Nov. 27, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



759 



«xpensive than tin, that which will candy into pails, and 

 that which will not candy into sealing- packag^es, and then 

 put it into the hands of the retailer, and it is bound to sell. 

 Every package must have printed instructions for lif|ucfy- 

 ing-, and the producer's or packer's guaranty ; put out noth- 

 ing of which you are ashamed or unwilling to back up. 



Now, brethren, pile on a few more sticks to the burn- 

 ing ; let us have a big tire, and warm up to the subject; 

 hew to the line and make the chips lly. R. C. Aikin. 



Pres. Hutchinson — We have had a most excellent paper 

 on a very practical subject, and of course it will give us 

 something to discuss; but before we take up the general 

 discussion we would like to hear from the gentleman who is 

 on the program to respond — Mr. York. 



Mr. York — I would like to have you keep one eye on this 

 glass jar of liquid honey which I hold in my hand, and the 

 other eye on me and on the paper while I read. 



PUTTING UP EXTRACTED HONEY FOR THE RETAIL 

 TRADE. 



My good friend who has just preceded me seems to be 

 " Aikin " to see a big fire and lots of smoke. If he'll just 

 wait until he leaves this world (or, maybe before this hour 

 passes,) he may see a.ad/ef/ more fire and hotness than he 

 wants. But doesn't he know that so much fire might /ic/ue/y 

 his granulated honey, that he has been trying to get you all 

 to believe is the only form in which extracted honey "should 

 be put upon the market ? 



Then, the idea of calling three of us members Irish»ien, 

 when there isn't a drop of Irish blood or blarney in any of 

 us— except it be Dr. A/ason ! And he hasn't any more than 

 two drops ! Why, a man that will publicly cast reflections 

 upon fairly respectable people, and misjudge them, surely 

 can not be in a proper frame of mind or brain to discuss 

 this momentous subject before such a select audience as we 

 have here to-day.. 



But my " Aikin " friend is not what I'm to talk about, 

 even if he is an interesting subject, so I'll dismiss all 

 further thought of him for a little while, and tackle his 

 subject. 



In the first place, I don't believe in starting out to feed 

 all creation with honey. And almost making them a pres- 

 ent of it, besides. What costs practically nothing is valued 

 at just about as much as it costs. If all yrere to granulate 

 their extracted honey and oflfer it at from 8 to 10 cents a 

 pound, there wouldn't be more than a few grains per capita 

 for all the Irishmen alone — that is, if you would call every- 

 body an Irishman, as Mr. Aikin seems to do. And, the 

 next thing, the price would be raised, because of the scarcity 

 of the sweet article itself. 



Honey is different from most other table articles. It is 

 a necessary delicacy, not to be eaten as you do potatoes, 

 soup, and corn-meal mush. A little of it at a meal— like but- 

 ter — is all any reasonable person should want, unless he 

 eats with a shovel, when, of course, he must have granu- 

 lated honey. I will admit that such honey can be shoveled 

 in faster than if it were in the liquid form. 



Hat ^henl-pui extracted honey on the market I don't 

 want to have to spend valuable time in telling people that 

 it isn't sugar, or lard, or grained goose-grease. Every one 

 knows, if he knows even a little bit, that all honey is in the 

 liquid form when taken from the hive. Then why not pass 

 it on to the crowd in its original, sparkling form, and not 

 try to tell them how to liquefy it the first thing ? 



Again, honey is a tempting thing when it glistens 

 through clear flint glass. What is 18 or 20 cents for a 

 pound of such concentrated sweetness ? Why, there are a 

 good many people that will blow in 10 cents for a cigar and 

 then blow it all out again in smoke. Two useless blows for 

 a dime. And if the cigar blower is a big " blow " himself, 

 you have three blows all in one, and all for 10 cents 1 Now, 

 think of the pleasure and strength to be derived from the 

 price of two such cigars invested in a pound of honey '■ Who 

 would forego it if he only knew how good it is in the liquid 

 form on bread, biscuit or flapjacks. And the people are 

 learning every day that honey is a fine thing to eat — and 

 not to be stored out of sight in tin, wood or paper-bags in 

 the granulated form. 



Now, perhaps, I have said enough on this part of the 

 subject, so I will further consider the best packages to 

 use for the retail trade. 



I'm a defender of glass packages for the retail trade. 

 As in a few other things connected with bee-keeping, locali- 

 ties differ, but in the majority of the retail stores glass jars 

 holding J4 or 1 pound each are the preferred sizes, retailing 



at l.S and 20 cents respectively. In a country trade, when 

 selling from house to house, the quart and pint Mason jars 

 are best, or tin pails of various sizes. But it is utterly use- 

 less to talk rjf large glass or tin packages for the ordinary 

 city retail trade to be handled by the grocers. And that is 

 where the bulk of the surplus crop of the best extracted 

 honey will eventually find the greatest demand — on the 

 tables of the city people. 



There is no need of bee-keepers trying to compete with 

 cheap and adulterated table syrups or mixtures that are 

 found in nearly every open market. What they should do 

 is to produce only the finest honey, put it up in convenient 

 packages for home consumption, and then go out after the 

 people. I know men who are working on this plan, and 

 their trade is constantly gaining in volume, and in satis- 

 fied customers. 



We must remember that Mr. Aikin is a producer, and 

 his little crop of honey, or what he handles, is scarcely a 

 spoonful compared with the aggregate product of honey of 

 the whole country. What he has said may do in his locality, 

 and in his hands, but don't any of you ever go to any large 

 city and try to put his methods into practice. If you do 

 you will regret it. You can't succeed. Life is too short. 

 You'll be gray-headed, or bald-headed, long before you can 

 work up a paying trade. 



Perhaps I have said enough for now, especially for a 

 small man, and so far away from home. If I have helped 

 to fan the blue blaze I trust there will be plenty to blaze 

 away. It is one of the liveliest topics before this conven- 

 tion. The bulk of the honej' put upon the market to-day is 

 extracted honey. And I am glad of it. What you want 

 to know is the best and most profitable way of getting it 

 all on the tables of the people. You don't need to care 

 whether the poorest people get it. You are not in the bee- 

 business for your health alone. Some of you are making 

 your living at bee-keeping, even if not a fortune besides. 

 What you want to know is, how to realize the largest pro- 

 ceeds from the sweet product of your apiaries. But you 

 can't all go into the retail honey-business. Such being the 

 case, you should get in touch with those who are putting 

 up honey for retailers, and see that they handle your honey. 

 But you must produce a fine, thick, well-ripened article. 



Well, I was going to stop before this. I will do so now. 

 But be sure to make the fire that follows so fearfully hot 

 that Mr. Aikin's granulated honey will be liquefied so that 

 even "spoony" people can get it down without pick, shovel, 

 and elbow-grease. 



Now chip away, and see a glorious blaze I 



Gborge W. York. 



Pres. Hutchinson — You have a burning subject, now 

 fire away at it. 



F. H. C. Krueger — I don't want to have anything to do 

 with this fight — I just want to tell my experience, that is 

 all. I have been in the bee-business for nearly 45 years ; I 

 have made it a point to produce nothing but extracted 

 honey, and I never had any trouble in the world to sell it. 

 I always had less honey than I could sell. My first experi- 

 ence was in Kentucky. Of course, the prices were mag- 

 nificent ; I sold my extracted honey by the barrel, whole- 

 sale, at 18 and 20 cents a pound. 



Pres. Hutchinson — The question is, as to the best way 

 of putting up honey for the retail trade. How did you put 

 it up yourself for the retail trade ? 



Mr. Krueger — At that time what I didn't put up in bar- 

 rels I put up in 2-pound glasses, which I shipped to con- 

 sumers and grocerymen in the different cities, and the bulk 

 I sold by the barrel. I came to Colorado, and when I ex- 

 tracted my honey first it was a drug on the market. Why ? 

 I put it up in pound glasses and 2pound glasses, and car- 

 ried it around in Denver. Of course, I sold it all, but it 

 was a great deal of trouble to me. At the present time, as 

 I put it up, the smallest amount I sell is a Mason jar — three 

 pounds — the next is a half-gallon tin-pail, and the third is 

 a gallon pail, and the fourth is 75 pounds in a big, round 5- 

 gallon can. I fill it up with from 75 to 76 pounds, and I 

 have no trouble in selling it. I want to say this, if people 

 know that you give them a good article you will have no 

 trouble to sell it. 



First, when I went around and sold my honey in one 

 and two pounds, it looked like clear and nice honey, just 

 exactly like that looks, and the people said it looks too nice, 

 it must be adulterated. I said to them, "I give j-ou this; 

 you can taste it, and if you afterwards think it is adulter- 

 ated I will give you another one for a present." I never 

 had to give one away ; they always wanted some more. But 

 that was too much trouble, so I put it up in half-gallons and 



