GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



or crating them in some safe way to ship. The 

 result is, that by the time the honey is ready to 

 go to the wholesale market it has cost us about 

 5 or 6 cents per pound for packages alone. If 

 the honey is worth .5 and the packing 5 more, 

 there is 10 cents right at your honey-house; 

 and by the time we add freight, and commis- 

 sions to both wholesale and retail dealer, say 1 

 cent freight and 25 per cent for commissions, it 

 costs twice as much as the best sugar. 



Of tin packages, first comes the 60-1 b. can. 

 These are wholesale packages, and cost us, the 

 can and freight, % of a cent per pound on the 

 honey put in them. Next comes the 12-pound 

 square screw-nozzle cans. These will come at 

 about \M cents per pound— possibly a little 

 more. Then there is the "Jones honey-pails 

 with screw-cap," that the catalog says "are 

 the most convenient pails that we know of, 

 that are suitable for shipping liquid honey in." 

 One-pound size comes at4K cents— all of 5 cents 

 by the time we get it; five- pound pails at 

 almost 3 cents per pound. There are next " tin 

 pails with raised covers," but these do not seal, 

 and will not answer. The last on the list is 

 "Record's tight-seal cover pail." These are 

 not made for honey, but for butter and lard. I 

 don't know whether they will shut tight 

 enough to risk shipping honey in them when 

 they are stood on their heads or in any position 

 other than right side up. The cost of these is 

 a trifle less than the others. 



These vessels are not crated or boxed ready 

 to ship full of honey. Even if the cost were low 

 enough, every apiarist is not fixed for crating 

 them. By the time we crate them we have put 

 the cost of packages considerably above the 

 foregoing figures— just about what the honey 

 now brings at wholesale in 60-lb. cans and bar- 

 rels. We can not put honey in packages that 

 cost as much as the honey alone will bring. 

 Suppose the honey worth 4 cts. and the pack- 

 ing 4, then the freights, etc., on that, and 

 " where are we at? " Do not forget that I am 

 not talking about the local retail trade from 

 our honey-houses, but the general markets. 



We must have a regular package. We have 

 a standard for comb honey, sections of certain 

 weight, and so many in a case. A dealer can 

 order so many cases of 12 or 24 pound size; and 

 when he retails it he sells it out by the piece or 

 pound, and no bother; but here we are with 

 extracted honey in all sorts of vessels of wood, 

 tin, or glass, some of the packages costing more 

 than the honey itself can be bought for. The 

 only way a retail dealer can get extracted 

 honey to his customers is to get it put up for 

 him by a local apiarist, or buy it in wholesale 

 packages and then repack it, and run the cost 

 to or above comb, or draw It out into the pur- 

 chaser's pail. If we are to sell to bakers or 

 manufacturers, then the large can or barrel is 

 all right; but we want to sell for table use too. 



and the purpose of this article is to tell why we 

 do not, and how we can get the table trade. 



Extracted honey is not nearly so largely used 

 as it should and would be, because it is not put 

 up so that the people can get it as they do the 

 competitive sweets. I know that Mr. C. F. 

 Muth and some others are doing good work; 

 but Muth can not handle all the honey. What 

 we must do is to get our goods in shape so that, 

 when it is once packed, it is there to stay till 

 the consumer gets it. Other syrups and sweets 

 are so put up that the packages are regular, go 

 from packer to wholesale house, and through 

 the regular channels of trade, in unbroken 

 cases till the local grocer gets it, when the case 

 is broken and the original can sold to the 

 consumer. 



But how are we to get it so ? At present I 

 see but one way. We must co-operate. We 

 can establish packing-houses at suitable places 

 to receive the product in its vicinity. This 

 house (or association) can have its trademark 

 or label; buy its cans in car lots; can, case, and 

 market the goods in a regular way. You will 

 say, "Why not each apiarist pack his own 

 honey, get his cans from the general house, or 

 depot, and pack at home?" The reason why. 

 this will not work is plain. Suppose the api- 

 arists about Denver would undertake this. 

 Perhaps no two of them would grade just alike. 

 Perhaps one out of 10, 25, or 50, would either 

 ignorantly or willfully pack a lot of off-grade 

 honey. It would, of course, go out with the 

 rest, and eventually damage the reputation of 

 the association or firm which guaranteed it. 

 No; it must be packed by an experienced pack- 

 er who knows his business. The farmer may 

 just as well pack his own pork, or the fruit 

 man his own apples; but these and other prod- 

 ucts must go to the regular packer. We may 

 pack for local trade or special customers, but 

 we can not do this for the general trade. 



One difficulty that meets us here is that there 

 is not enough honey produced. There, now, 

 won't I catch it? The idea of saying there is 

 not enough produced when we can not sell 

 what we have! Yes, I say it, and it is a fact. 

 If there were ten times as much produced there 

 would be some inducement for capitalists to 

 start packing- houses, depots, or honey head- 

 quarters in every city, so that, when we have 

 honey to sell, we should have a place to put it. 

 Let me illustrate this: I am supposed to be 

 writing this in Colorado; but I am really writ- 

 ing it in Iowa. Well, Iowa is a corn» hog, and 

 cattle country. There are here always corn, 

 hogs, and cattle; and since these things are 

 always here, and in abundance, there are 

 always places to market them. Buyers ride 

 the country hunting up the products. In Col- 

 orado, where I live, wheat is the main product, 

 and hogs are scarce. Well, Colorado has its 

 wheat-elevators everywhere, so there is always 



