I had quotations from Fish 

 & Co., of Chicago, and they quote one-half 

 cent less if candied. Now if, to get the best 

 price for honey, it is necessary to liquefy, 

 the barrel is not the package. Mr. France 

 says his barrels cost Sl-.W for 370 lbs., which 

 is a little less than 1.2 cent per pound. Our 

 cans cost us % of a cent per pound. The 

 freight will be some lower on the barrels. I 

 have forgotten just the difference, but it is 

 not much ; but if the honey is to be liquefied 

 to get the best price, the liquefying is much 

 easier done in the cans. It is not necessary 

 to take the screw-cap off when melting. The 

 honey will swell some : but the degree of 

 heat necessary — and above which it ought 

 not to go — will not swell the can sufficiently 

 to burst or to kink it. I have a tank that 

 holds six cans, and covers the top of an old 

 range that I purchased and fixed up for the 

 purpose, and I usually leave the six cans in 

 this and covered with water, from 24 to 4S 

 hours. If the heat be regular, and as high 

 as is safe, 24 hours will do ; but with a slow 

 tire, and the temperature often low, 48 hours 

 is necessary. I have kept the caps screwed 

 tight, and they did not burst a single can in 

 melting'several tons the past winter. 



Now, while I should much prefer the can, 

 and think it the cheaper in the end, I have a 

 criticism to ofifer on it. A fiO-pound can is 

 too large. Two cans in a box make a pack- 

 age that is just too heavy and awkward for 

 one man to handle. We can have them box- 

 ed singly at a little additional cost, it is true ; 

 but this is not the only objection. Many 

 people will order by the 25, .'JO, or 100 pound 

 lots. It is so natural and easy to order in 2.'> 

 and 50 pound lots, or multiplies thereof, that 

 it is often done ; and then we must ship more 

 or less, or else correspond and explain. 

 Two 'jO-pound cans in one box are abun- 

 dantly heavy, and T think there is no valid 

 reason why they can not be had in these 

 sizes. 



' There are still other difficulties in the han- 

 dling of extracted honey. If it would stay 

 liquid we could afford to ship in large pack- 

 ages, and take somewhat lower prices : but 

 when we get at best only three or four cents 



above freights and packages, then have to 

 cut half a cent or more because it is candied, 

 it is hard on profits. I doubt whether one 

 commission or wholesale house in ten is 

 fixed for liquefying. If the wholesaler can 

 not melt it, then it goes to the retailer can- 

 died. Is there one out of twenty-five re- 

 tailers who knows how and is prepared to 

 liquefy ? I believe that, in the whole city of 

 Denver, there is but one firm — and that not 

 on a business street — that is in any manner 

 prepared to liquefy. The Denver commis- 

 sion men tell me they can not sell honey well 

 in 60-pound cans. If a CO-pound package is 

 too large, the 4U0 or TAW pound barrel would 

 be still worse. 



Now, if extracted honey sells in the gener- 

 al markets, and holds its place with other 

 sweets, it must be put in shape to handle 

 cheaply and easily. If I were a wholesale 

 dealer in the city, I would demand that the 

 goods be put in packages that I could handle 

 as other goods are handled, or I would pay 

 only such prices as would give me a margin 

 over the cost of such packages and getting it 

 into them. What the commission man wants 

 and what he must have if the product ever 

 obtains and holds its proper place in com- 

 merce, is the goods put in such shape that it 

 will reach the consumer in original pack- 

 ages. Until this is done we shall continue 

 to do as we are doing — sell to consumers 

 direct. 



The producer of grains, grasses, and veg- 

 etables, and all manufactured goods, can sell 

 his products at any and all times. There are 

 regular dealers, and the necessary appli- 

 ances for handling all these things. If the 

 individual farmer had to advertise his pro- 

 ducts, and sell and ship to those who may 

 want and need his product in other parts of 

 the country, as many bee-keepers now sell 

 their product, how much would he get out of 

 his stuff ? The city dealer does not go to the 

 farmer for his products, but goes to the 

 commission and wholesale houses. When 

 he finds what he wants, it is in such shape 

 that he can buy as much or as little as he 

 wishes. 



I suppose that C. F. Muth is thoroughly 

 equipped for handling honey and puttingjt 

 in retail packages. He. no doubt, can use 

 large quantities of honey in large cheap 

 packages ; but the general produce dealer 

 can not do this, and must sell in original 

 packages. I have the past winter, as previ- 

 ously stated, sold several tons of extracted 

 honey. I could not sell it to commission 

 houses nor to retail dealers. Why ? Just 

 ask your grocer to sell in your own market, 

 in cans and barrels, and you will know why. 

 The wholesale houses must have the honey 

 in the very cheapest large package, and 

 then put it mto his own retail package, or the 

 producer must put it into retail shape and 

 all properly packed in regular packages be- 

 fore it leaves the honey house. 



Here again comes that snag of candying, 

 and also the fact that we must have an ex- 

 pensive sealing package. If the package be 

 glass, we have increased freights. Retail 

 packages that do not seal cost from l}-^ to 3 

 cents per pound ; and those that seal, from 3 



