1246 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



offer a certain price for extracted honey, that price 

 being based upon the kind of package which is 

 always included at the figure. It is customary to 

 pay half a cent more for honey in 60-lb squat^e 

 cans, two cans to a case, than for honey in bar- 

 rels, although some dealers say that they would 

 prefer to pay a cent more than have barrels. In 

 basing the price it is understood in each case the 

 cans are to be new, and the barrels new, or as good 

 as new. Honey in second-handsquare cans is likely 

 to be shaded somewhat in price. Such cans 

 are often not worth much. After they have been 

 emptied they are usually banged around, are 

 likely to leak, or are more or less soiled or rusty; 

 and, what is more, they must be thoroughly 

 cleaned. Many producers believe that it is " pen- 

 ny wise and pound foolish" to buy up second- 

 hand square cans, even if they can be had as low 

 as 30 cents a case, which means, of course, cans 

 at 15 cents each, case thrown in. The cost of 

 cleaning, inspecting, etc., runs the price up. 

 Then there is the increased hazard of honey leak- 

 ing from them. They never look as nice as 

 brand-new cans, and the dealer may knock 

 off a quarter or half a cent per pound on honey 

 on arrival. 



But what has all this to do with your question.? 

 If what we said is true it shows there is a limit- 

 ed demand for second-hand square cans. When 

 they are offered, the very best of them, at 30 

 cents, when brand-new ones can be had for 80 

 cents, or much less in quantities, it is folly to 

 buy cans at 30 cents per case, pay freight on them, 

 wash and clean them, inspect them to see if there 

 are any leaks, sandpaper the rust off the can, and 

 then, on top of all, take the chance of leakage 

 and of the dealer knocking off a quarter of a cent 

 from the price of the honey. With these facts 

 before us you can readily see that a good many 

 don't want them. If that be true, no com- 

 mission man nor honey-buyer can afford to make 

 any offer on the cans after they are emptied. In 

 the case of the commission man and the average 

 honey-buyer, the honey is resold and reshipped 

 in the same package before it actually reaches 

 the retailer or bottler; therefore it means this: It 

 is only the latter who have any second-hand 

 square cans as a rule, although the commission 

 men are bound to have a few on their hands; but 

 after these empties have been banged around in 

 the warehouse until a sufficient number have ac- 

 cumulated to warrant offering them for sale, the 

 great bulk of them will be a poor lot indeed, 

 and we have heard commission men say that, as 

 city rents are now, it does not pay to store them. 



But now suppose Mr. Honeybuyer does store 

 them, and he offers them at 30 cents a case. Aft- 

 er he has shipped them he is quite likely to have 

 complaints on the ground that they were -rvorse 

 than second-hand — good for nothing. The whole 

 point hinges right here: If the buyer or commis- 

 sion men could absolutely kno^v that the cans 

 would come in good order, and if he could know 

 that he could sell them again without storing, he 

 could afford to offer an allowance, say half a 

 cent a pound, on the price before the honey is 

 actually shipped; but when he buys of Tom, 

 Dick, and Harry, how is he going to know that 

 the cans will arrive in any such good condition? 

 As a matter of business and common honesty he 

 had better make no promises. 



So far we have not taken in the whole scope of 

 your letter. You complain that Mr. A. buys 

 your honey in square cans at a certain figure; 

 then he insists that the honey shall come in 

 square cans, as he will not have it in barrels. 

 Then he turns around and offers to sell these 

 cans for 25 cents each. This, by the way, is a 

 very high price, and we doubt if he could get it. 

 From a legal point of view Mr. A. has a right to 

 sell these cans for whatever price he pleases. But 

 is there any dealer at the present time who is 

 offering to sell second-hand square cans at 50 

 cents per case, box thrown in? If there are any 

 such, we have not seen it. But we know of their 

 offering them at 30 cents per case, and this price 

 is very low. We question whether, at this price, 

 it would pay to store them. 



Now having presented the arguments against 

 the use of second-hand cans, let us see what may 

 be said on the other side of the question. It is 

 undeniable that a large amount of western honey 

 is to-day sent in cans that have been used before. 

 It is also true that a good part of such honey 

 goes through in good order; but the facts are, 

 the cans holding such honey, though second- 

 hand, are practically as good as new; because in 

 their first use they have not been sent a long dis- 

 tance. Or the cans may have been used for 

 storage, and after a year of such usage would 

 hardly pass for new. These would be just as 

 strong, and practically as good as new for ship- 

 ment. But after the cans reach the middlemen 

 of the East they are usually dear at any price. 



But why not use barrels? They cost less than 

 half the price of square cans. Many and many 

 have been the troubles from barrels leaking, and 

 from honey having an unpleasant odor imparted 

 to it, especially those in which alcohol or whisky 

 has been used. We know of cases where honey 

 shipped in a whisky-barrel took on very strong- 

 ly the flavor of whisky. We have also known 

 of the alcoholic flavor being imparted in like 

 manner from alcohol-barrels. But that is not 

 all. Not a small percentage of the honey soaks 

 into the wood, and is lost. But some one may 

 say that if the barrels are paraffined or waxed in- 

 side there will be no bad flavor imparted and no 

 absorption of the honey by the wood. Y-e-s, 

 and no. Some whiskv-barrels will transmit the 

 odor through the paraffine. 



But another objection to barrels is the fact that 

 the dealer can not reship from them in small 

 quantities. A fiftv-gallon barrel of honey weighs 

 approximately 600 lbs. or 550 lbs. without the 

 barrel. It would take a little more than four 

 cases of honey put in square cans to equal the 

 same amount. But the consumer or the grocer 

 will order only a small quantity at a time. If 

 the honey be in barrels the dealer must draw off 

 in some small package. If the honey is in square 

 cans he can break up the shipment without mess- 

 ing, and in the end he has saved time and money. 

 He pays the producer half a cent more per pound 

 for the honey because it is in tins, and he can 

 now parcel out the entire shipment in small lots 

 without any messing or waste of time. 



Now, it may appear from all this that we are 

 working for the commission man and buyer in 

 general. We are only stating the facts as we 

 know them. As it is an important subject, we 

 invite discussion from both producer and dealer. 



