Sept. 13, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



able to agree on grading honey. Honey is a 

 good deal like babies. Every mother nat- 

 urally thinks her own is the "bestest." Nearly 

 every bee-keeper has a different idea of what 

 is " best honey.'' Also, in some local mar- 

 kets what we would consider a poorer grade 

 would sell just as well as better ones. In the 

 large city market, however, the fancy gro- 

 ceries always want something very nice, as 

 they have a line of customers who do not 

 care very much what the price is so long as 

 they get what is satisfactory to them. 



It never pays to be careless in grading any- 

 thing for the market. Only the best should 

 be shipped if a good price is expected. The 

 lower grades can usually be better disposed 

 of in local markets. For if some of the sec- 

 tions are not very well filled, or not well 

 sealed, the flavor and quality of such honey 

 may be exactly equal to that which is better 

 filled aud all sealed. 



Iu the last analysis everything that is sold 

 in the open market must stand on its own 

 merits. There is nothing else by which to 

 judge. If the goods do not make a good ap- 

 pearance they will not sell well. If they 

 do make a good appearance, and the quality 

 is not right, it is likely to result in less future 

 sales. Pe.-baps honey-sales suffer more than 

 does anything else from lack of good appear- 

 ance and good quality. If honey is purchased 



once and it does not satisfy, such purchaser i - 

 not likely to indulge again very soon. It is 

 hard enough to develop a demand for any- 

 thing, and so, after a good demand is secured, 

 it is very annoying to have it injured or less- 

 ened by other producers or dealers offering 

 inferior goods. 



There should be no " tricks of the trade " 

 when it comes to putting up honey for the 

 market. It never pays to practise any decep- 

 tion in food products. Everybody wants his 

 money's worth when he buys anything to eat. 

 And we think that nearly everybody is will- 

 ing to pay a fair price if he can be assured 

 that he is going to get a satisfactory article 

 in return. 



Drone-Combs in Extracting Super 



Praktischer Wegweiser questions the ad- 

 visability of the plan recommended in some 

 foreign journals to prevent the queen from 

 going up into the extracting super. It is to 

 have all drone-comb above, with the idea 

 that no pollen will be put in drone-comb, and 

 that the queen will not lay where there is no 

 pollen. However it may be with queens 

 that lay in the German language, on this side 

 the big pond there would probably be no 

 surer way to get a queen to go above than to 

 have all drone-comb there and none below. 



Iscellaneous 

 fie cos -Items 



Mrs. B. J. Livingston, of Fairmont, 

 Minn., who was once a contributor to the col- 

 umns of the American Bee Journal, is still 

 blind and in ill health much of the time. She 

 has contributed an article lately on " Bees " 

 to an agricultural paper called The Farmer's 

 Wife. Although blind. Mrs. Livingston is 

 able to write with her own hand so that it is 

 quite decipherable. Her many friends will be 

 glad to know that she is still interested in 

 bees, and is doing what she can to advance 

 the pursuit. 



Advertising Honey.— This i6 the best 

 time of the year to advertise honey, if you 

 have any for sale. A great many dealers in 

 honey read the American Bee Journal, and of 

 course those bee-keepers, also, who have not 

 produced enough this year to supply their 

 local demand will be glad to know where 

 they can get some to help them out. 



If you have more honey than you can dis- 

 pose of in your local market, it would seem 

 that there should be no difficulty in selling it 

 to some fellow bee-keeper in some part of the 

 country. It is well to tell in your advertise- 

 ment the kind of honey, how put up, and also 

 the price desired f. o. b. your railroad station. 



Owing to the rather 6hort honey crop this 

 year, we believe the demand is going to be 



better than it has been for some time anon 

 dealers in honey. There certainly is no need 

 of selling honey at a sacrifice price this year. 

 Just let your fellow bee-keepers know if you 

 have a surplus to dispose of, and we are sure 

 they will be glad to help you out. 



Already there are a number of advertise- 

 ments in the American Bee Journal offering 

 to buy honey. We believe every one of them 

 is responsible, or we would not publish it. 

 Some years ago we shipped extracted honey 

 to almost every part of the United States. 

 We handled only the very best grades, and it 

 gave satisfaction. Occasionally there was a 

 customer who would use many thousands of 

 pounds, as he had a local demand that re- 

 quired a large amount. 



It is a great advantage to many bee-keepers 

 to know just where they can get honey to 

 furnish their customers. For instance, a bee- 

 keeper in Iowa may not have enough to sup- 

 ply his local demand. It may be that 

 another bee-keeper only 10 or 20 miles away 

 has a great deal more honey than he can use 

 at home. So if he offers it through an adver- 

 tisement the bee-keeper who is short finds 

 that he cin get enough honey within perhaps 

 driving distance, to supply his market. If it 

 were not for the advertisement he would not 

 know anything about it. It will be seen that 



such honey advertising may thus become a 

 very important matter even among bee-keep- 

 ers themselves. We hope that those who 

 have a surplus to dispose of will consider 

 this, and begin to advertise at once, so that 

 others who have not enough honey for their 

 local demand will be able to get it somewhere 

 else, and thus be able to keep their trade 

 supplied. 



Apiarian Photographs— if suitable for 

 engraving — are always welcomed at this 

 office. No doubt pictures of many apiaries 

 have been taken this season. We will be glad 

 to have such submitted for use in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal from time to time. After 

 their arrival at this office, if we can use them, 

 we will report at once, and request some de- 

 scriptive matter to appear with them. Please 

 let us see what you have in the photograph 

 line that might be appropriate for a bee- 

 paper. 



31r. Louis H. Scholl, of New Braunfels. 

 Tex., who, for sometime, has been conduct- 

 ing the " Southern Beedom'' department in 

 the American Bee Journal, we learn is very 

 sick, having been confined to his bed for 

 nearly 2-months. He has been suffering in- 

 tensely from an internal abscess just above 

 the heart. Several operations have been 

 necessary. He is in a hospital in San Antonio 

 at present, his bride of but 3 months being 

 with him. Mr. Scholl's many friends will re- 

 gret to learn of his severe illness, and wish 

 for him speedy and complete recovery. 



Honey in England.— The following in- 

 teresting paragraphs are taken from the Agri- 

 cultural Gazette, of New South Wales, Aus- 

 tralia: 



The Acting Agent General for New South 

 Wales, in London, reports that the principal 

 sources of supply for imported honey into the 

 British market are Jamaica. California and 

 Chili. The average importations annually 

 amount to about 1000 tons, of which about 

 530 tons come from Chili, and the rest in 

 small lots from various sources. A few years 

 back Chili contributed a very much greater 

 proportion of the trade; and in 1901, which 

 was marked by the greatest importation of 

 honey for many years, Chili supplied 5S6 tons 

 of the total of 1535 tons, Jamaica being next 

 with 450 tons. London is the principal dis- 

 tributing center for Great Britain, the bulk of 

 imports being consumed at home, though 

 shipments are also made to all parts of the 

 Continent. The chief characteristics neces- 

 sary to render honey suitable for the British 

 market are flavor, color, and clearness; flavor 

 being the most important. The best honey 

 should be sweet and clean in flavor, and 

 " pale set clear " in appearance. 



Amber honey is the next in grade, and 

 brown honey is regarded as inferior. Honey 

 is used in England both for manufacturing 

 purposes and as a table delicacy. California 

 is the chief source of supply (outside Great 

 Britain itself) for table honey, and it comes 

 packed in cases, which are considered more 

 suitable for this class of trade. Jamaica 

 honey is chiefly used for manufacturing pur- 

 poses, and for this branch the most suitable 

 packages are kegs and barrels containing 2 to 

 3 hundredweight each. A certain proportion 

 of Jamaica honey also comes packed in cases 

 for table use. Australian is used, generally 

 speaking, only for certain manufacturing pur- 

 poses, on account of the peculiarity of flavor. 



The present prices of honey (Jan. 1, 1906) 

 are: Finest, 20s. to 25s. ($4.85 to $6.00) per 

 cwt. ; ordinary, 14s. to 18s. The higher range 

 of prices would be for the finest table honey, 



