134 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. lr>. 



the honey is handled unusually rough. This 

 box is the best e\er adopted, and has the pref- 

 erence in our market. We receive honey in 

 many other styles of paper boxes, but none of 

 them take as well. Take the folding box, for 

 instance, which is also largely used, and made 

 of light ])aper inst(>ad of pasteboard. These 

 boxes are not strong enough, and the majority 

 of them will tear by trying to take the combs 

 out of them. You can convince yourselves by 

 samples on exhibition. 



Where honey is put up in paper boxes we 

 would advise using a single-tier crate holding 

 24 sections 5 by .■). The middle section on each 

 side of the crate should be glassed, tt) slu)W the 

 <iuality of the honey. Honey put up in this 

 style, clean white crates, and boxes neatly la- 

 beled, will always sell at highest prices. 



WHAT PKOPORTIOX OF COMB HONKY SHOI'LD 

 BE GLASSED AND PITT TN PAPEH BOXES? 



The next important question is. " What part 

 of the honey should be sent to market in paper 

 boxes — glassed or unglassed?" Up to last year 

 we have said, about one-third of each kind, as 

 the demand was about equally divided. We 

 now say, .50 per cent glassed, 30 per cent paper 

 boxes, and 30 per cent unglassed. as nearly as 

 we are able to estimate. During the season of 

 1889 we had more demand for glassed honey 

 than for unglassed or paper boxes. We thought, 

 that perhaps that year was an exception: but 

 we have had more calls foi' glassed lioncy this 

 last se.ason than the year before, and the de- 

 mand for the same is fast increasing. We could 

 not nearly til! ordei's this year, and could have 

 sold thousands of ci'ates moi'e. We tried to 

 substitute paper boxes and unglassed honey, 

 but the trade \\ould not hav(* it in place of the 

 glassed honey. We are of the opinion tnat this 

 demand for glassed honey will be permanent, 

 and we would therefore advise pi'oducers to 

 glass more of their honey. 



GLASSED HOXEY KECOMMEXDEI). 



It is certainly more profitable to glass the 

 honey tlian to shij) it unglassed oi' in paper 

 boxes. The producer receives the piice of hon- 

 ey for ev(;ry ounce of glass; besides, glassed 

 honey will bring better prices than unglassed, 

 and as good a price as pajjer boxes. The reason 

 why glassed honey has the preference seems to 

 be that the I'etailer can take every comb fi'om 

 the crate and make a handsome disijjay of it. 

 This, of course, can also be done with the papei' 

 boxes, but the glass will show up every comb. 

 The dust can not settle on the honey, and the 

 glass will prevent curious and inquisitive cus- 

 tomers from sticking their fingers in the comb. 



KIND OF SECTIONS TO BE USED FOU G1>ASSED 

 AND UNGLAS.SED GOODS. 



Next comes the kind of section to be used. 

 For unglassed oi' papi'r boxes, it does not mat- 

 ter which one is used — nailed, dovetailed, or 

 one-piece section. Foi' glassed honey we should 

 say the nailed or dovetailed section is the most 

 desii'able, as the one-piece section does not seem 

 to be strong enough to be glassed. Some pro- 

 ducers will fasten the glass to the section with 

 small tin tags: othei's witli snutll wire nails: 

 and, again, others will glue them. Any one of 

 the methods will answer the purpose, if proper- 

 ly done. If glued, a glue should be used which 

 will stick and hold the glass to the section. 

 We sometimes receive shipments of glassed 

 honey glued: and, as soon as touched, the glass 

 will fall from the combs, and very often hurt 

 the sale of the honey. 



PKOPEI! AVEKJHT OF SECTIONS. 



Another item of great importance is. to have 

 th(! sections weigh not over one pound each, but 



less if possible. Our market demands light 

 weights at all time.s, be the honey glassed, un- 

 glassed. or in paper boxes. The two latter gen- 

 ei'ally weigh a little less than a pound, while 

 glassed sections, in many cases, will weigh over 

 a pound, especially if the standard section is 

 used. 4^4 x4i4Xl9:(. We would advise i)roducers 

 to cut down the section in width and adopt a 

 nariower one, say 4i4x4!4Xl,io or even U4 : so, 

 when glassed, the section will not weigh over 

 14 to 16 ounces. Heavy sections are generally 

 rejected, and we find it slow work in moving 

 them off. 



GRADING HONEY. 



We would call your special attention to the 

 grading of the honey, which is as important a 

 question as any of the former, and in which not 

 too much care can be taken. Very often we re- 

 ceive honey which is not properly graded, and 

 off grades mixed in with the first grade, and 

 marked. "Not white honey." The outside 

 combs will appear all right: but inside of the 

 crate will be the poorei- grade. 



We can not take the trouble to open and ex- 

 amine every crate and comb. l:>ut have to rely 

 on the shipper, and go by the mai'k and the 

 appearance of the crate. We sell and ship the 

 honey: and the first thing we know, the party 

 who bought it will complain about the quality, 

 and hold the honey subject to our order. Here 

 we have the alternative, either to have the 

 honey shipped back to us or make an allowance 

 satisfactory to the buyer. This is certainly not 

 very pleasant. It hurts our reputation, and we 

 are apt to lose that customer. Not only this, 

 but the shipper is also dissatisfied, as generally 

 he expects the highest market prices, and often 

 will not admit that the honey was not properly 

 graded, while no one but himself is to blame. 

 All this can be avoided if the honey is properly 

 graded. 



TWO GRADES OF WHITE HONEY' 



are sufficient for our market. For a fancy 

 white, selec* only what is fancy white. For a 

 second grade, or fair white, take combs that 

 are stained, or a trifle off in color, and combs 

 scantily tilled aiound the edges. Any combs 

 mixed with dark or buckwheat honey should 

 not be put in with the second-grade white. 

 Such honey can not be sold for wliite, and will 

 not sell for more than buckwheat; in fact, a 

 straight buckwheat finds readier sale than mix- 

 ed honey. It should be crated by itself, and 

 marked accoi'dingly. 



TWO-POUND SECTIONS. 



Our market demands a limited quantity of 3- 

 Ib. sections. About 10 per cent of the hoiiey we 

 receive is in 3-1 b. sections, which is sufficient to 

 .supply the demand. These should be glassed 

 altogethei'. and put in single-tier crates holding 

 from 13 to 1.5 combs. 



KEGS AND BARRELS IN.STEAD OF SQUARE TIN 

 CANS. 



For extracted honey, basswood, white clover, 

 or buckwheat, we prefer a keg of about 1.50 lbs.: 

 half-barrels of about .300 lbs., or even bari'els of 

 .500 lbs., whichever can be obtained cheape.st. 

 We would not advise the use of (iO-lb. sqiuire 

 tins as used exclusively in Califoi-nia. Our 

 trade is accustomed to tlie wooden jjackages for 

 all kinds of northern, eastern, western, and 

 southern honey, and we see no necessity for a 

 change. The cans are more expensive than 

 kegs or half-barrels; the honey in cans will not 

 sell for any higher price, consequently nothing 

 can be gained. 



COMB HONEY AI-WAYS BY FREIGHT, AND WHY. 



I should like to make a few remarks yet re- 

 garding the shipping of honey. Comb honey 



