1886 



gleani^sCtS- in bee culture. 



927 



HONEY, AND ITS PRESENT LOW^ 

 PRICES. 



SOMETHIN(; IN REGARD TO THE MATTER, KliO.M 



ONE OF THE LARGEST, IF NOT THE l,AK(iEST, 



HONEY-DEALER IN THE WORLD. 



.MAY lemavk to our readers, tluit I 

 wrote to friend Muth in regard to the 

 letter from friend Park, on" page 812, 

 Oct. l-i, ISSG. The following is liis re- 

 ply: 



Friend Root:— I am actiuainted with the (.jiiality 

 raised in the neighboi-hood of our friend Park. It 

 is a nice article, rather above the medium quality 

 of Southern honey; hut we have no use for it now, 

 liceause the demand is very slow from manufac- 

 turers, to whom only we can sell Southern honej-, 

 and because we have still on hand nearly oOO blils., 

 which we boug-ht and paid for some 13 or IS months 

 ago. Besides the above, we have "m bbls. more, 

 sent us contrary to our advice, for which we have 

 not paid. But they were sent us by our friends in 

 good faith, that we would sell them before this, and 

 none of us could apprehend that the demand from 

 manufacturers would let off so. We now make to 

 each one an offer for this lot. A few hundred 

 barrels of honey has never troubled us much, as 

 we turned out 10 to SO bbls. a week, one or two 

 years ago. We supplied a number of bakers, the 

 best of whom got 5 bbls. a week steadily for :l years 

 or more. AVe supplied, also, regularly, a number 

 of tobacconists, the best of whom received 3 bbls. 

 every other day. We have not lost any of our 

 customers, but they don't need as much as they 

 used to. Our best baker orders now 5 bbls. in two 

 months, and our best tobacconist one or two in a 

 month. The one says: " Honej'-cakcs are played 

 out;" and the other. "There is no money in tobac- 

 co now, and factories run only to a certain e.vtent." 

 Similarily say the rest. 



I should be sorry for our Southern friends if the 

 demand for their product should not revive; and 

 I believe that the present dullness, prevailing m 

 almost every branch of business, is the only cause 

 for the stagnation in the trade in dark honey. 



Our .iobbing trade for clover honey in our square 

 glass jars and tin buckets is very good this fall, and 

 w e have sold very many lots of nice comb honey. We 

 have no i-eason to complain of this branch of our 

 business. However, honey is too cheap to satisfy 

 producer or dealer, and low prices are generally 

 no stimulus to business. 



We have used extensive efforts to introduce ex- 

 tracted honey, and to stimulate denutnd, and we 

 thought that we had succeeded until lately. 



It we don't supply all, we supplj- certainly !• out 

 of 10 bakers in our city with lioney. They all use 

 more or less, but— while we are thankful for all 

 small favors, we want more, and we are used to 

 larger sales. Chas. F. Muth \- Son. 



Cincinnati, O., Nov. 18, 18S0. 



The above is somewhat discouraging. I 

 grant; but it is best for us to know the real 

 facts, even if they are discouraging, and 

 then we shall be prepared to face them. 

 This honey that sells so very low is not, as 

 friend M.has already decided, of the very 

 best quality. I have, in our back numbers, 

 mentioned the honey from alsike clover, 

 obtained by friend Goodrich, who exhibited 

 the ciop at the Ohio State Fair. .Vow, al- 



though we have'tons of honey on hand (and 

 some of it we offer as low as 6f cts. per lb., 

 by tlie (juantity I, we have just otfered friend 

 Goodrich a price that amounts to something 

 like 12: cts. per lb. for what alsike clover he 

 has left. Jt is what we call "gilt. edge. '" 

 and we expect to get a •■gilt-edge"' price 

 for it. The honey from the South does not 

 seem to bring as"good a price as the white 

 clover of tlie Western Reserve ; and the 

 moral seems to be. that our Southern friends 

 will have to encourage the growth of the 

 clovers— red, white, and abike. The latter. 

 1 believe, is ahead of all wliere it thrives 

 naturallv. 



TEASEL CULTURE. 



CAN IT HE 



MtOl'ITABLY ENGAGED IN BV BEE- 

 KEKPEKS? 



fHE seed is sown, usually, as soon as the ground 

 ' can be thoroughly worked in the spring, as 

 it requires plenty of moisture, and more 

 time to germinate.; than most seeds. The 

 sowing was formerly done by hand-drills in 

 marks previously made, three feet apart; but now 

 the ordinary horse-power grain-drill is used to some 

 extent. If sown with a band-drill, the seed is cov- 

 ered with either a rake or brush, or sometimes an 

 ordinary field-roller. The plant seldom comes up 

 in less than two weeks, and is not ;unf reqnently 

 four weeks in making its appearance. At first, 

 none but an experienced eye^can tell^it from a Can- 

 ada thistle that has ,iust come up from seed. But 

 the first set of two or three true leaves places the 

 plant bej'ond any danger of getting cultivated up 

 as a weed. 



The first hoeing begins soon after corn-planting, 

 and is accomplished by passing, with a light small 

 hoe, up one side of the row and back on the other, 

 cutting as close to the i)lants as possible, and always 

 pulling the dirt from the plants. The horse-culti- 

 vator is used freely, and it is wonderful how close 

 an expert will work to the row without injury. The 

 first hoeing is generally accomi)lished before any 

 of the plants are more than an inchhigh. 



The second hoeing should not be delayed more 

 than two weeks after the first. ^ At this time cvcru 

 weed is taken out; either with the hoe or fingers, and 

 the plants thinned to from f toJH inches in the row. 



This is accomplished from Julj- 1st to 10th, and 

 well cultivated with a horse twiee^or three times 

 between each row. They are then allowed to go 

 untouched until the following spring. 



Of late years, growers have been in the habit'of 

 planting half a crop of corn, plucking the ears oft', 

 and leaving the stalks to catch the snow (they are 

 liable to winter-kill if uncoxored inj severe cold 

 spells). I have, with good results,''omitted the corn, 

 andjWith a plow turned a furrow right ^on to the 

 plants late in the fall. 



The first season, the plant tlats out;"' the" leaves, 

 lying on or near the soil, make a solid green belt 

 nearly two feet wide, and not more than six^inches 

 high. Walking or driving over a field does appar- 

 ently no injury. If they survive the winter, as soon 

 as the ground can be worked they are thoroughly 

 cultivated (but sehlora hoed), and the corn-stalks 

 gathered ott'. Cultivation should be kept up un- 

 til they begin to "run," which is early in ,Iuno 

 .\t tliis time m stalk shoots up very rai'idly from 



