1898 



GLE VNINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



805 



produced and shipped into the New York 

 markets at a price so low that it would very 

 materially affect the price of York State buck- 

 wheat. Even under the old order of things 

 he had found that Cuban honey was some- 

 what of a competitor; but now he was sure it 

 would be a serious one. 



"What are you going to do about it?" I 

 said. 



" Can't do any thing, unless it is to run for 

 buckwheat comb honey or go out of the busi- 

 ness." 



At the Omaha convention no one seemed to 

 fear that the honey from our newly acquired 

 possessions would make any serious trouble 

 with the dark or amber honey of the United 

 States ; but the fact is, there was no one at 

 that convention who was in position to know 

 the facts. 



I should be glad to receive communications 

 from those of our correspondents who can give 

 us any definite information. We expect to 

 have a series of articles on Cuba and Porto 

 Rico soon, from W. W. Somerford, illustrated 

 by means of a camera. Perhaps thtse will 

 give us some information along these lines. 



HOW PLAIN SECTIONS C03IPARE WITH THE 

 OLD-STYLE IN THE MATTER OF GRADING. 

 I HAVE just received a note from Byron 

 Walker, who, as I have explained, not only 

 produces large crops of honey himself, but is 

 a very large handler of honey produced by 

 others. His sales every winter run up into 

 the thou.sands of pounds. He probably knows 

 as much about grading as any bee-keeper in 

 the United States. Well, here is what he has 

 to say regarding the giading of plain sections 

 as compared with the old-style: 



I forgot to state to you, when you were asking me 

 if I had handled any of the no-bee-way sections, that 

 I found the honey stored in them entered into the 

 fancy grade in much larger proportion than that 

 stored in the old style sections. B. Walker. 



Evart, Mich., Oct. 14. 



A higher grading means a higer price, and 

 this simply reiterates what I said last winter ; 

 namely, that it seemed to me that the plain 

 sections must bring a higher price in competi- 

 tion in the open market with old-style sections 

 with bee-ways. I knew that those who sold 

 them last year, and, in fact, a good many 

 years before that, were realizing higher prices, 

 and I did not see any reason why others 

 could not get them. Mr. Walker is not a 

 man who would be prejudiced in favor of 

 plain sections, and I should regard his judg- 

 ment as entirely unbiased. This, together with 

 the statement of the Columbus Commission & 

 Storage Co., which I published a short time 

 ago, to the effect that they could get a higher 

 price for honey in plain sections, and wanted 

 to get more of it, rather goes to show that I 

 was not premature in suggesting that higher 

 prices could be obtained for the new line of 

 sections. 



But I do not wish to be understood as say- 

 ing that I believe higher prices can be univer- 

 sally obtained; but I think I am safe in say- 

 ing they will hold their own, and many times 

 realize higher prices. 



SELLING HONEY. 



A FEW days ago I made a pleasant call at 

 the home of my cousin, Wilbur Fenn, of Tall- 

 madge, O. When I get around to it I have 

 something of a potato-story to tell, but just 

 now I want to tell a story about selling honey. 

 Cousin Wilbur took a little pains to inquire of 

 his neighbors, and got orders for six gallons 

 of honey, and then sent in his order. Now, 

 six gallons makes an odd package; but ten 

 one-gallon cans make a complete package. 

 Our people sent him ten gallons, and I fear 

 they did so without making any explanations, 

 and without his permission. When cousin 

 W^ilbur arrived at the depot, and found ten 

 gallons, he was a little afraid he would not be 

 able to get rid of it all without some trouble. 

 Accordingly he asked the agent at the depot 

 if he did not want some nice honey; but the 

 agent did not think he did; but after Mr. 

 Fenn whittled a clean piece from a pine stick, 

 dipped it into the honey, and gave the agent a 

 taste, he took a gallon right off. Then he 

 went to a prominent grocer in Akron with the 

 same result. The grocer did not want any at 

 all until he tasted it on the pine stick, and 

 then he wanted a gallon. On the way home 

 he tried the same experiment with some peo- 

 ple he chanced to meet, whom he knew, and 

 I think he made a sale every time. After he 

 got started in selling honey, it was an easy 

 matter to keep right on. As a result he al- 

 most had to quarrel with a neighbor so that 

 he could reserve one gallon for home use. 



A few days ago I saw Mr. Herman F. Moore, 

 the honey-man of Chicago. He had a lot of 

 thin clean slips of wood — I think they call 

 them cigar-lighters. He goes from house to 

 house with a clean tin pail of honey. One of 

 the slips is dipped into the honey, and given 

 to the people to taste. He sells the honey 

 only by the pailful, and takes great pains to 

 have it exactly like the sample he is showing. 

 A sort of city express delivers the honey to 

 the houses, collects the money, and brings it 

 back for a very small sum, so friend Moore 

 has nothing to do but to give his customers a 

 lick and take orders. Cousin Wilbur struck 

 on the same "racket," you see, and that is 

 the reason why he did not have honey enough 

 to go around. Perhaps I should add that the 

 ten gallons of honey was water-white Califor- 

 nia mountain sage; but he says the light am- 

 ber takes about as well, and with some people 

 better than the water-white. — A. I. R. 



THE FATE OF DRAWN FOUNDATION ; LEVEL- 

 ING DOWN SECTIONS; DOES IT PAY? 



About ten days ago I made a trip east to 

 learn more about plain sections and fences. 

 For that matter, I made another one west, 

 with the result that I collected a fund of in- 

 formation which I will give with illustrations 

 a little later. Suffice it to say for the present, 

 that the only way to get reliable information, 

 it seems to me, is to go where the honey is 

 produced in plain sections; inspect the honey 

 in the cases just as it comes from the hive, and 

 after it is prepared for market. 



On this trip I called upon Mr. S. A. Niver, 



