March 23, 190S. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



229 



business for many years, he looks after the mechanical part of the 

 work, and personally superintends it. Being a thorough bee-man and 

 also a practical mechanic, he understands the business from beginning 

 to end. 



Mr. Hare personally superintends the shipping and receiving, hay- 

 ing had considerable experience in a mercantile way. He has been in 

 the general store business for a number of years, and is a very valuable 

 man in his department. 



Mr. Burke, who has been a book-keeper for years, looks after the 

 office-work, and is constantly busy keeping in touch with many tjee- 

 keepers throughout the country. 



The foregoing trio in charge of the different departments, and 

 working together, should soon place theMondeng Mfg. Co. in the fore- 

 front of the manufacturers of bee-keepers' supplies. 



We had the pleasure of visiting this Company when attending the 

 Minnesota State convention last December, and were very favorably 

 impressed with the members composing the firm. They were evidently 

 preparing to get their share of the bee-supply business, and certainly 

 should be in a position, so far as ability and equipment is concerned, 

 to handle satisfactorily all that comes their way. We wish them 

 success. 



The Apiary of Walter Hoss. of Marion Co., Ind., is shown 

 on the first page. The picture represents only a part of his apiary. 

 There are 45 colonies in the yard, which is located on the rear lawn of 

 his beautiful home. The hives are kept nicely painted, the combs are 

 all straight as a board, and every colony is bred up to highest standard 

 of Italian purity. 



Mr. Hoss produces both comb and extracted honey, and has a local 

 demand for every pound— in fact, he does not have enough to go 

 around. He is engaged in other business, but his bees are never neg- 

 lected. In his work he is assisted by his good wife. His facilities for 

 queen-rearing, with the present encouraging demand, indicate that 

 he will some of these days devote his entire time to that line of api- 

 arian work. 



^ (Eontrtbutcb ^- 

 Special drttdes 



Comparative Cost of Honey, and Light- 

 Weight Sections, Causes of Small 

 Demand. 



BY L. V. RICKETTS. 



THE question of increasing- the demand for honey and 

 its consumption is one that is frequently brought up 



for discussion at bee-keepers' conventions and in the 

 American Bee Journal. Among- the latest being an edi- 

 torial on page 19, the Editor asks : 



" Why is not more honey used by the ordinary families 

 of to-day 7 What can be done by the bee-keepers to induce 

 them to use it more than they do 7" 



These are questions which deserve the most sincere 

 thought and careful consideration of all honey-producers. 

 What I shall say on them will apply principally to section 

 honey. 



From July 1, 1886, to April 2, 1896, I was engaged in the 

 retail grocery business ; and during those (nearly) 10 years 

 I had considerable experience in selling section honey, 

 which, together with some recent observations that I will 

 now gi-ve, lead me to believe that the principal reasons for 

 the ordinary families not using more honey are : Because 

 of the price being greater than for many other sweets 

 (which it should be); and particularly because of the 

 swindle that is being perpetrated on the consumer b> the 

 selling of light-weight section honey. Now as to my ob- 

 servations : 



While in the retail business it sometimes happened that 

 the case of honey would be placed on the counter within 

 reach of my customers, and they would frequently select a 

 section of honey that seemed to suit their fancy best— 3 nd 

 you may rest assured that the best-filled and heaviest sec- 

 tions would be the first to go ; these would generally iind 

 quite a ready sale, but the lighter weight and poorly-filled 



ones would move oflf very slowly, there being quite a differ- 

 ence between the weights of the heaviest and the lightest 

 in the same case. 



My recent observations are, that, during the last year, 

 I have at various times gone into the retail stores and 

 bought a section of honey and then weighed it, to find its 

 exact weight. This I found to vary from 12 ounces for the 

 lightest to 16 ounces for the heaviest, giving an average of 

 14^8 ounces each, for 12 sections purchased at as many dif- 

 ferent times and at different stores. The sections thus 

 bought were of different sizes, some were 4'4 x4Xxl J-s, some 

 4^^x4Xxl>ij, and others 4xSxi;/i inches. Among the 12 

 there was but one that weighed as light as 12 ounces ; this 

 was a 4'4x4^'4xl^ section ; and only one that weighed 16 

 ounces — this was a 4%x4}4xl}i section. All the square 

 sections were bee-way sections, and the 4x5 sections were 

 plain. All excepting the one weighing 16 ounces seemed to 

 have been used with separators while being filled. The re- 

 tail price is 20 cents per section the year around at the 

 stores here, and for all grades and weights. 



As before stated, I have come to the conclusion that it 

 is owing to the greater price asked for honey than for other 

 and inferior sweets, together with the selling of light- 

 weight section honey that keep the common people from 

 buying and using more honey, and not because they don't 

 understand the food value of it, or have not acquired a taste 

 for it. 



It is folly to say that there is more honey produced than 

 the people wish to consume. The great mass of customers 

 know that when they buy a section of honey they should 

 get a full pound of honey, yet they know full well that they 

 don't get that amount in the great majority of cases. 

 Therefore, they are dissatisfied with their purchase, no 

 matter what the price paid, so they frequently look for some 

 substitute for honey that is being sold cheaper, with better 

 weight or measure. 



The remedy for this is plain. The standard weight for 

 a section of honey is, or should be, one pound (16 ounces). 

 This, then, should mean a section of honey weighing fully 

 one pound (16 ounces), and not a pound section of honey 

 weighing anywhere from 12 ounces to 16 ounces. 



Why is it that so many bee-keepers produce light-weight 

 section honey 7 Is it not for the purpose of some one to 

 receive pay for something they never possessed 7 A 24- 

 section case of No. 1 honey should weigh fully 24 pounds 

 (exclusive of shipping-case, of course). To do this, the sec- 

 tions should weigh from IS ounces to 17 ounces ; and in 

 order to have them weigh this it will be necessary to have a 

 little larger section than is now in general use. (Of this I 

 will write in another article in the near future.) 



The object in writing this article is to advocate the use 

 of a little larger section, and to use methods that will give 

 us as nearly as possible a uniform section, weighing as 

 near 16 ounces as we can possibly get it. This would in- 

 crease the sale of section honey so as to pay us well for the 

 extra amount used to fill the larger sections. 



According to certain grading rules, a 24-section case of 

 No. 1 honey must average 21 pounds net. This is only 14 

 ounces per section. Is it any wonder that people are slow 

 to buy an article for daily use as a food when they are be- 

 ing swindled in weight to such an extent as this, amount- 

 ing as it does to 14 \/l percent of the whole amount ? 



Produce an honest pound of honey and then sell it at a 

 fair and remunerative price. This will do more to increase 

 the demand for honey than anything else that bee-keepers 

 can do. Whitman Co., Wash. 



Rapid Increase Through Afterswarms. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that he is anxious to in- 

 crease his bees as much as possible the coming season 

 by using the afterswarms for such increase, and fin- 

 ishes up his letter as follows : 



," Please tell us something on this matter of increase 

 through afterswarms in the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal, for I have no doubt that others are interested in 

 this matter as well as myself." 



Before answering the above I would say that, as a rule, 

 I do not think it pays to keep or build up afterswarms un- 

 less, perhaps, as in the case of the questioner, a more rapid 

 increase is wanted ; and that the one wishing such increase 

 is not familiar with increasing rapidly by artificial means ; 

 for the reason that with the af terswarm goes all prospect 

 for any surplus honey from the parent colony from which it 



