1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



207 



been practically a thing of the past for sev- 

 eral years; but biilk-comb-honev production 

 has reached vast proportions. There has al- 

 ways been a great demand for this kind of 

 honey. In the first place, the customers 

 knew it was pure honey, and they had the 

 advantage of getting full weight for their 

 money; besides, the price was lower than 

 that of section honey. The disadvantages, 

 however, are the granulation of the contents 

 in the cans later in the season; and as it can 

 not be reliquefied without melting the combs 

 it can not be kept over the season or for bet- 

 ter prices, like extracted honey. 



HONEY-LABELS. 



Labels on all your honey packages will 

 pay. - They help to advertise. That's why 

 all kinds of canned goods and other packages 

 — yes, almost every thing nowadays — are la- 

 beled nicely, bearing the name of the con- 

 tents or the article itself with that of the pro- 

 ducer or manufacturer, and often other mat- 

 ter, such as directions for using, or calling 

 attention to its good qualities. Still, thou- 

 sands upon thousands of packages of honey 

 leave the producers without any label or 

 name on them. Try labels. They make the 

 cans or cases look neater, hence help to sell, 

 and do a lot of advertising, thus repaying for 

 the extra trouble in two ways. Tin pails and 

 cans, if not too large, can be covered entire- 

 ly with a label, while glass and large pack- 

 ages bear only a smaller label. On the labels 

 that 1 am using are given directions for re- 

 llquefying the honey in case of granulation; 

 and below this in bolder type, " We shall try 

 to keep both comb and extracted honey, also 

 beeswax, on hand the whole season, and 

 solicit your orders." This also has a place 

 on our letter-heads, and we have received 

 many inquiries for prices of our honey, re- 

 sulting in sales later. For putting the labels 

 on, common wheat floui", mixed with cold 

 water, was more satisfactory than any other 

 pastes that I have tried, besides being the 

 cheapest and most readily made. Labels of 

 this kind are very much like an "ad." in a 

 paper. "It may be bought by one customer, 

 but will be read by a dozen others. ' ' 



CUTTING OUT THE MIDDLE-MAN. 



There is less use for the "middle-man" as 

 a business is built up for dealing direct from 

 the producer to the consumer. This has been 

 my object for many years, and it has profit- 

 ed me to deal in this way. The producer 

 should strive to cultivate a confidence be- 

 tween himself and the consumer. Then the 

 customers know that they can depend on 

 getting "a square deal," and they are will- 

 ing to pay a good price for it. Thus the 

 profits are much larger — both the profits 

 from the middle-man to the producer, the 

 profits which would have gone from the con- 

 sumer to the middle-man, and generally, al- 

 so, a little more than this, that the consum- 

 er has been willing to pay the producer, all 

 going into the bee-keeper's pockets. 



Instead of selling my crop to one or more 



large dealers I have preferred to sell to a 

 greater number of people in smaller quanti- 

 ties. As stated before, the extra pi'ofits pay 

 me well for this; and, besides, it gives me a 

 wider range of cust .)mers. I become more 

 directly acquainted with them, and from 

 these to others, so that the chances for dis- 

 posing of my annual crop at good prices in- 

 crease from year to year. If my crop is 

 dumped into the hands of a dealer, a lower 

 price is obtained for it, and that is the last 

 of it. Where it goes and what is done with 

 it after that I never know. On the other 

 hand, I do know, and price lists can be mail- 

 ed when the new crop is ready. Generally 

 such customers buy year after year, and I 

 avoid the danger of finding the middle-man 

 already stocked with honey from somebody 

 else. 



EXHIBITING GRANULATED HONEY. 



One of the most important features in our 

 apiarian exhibits the past season has been 

 the education of the public in regard to the 

 granulation of honey. The exhibits contain- 

 ed large quantities of honey in the granulat- 

 ed state, and right beside it was the extract- 

 ed honey in the liquid form. The contrast 

 caught the eyes of the visitors, and no ques- 

 tion was oftener asked than " Please can you 

 tell us why that honey looks so white?" My 

 answer was always a frank one — "Why, we 

 have this here just on purpose to ha-ro you 

 all ask such questions." Then, taWSg a 

 small jar of each, one of the granulated and 

 one liquid extra, kept handy for the purpose, 

 I would proceed to explain. "You see, this 

 is nice and liquid, just as it came from the 

 hive. Now, that white honey here is exactly 

 the same thing that this liquid honey is. Cool 

 weather has caused it to turn hard — it has 

 granulated. Nearly all pure honey does this 

 as soon as cold weather comes, and it is, in- 

 deed, one of the best proofs of its purity. If 

 you want to be sure that you are buying pure 

 honey, buy it in this granulated state. Many 

 people prefer it in this way; but those who 

 do not can easily reliquefy it by simply set- 

 ting the vessel containing the honey on some 

 small pieces of wood in another vessel with 

 water, and heating it until all the honey has 

 melted. It must not get too hot, however, as 

 that spoils its flavor. Hence you see again 

 that this liquid honey in this jar is the same 

 as that white or granulated honey; for we 

 have done exactly what I have told you — re- 

 liquefied granulated honey so we could ex- 

 hibit it in the liquid state, because all of our 

 honey has been granulated for over a month. 

 So you see it is a mistake to suppose that 

 honey is not pure because it has granulated; 

 and then it is very easy to restore it to its 

 liquid state again." 



This was harped over again and again, 

 each time bringing out a similar response— 

 "Why, we never did know that, and we are 

 so glad you told us. We'll know next time 

 what to do with it when some granulates 

 again. We certainly appreciate your explan- 

 ation, and thank you many times for the in- 

 formation." 



