328 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 22, 1902. 



Southern California. That organization saved the citrus 

 industry. I now markets bO percent of the citrus fruits, and 

 with the present rate of growth it will soon handle nearly 

 or quite all. The great advantages arising from buying 

 supplies cheaper ; packing better, cheaper and more uni- 

 formly : distributing more wisely in the market ; develop- 

 ing more and better markets ; of keeping informed most 

 thoroughly as to the state of the markets, throughout the 

 entire country; and of keeping all the profits to the grower, 

 are simply stupendous. It is co-operation on a large scale, 

 and is blessed in performance. 



The bee-keepers desire to enter an exchange, but at the 

 same time wish to keep the right to sell their own honey if 

 they will so to do. Of course no such exchange could live. 

 It must know its supplies as to quantity, quality and where- 

 abouts, else it cannot command the market. In case any 

 bee-keeper learns of a good market at a high price the ex- 

 change will be glad to know of it, and give the bee-keepers 

 the advantage of it. But. of course, the organization must 

 handle the honey, and. unless this is permitted, the organi- 

 zation would be like a rope of sand. 



There are two things that stand in the way of the rapid 

 realization of such organizations. People are slow to trust 

 them, and quite as slow to pay salaries that will secure the 

 ablest management. A bee-keeper or fruit-grower who 

 works hard the entire year, and counts his income possibly 

 with three figures, finds it hard to see why the manager of 

 an exchange should receive a four-figured income, with the 

 fourth figure probably a large one. It is simply this : In 

 doing business, as does the Citrus Fruit Exchange, that 

 reaches up into the millions, a shrewd business sense will 

 often, in a single deal, save many times the salary of the 

 manager. He must be far-sighted, alert, cautious,' experi- 

 enced. The railroads, and all large, successful corporations, 

 are all-the time looking for such men ; once found, and they 

 •will have and keep them at any price. The exchange must 

 be the same. 



The Southern California Citrus Fruit Exchange pays 

 its manager S8.000. I am free to say that she is wise, and 

 would far better add to this large sum, if such addition were 

 necessary to keep him. This organization does business 

 atyay up in the millions of dollars, and yet, for several 

 years, has met no losses at all, in the way of'bad sales ; does 

 the business for 3 percent of sales ; has the full confidence 

 of the trade ; and is developing a constantly larger and bet- 

 ter market. All our rural industries must and will wheel 

 into line. Let us all urge that it be soon. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



Something on Honey-Flavors, Marketing, Etc. 



BV THOS. CHANTKV. 



IN reading the report of the Chicago convention, on page 

 213, I could hardly keep my .seat. I wanted to add a little 

 of my own experience to the question, " What is the best 

 honey ? " I see that the bee-keepers there like sweet clover, 

 principally, but want a little aster or goldenrod or something 

 in with it to modify it a little. How many have tried, as I 

 have for years, to carry a glass or sample of 5 or 6 different 

 kinds around from house to house, and exhibit at fairs, and 

 always insist on everybody, %vho likes honey at all, to sam- 

 ple all kinds with pocket-knife, table-fork, or toothpicks, 

 and note how different people are in regard to taste, even 

 among members of the same houshold ? 



Most think honey is honey, and the notable difference 

 in taste between sweet clover, alfalfa, white clover, bass- 

 wood, goldenrod and buckwheat, for instance, will give rise 

 to many questions of how they can be gotten separately, 

 and give good opportunity to explaii. the use of the extractor, 

 and why extracted honey can be profitably produced at a 

 lower price than comb honey; and, in time, you will learn 

 to tell when asked "Which is the best honey ? " (before tast- 

 ing the samples). They are all good honeys, and as to food 

 value one is as good as the other, but I can't tell by looking 

 at you which you like best. 



Now, since you like your sweet clover a little mixed with 

 some other, I would say if you have pure basswood honey 

 put in 'j alfalfa, and people who like basswood honey will 

 like it better: also to yourpure buckwheat put in -, alfalfa 

 and it is so mild it is not noticeable to the taste, only makes 

 the buckwheat flavor less rank, and improves the whole ; 

 and you will be surprised to see how many will like it better 

 than any other and order it. Also California sage should 

 be diluted with alfalfa. I say alfalfa because it is so mild 

 and of such good body. 



Dr. Jliller expresses the idea about too much flavor, and 

 I find it pays to teach people the difference, and label each 

 kind alwavs true to name. 



One store sold over 500 Mason jars of honey this season, 

 nearly all candied, because it is cleaner to handle ; clerks 

 like to handle it better, and people can take it home safer 

 and eat it candied, or melt it, as they please. The result is 

 all because I took special pains to give every man, woman, 

 and child in the small town, who was fond of honey, a taste 

 of the various flavors, and explained how we kept the var- 

 ious kinds separate, etc. I told them that I would put my 

 honey in the store, always labeled true to name, advised 

 them to remember which kind they like best, and, to call 

 for it at the store. If they ever found I have deceived them, 

 to take it back and get their money. So %yell has this exper- 

 iment of thorough canvass succeeded that if I only had the 

 time to go to every town in the United States and do like- 

 wise, I could use almost an unlimited supply. I have added 

 two more towns to my list of thoroughly canvassed — edu- 

 cated somewhat in regard to honey. I gave them an oppor- 

 tunity to educate themselves about flavors, and already the 

 stores are asking for more honey. One small town has used 

 over l.noo pounds, while two towns four times its size, on 

 either side, have used 120 pounds, all because of a little time 

 in educating people as to what extracted honey is, how 

 much difl'erence in flower-flavor, how to melt when candied, 

 etc. 



Now, in mixing various honeys, heat from 130 to 160 

 degrees, stir thoroughly, let it stand an hour and skim what 

 foam rises, then draw off into jars properly labeled true to 

 name, and put in the store and let it candy when it may ; 

 the label will explain that. 



When I say mixed-flavored honey. I don't mean adulter- 

 ated with glucose or syrups — no, no, but mixed one flavor 

 of pure bees' honey (perhaps of strong flavor! with another 

 pure bees' honey of a milder flavor. 



Naturally, we would generally get buckwheat honey 

 with some of the last of clover or basswood. and then with 

 some goldenrod, heartsease, or aster, but principally buck- 

 wheat ; also sweet clover in our country here will get mixed 

 more or less with other clovers, and shoestring, snowdrop, 

 etc. 



Oh, for a honey exchange that would see to it that our 

 good honey was properly put on the market, in a standard 

 but otherwise useful package, properly labeled true to- 

 name. One man cannot do it. The creamery men see to it 

 that their fancy butter gets to the consumer in good order, 

 and not mixed with oleo ; then why shouldn't the bee-keepers 

 do the same, and not throw it on the general market, and let 

 it be mixed with glucose before reaching the consumer, and 

 perhaps labeled " Red Top Clover Honey," or " California 

 White Clover Honey," or, as I saw in Sioux City this win- 

 ter, " King-Bee Honey?" Such stuff, along with poorly 

 ripened, strongly flavored honey, tends to disgust the public 

 with extracted hone}'. In fact, all my remarksrefer to clear 

 or extracted honey. Clay Co., S. D. 



^ The Afterthought. ^ 



The '^Old Reliable" seen throus:h New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



HAVANA LITTI,E GIKI.S AND HONEY-DBW. 



As for the nice frontispiece for April 10, I can't make 

 very much connection between bees and the little girls of 

 Havana having a procession in the street, teachers along- 

 side — but I'm glad to see the little girls all the same. If it's- 

 true that without love the world wouldn't go round, it's 

 still more true that without little girls, there wouldn't be 

 any world to go round — and then the great big question 

 whether honey-dew is ever actually dew couldn't be 

 " argied." You see. I'm a little disposed to open the chest 

 where we keep last century's chestnuts, because at ray 

 apiary I recently had a case where bees in such enormous 

 numbers were at the dew on the grass and herbage that it 

 hardly looked possible that water only was what they were 

 after. Still, perhaps it was — each one getting a drink for 

 herself, and then promenading and sunning herself awhile 

 before going home. 



