104 



THE BEE-KEEPERS HEVIEiy . 



to 5 cents per pound. Add to this the 

 freights, and the getting of the crop market- 

 ed is as expensive as raising it. Then after 

 we have done all this, and the honey is 

 marketed in nice shape, it candies before the 

 consumer gets it. Some of our honey can- 

 dies so quickly that, if it were transported 

 long distances, it would be solid before it got 

 there. So you see at every turn there is 

 something in the way. With these difficul- 

 ties in the way we must be content to let it 

 remain as it is — extracted always at a dis- 

 advantage, and comb only a luxury — or find 

 some better method of marketing. 



We must lessen the cost of retail -packages; 

 ship so that we get low freights and commis- 

 sions, and put the goods up so that the con- 

 sumer gets it in the original package. What 

 this package shall be 1 do not know ; but cer- 

 tainly if we could put it into cheap tins, and 

 seal, say, in something like the square oyster 

 can — a package that is so cheap as to be 

 thrown away, as are those of all fruits and 

 other canned goods — then with each can 

 printed instructions to the consumer, that 

 each one who uses it will liquefy for himself, 

 we could then afford to raise extracted hon- 

 ey ; and not only that, but find it successfully 

 competing with other sweets, and holding its 

 place. I could put up a large tank, and heat- 

 ing appliances, to hold a big crop ; then if T 

 got the crop I could buy the cans, and pack 

 for market. The purchase of cans need be 

 only what is needed. It would then make no 

 odds if the honey did candy ; for it would 

 remain so until the consumer got hold of it. 

 It would not bring quite so hieh a price in 

 the retail market ; but the intermediate ex- 

 pense would be much less, and so benefit 

 both producer and consumer. 



I do not think that we shall altogether do 

 away with glass ; but the main crop must be 

 in a very cheap package, and go to the con- 

 sumer candied, the elassand fancy packages 

 being left for the fancy trade. If this can 

 not be done, then the trade in extracted hon- 

 ey must always be an uncertain thing until 

 it can be produced at a price less bv consid- 

 eraiile than the price of sugar. I say less 

 than sugar, because of these difiiculties in 

 the marketing of it. It would be quite dif- 

 ferent if we could keep and handle the honey 

 as easily as we do sugars. With a simple 

 cheap package, and the goods sold to the 

 consumer in the original package, it will be- 

 come more and more a staple and more and 

 more a common article of diet. 



Loveland, Colo., Feb. 26. 



To the foregoing there is appended the 

 following foot note : 



[This is one of the best and one of the 

 most comprehensive articles on this subject 

 that we have ever received, and I commend 

 its careful reading to every producer. Bar- 

 rels, whatever may be their advantage in the 

 Middle and Eastern States, are not suitable 

 for a large part of the West, where the cli- 

 mate is dry, like that of Colorado and Cal- 

 ifornia. Tin or glass packages, or some- 

 thing that will not shrink, must be used ; 

 and, besides, as friend A. well says, they are 

 more suitable for liquefying. We have tried 



spading the honey out of barrels ; and we 

 can't afford to buy in barrels, spade out, and 

 liquefy, and run into smaller cans, and make 

 any money out of it. But instead of spad- 

 ing we find it cheaper to set the barrel in a 

 large tub of hot water, and keep the water 

 hot with a steam pipe. But few have the 

 steam, and so the spade process is the one 

 usually employed. But honey in square cans 

 can be liquefied easily by any one. We set 

 ours in a coil of steam pipe. 



We must, as producers, have our packages 

 suitable for the honey market, and, so far as 

 possible, for the consumer. If it is true, 

 that honey in barrels must be spaded out by 

 the average commission house, aud if he can't 

 do it. except at a loss, sooner or later he is 

 going to make the proihicer pay for it in a 

 reduced price. As square cans are so near 

 the cost of barrels, per pound, it will be seen 

 thit they have a big advantage, not only in 

 this one matter of candying, but in the fact 

 that the bulk of honey can so easily be di- 

 vided upon the multiple of GO lbs. — Ed.] " 



There is one other package that it seems 

 ought to be considered, and that is a paper 

 pail. As a package for retailing butter, 

 nothing now equals a paper box. There are 

 also paper pails for ice cream, and I also 

 understand that there have been some prom- 

 ising experiments in putting up honey in 

 paper pails. The paper is soaked in paraf- 

 fine, I believe, and a bit of it put upon the 

 rim of the cover where it fits around the top 

 of the pail, thus making a water tight pack- 

 age. The honey could be put in these pails 

 when in the liquid state, and, when it had 

 candied, the packages may be lioxed ft)r ship- 

 ment, and sent anywhere with safety. On 

 each package should be instructions for 

 liquifying the honey. I do not suppose that 

 it could be liquified in the paper pail, as the 

 heat would dissolve the paraffine. I should 

 be glad to hear from those, if any there are, 

 who have tried this style of package. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



(^LICES of green cheese from the moon at 

 jij) eight dollars per slice— is about the look 

 of what the American Bee Journid adver- 

 tises on page 128 and 1(!9. The editor's dep- 

 recatory note does not seem to me to be 

 sufficient. A man should not be allowed to 

 advertise entirely impossible things, even if 

 a little hint of warning is given. First to 

 make him show he's got the lunar cheese, 

 should be the inexorable role. It is the un- 

 derstanding that no colony of Apis dorsata 



