452 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



a earryiug capacity of 500 lbs., or 50 ten- 

 pound pails. Fifty-one ten-pound pails are 

 also shown ready to load in. The same 

 body can be put on a sleigh for use in win- 

 ter. I also have another wagon having a 

 carrying capacity of 75 ten-pound pails. 

 Both rigs proved comfortable to ride in, and 

 a great help in selling honey. 

 Rapid City, Mich. 



WHY THE DARK COMB HONEY SOLD SLOWLY 



BY N. P., JOHNSTON 



Without being able to give the dates 

 when they were published, the writer recalls 

 several short articles emanating from the 

 editor, somewhat in the nature of remon- 

 strances against the tendency of apiarists to 

 produce and to offer for sale an excessive 

 quantity of extracted honey at the expense 

 of the quantity of comb honey produced. I 

 would make a few remarks on that position 

 of the editor, subject to such reply or criti- 

 cism as may seem proper. 



I wish to state in the first place that, al- 

 though this will be the eighth season of my 

 experience as a beekeeper, I still feel my- 

 self a novice at the business, as I see so 

 much about it which I must learn before I 

 can consider myself or would be considered 

 by others as an expert. During all this time 

 I have confined my operations to the pro- 

 duction of comb honey. Although I have 

 had an extractor during the past two years, 

 I used it to a very limited extent last year. 



My advance in a knowledge of the busi- 

 ness has been slow, and my production con- 

 sequently small. For several years after 

 starting I was able to dispose of my honey 

 without much trouble; but last year my in- 

 crease had attained a total of twenty-four 

 colonies, two of which produced nothing; 

 and thi-ee others, being utilized in carrying 

 out Doolittle's method for swarm preven- 

 tion, left me nineteen only as honey-produc- 

 ers, from which I obtained about 2000 well- 

 filled sections, a large proportion of which 

 was, as it appeared to me, as pretty honey 

 as could be made in this region, though I 

 have never seen (what I read so much of in 

 Gleanings) any of the handsome honey 

 made in the North, so I can make no com- 

 parison between it and the product of the 

 bees in the South, samples of which I sent 

 at Christmas, in twelve-section shipping 

 cases, to friends in North Carolina, Vir- 

 ginia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, all of 

 whom, whether to flatter me or not I can 

 not tell, pronounced it " delicious." This, 



after making some small sales on the home 

 market, left me with sometliing over 1700 

 sections unsold, which I shipped on con- 

 signment to a large produce house in one 

 of the largest cities in the country. I was 

 advised that it all arrived in good order, no 

 complaint being made on any score (though 

 1 especially invited criticism for my own 

 information), except to say that, owing to 

 color, it was not so acceptable to the trade 

 as was the white honey from California; 

 but knowing that every thing offered in the 

 market, in other lines than honey, is not al- 

 ways, and all the time, " first class, A No. 

 1," I supposed that a market would be 

 found for this shipment, though not expect- 

 ing such prices for it as could be obtained 

 for the more popular kinds. 



But in this I have been much disappoint- 

 ed, being advised within the last few days 

 tliat still one-fourth of the shipment re- 

 mains unsold. This unsold portion is doubt- 

 less the darkest, which you say the people 

 up your way will not buy, notwithstanding 

 the positive claims of your Texas corres- 

 pondent of last year for its superiority. 

 We can not control the operations of the 

 bees in this resjject, and must take what 

 they give us. 



In contrast with this I shipped a small 

 quantity of the same honey, which had been 

 extracted, to a dealer in another direction, 

 and received returns for it within a few 

 days after its arrival at destination ; and 

 the problem which confronts me is how 

 I shall shape my operations for the coming 

 season. I have a full outfit for comb-honey 

 production, and also an extractor. I now 

 have 31 strong colonies. So far as I am 

 concerned, beekeeping is only a side line as 

 a means of occupation during a protracted 

 period of idleness in my regular business. 

 I secure more entertainment and occupation 

 in handling the apiary for comb honey than 

 for extracted ; and I like that branch of the 

 business best ; but if I can not sell the pi'od- 

 uct, how can I make the business even self- 

 sustaining, to say notliing of its being 

 profitable? 



Greenville, Miss., March 25. 



[We may be wrong; but we should say 

 that a local market should be built up to 

 take care of the darker grades of comb hon- 

 ey. " Snowy-white " sections usually sell 

 the quickest, and on this account dark comb 

 honey should not have to compete with the 

 white. There are many localities where the 

 darker honey is better known (and better 

 liked), and as a rule it is best to seek such 

 a market rather than one where the demand 

 is largely for the white. — Ed.] 



