1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11 



MAKING HONE^ SEIiL. 



Some very Sensible Facts and Suggestions 

 from a Good Sensible Man. 



THE WAV FRIEND STURWOLD FIXED HIS HONEY IN A 

 GROCERY STORE. 



fmiEND ROOT:— So many of your correspond- 

 ents are giving their plans for selling their 

 surplus honey, through the columns of Glean- 

 ings, I will give you mine, and the way I created a 

 market at and near home. 



In former years I had trouble to sell my surplus 

 honey at a live and let-live price at Brookville, the 

 county-seat, on account of the farmers selling their 

 dark strained honey at 5 or C cts. per lb., and comb 

 in broken pieces smeared all over with honey, from 

 to 8 cents. I could not afford to sell mine at those 

 prices, and therefore had to ship it to large cities, 

 and I lost considerable by its being smashed while 

 in transit. 



I had often noticed, that if goods were placed in a 

 show-window, or fine show-case, they would sell fast- 

 er than when laid on the shelves; and the thought 

 came to my mind, that if the pretty white sections 

 filled with snow-white capped honey were put in a 

 show-case, and set on the counter in a conspicuous 

 place in a leading grocery, they would draw the at- 

 tention of the customers, as well as other goods. 



I at once ordered one made, 2' 3 ft. high, by 16 in. 

 square at base and top, three sides glassed, and the 

 fourth side a panel door painted a sky blue; on the 

 pane opposite the door I had the inscription in gilt 

 letters, shaded brown, as in the cut. 



them in the shape of a cone, the 2-lb. sections at the 

 bottom. On the top of the case I put 12 2-lb. jars of 

 extracted honey, arranged in a square, and above 

 them 8 1-lb. jars, with a pane of glass between them, 

 and one jar on top of that, with a few Vi-lb. tum- 

 blers on each corner. All the jars were labeled, and 

 capped with tinfoil caps, a la Muth. This pyramid 

 of jars was covered with fine white mosquito-net- 

 ting, to keep the flies from soiling the labels and jars. 



Friend Root, it looked pretty, and made me feel 

 happy when I heard the grocer exclaim," Well, well! 

 if that won't sell, Mr. S., I'll give up the grocery 

 business." Do I hear you ask if it did? Well, I 

 should think so. In six weeks all my comb honey, 

 350 lbs., was gone, and he wrote me for more. You 

 see, if we put our honey up in an attractive manner 

 it will sell, and that at a good price too. I sold my 

 comb at 20, and extracted at 15 cts. per lb. The hon- 

 ey placed in and on the show-case was not handled, 

 for I furnished him enough in the shipping-case. 



Raymond. Ind., Dec, 1883. .T. W. Sturwold. 



Friend S., I do not wonder a bit that your 

 honey was all sold ; in fact, you have map- 

 ped out the way to sell any thing you want 

 to sell ; and not only do such neat exhibits 

 sell the honey, but they make a business- 

 place look pleasant, and make life pleasant 

 as well. I especially admire your suggestion 

 in regard to keeping riies off the bottles with 

 mosquito-netting, although I would suggest 

 pink instead of white. We place to your 

 credit a live-dollar bill for your article, and 

 the photograph you send along with it. By 

 the way, friends, don't you think our engrav- 

 ers did pretty nicely on that picture right up 

 there? I do ; and I hope they will feel happy 

 when they take a look at it, and see what I 

 have said about them. 



STUawOLD'S SHOW-CASK FOR HONEY. 



I made arrangements with one of the loading gro- 

 cers to have the case put on his counter, allowing 

 him a commission of 20 per cent on all he sold. I 

 filled it with one an^ two pound sections, arranging 



MICHIGAN STATE CONVENTION. 



Feeding Extracted Honey Back to Get 

 Comb Honey. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT PERFORATED ZINC HONEY- 

 BOARDS. 



fHE following we clip from the proof of the pro- 

 ceedings of the convention at Flint, Mich. As 

 — ' both subjects have been considerably before 

 us of late, the matter will likely interest all of our 

 readers: 



W. Z. Hutchinson being called upon, he read his 

 report from Gleanings. He, too, had had a poor 

 season; but as he had mentioned incidentally that 

 he had practiced " feeding back," it brought down 

 upon him a shower of questions. In feeding back 

 1000 lbs. of extracted honey, he had received sOO lbs. 

 of comb honey. Had tiered up the cases of sections 

 until they were three or four cases high. Had fed 

 the honey as fast as they would take it. Looked the 

 sections over about once a week, and removed the 

 full ones. Somecoloniesdid much better work than 

 others. After the first trial, selected the best. No 

 honey was coming in at the time of the feeding; 

 did not weigh the hives: weighed only the sections 

 and the amount fed. Ho had a friend who had fed 

 back upon exactiv the same plan, but his friend had 

 not found it profitable. He thought that to know 

 just how to feed back, at a profit, was not yet posi- 

 tivelv known. 



D. A. Jones: The question of feeding back has 

 but few advocates, for the reason that the majority 

 have failed to make it profitable. To be successful 

 in feeding back there must be no place in the hive 

 in which the bees can store honey, except In the 

 sections. Those hives must bo selected that con- 

 tain the most honey, or else those having but few 

 combs, ply plan of feeding is to elevate the lilves l)j 



