1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



885 



pair of stairs, and then turn to the right and 

 then to the left. I did so, and suddenly found 

 myself in the presence of Mr. Selser the 

 honey-man, busy at his desk. He had not 

 expected me, and explained that it was a mere 

 accident that I had found him at his office at 

 all at that time of the year. After chatting a 

 little we went up into his spacious wareroom 

 where familiar objects in the shape of Root 

 goods were shelved on every side, all ready 

 for immediate delivery. 



After talking over matters of business Mr. 

 Selser proposed that we take in some of the 

 sights, and then we would go to his home, 

 where were his bees. We visited old Inde- 

 pendence Hall, and looked at the chairs in 

 which our famous forefathers had sat. We 

 then went to the United States mint, where 

 they were rolling out gold and silver dollars 

 of Uncle Sam's money. There were some 

 enormous bricks of gold right from the Klon- 

 dike ; and as we stepped from one apartment 

 to another we saw this gold and silver worked 

 over, and rolled out of the stamping-machines 

 into coin. Silver dollars — there were bushels 

 and bushels of them, but — they didn't belong 

 to me. 



Next we went to Cramps' shipyard. The 

 St. Paul, which had, under Captain Sigsbee, 

 so lately distinguished itself, was preparing 

 for dry dock. After we stepped aboard we 

 were shown the 6 -pounder that had sunk the 

 Spanish torpedo-boat. 



After we had dined at Wanamaker's (a de- 

 partment store that is almost a world of itself) 

 we made a visit to some of the large retail and 

 wholesale groceries of the city, and inquired 

 for honey. Yes, Mr. Selser has supplied all 

 of these places with his honey. It was gen- 

 uine bees' honey, and of the very choicest 

 quality. In some places, alongside of it were 

 some adulterated goods, or what appeared to 

 be such, but Mr. Selser was confident he could 

 compete against this honey by winning a 

 name for his goods, and he certainly was 

 doing it. 



After we had looked at the bottles of honey 

 we boarded a suburban electric car for an 

 eight or nine mile ride to Jenkintown, where 

 Mr. Selser lives, and where, indeed, his bees 

 are kept. All the way along Mr. Selser point- 

 ed out signs which he had put up here and 

 there, " Selser 's Honey-bee Honey." Some- 

 times they would be torn down, but usually 

 he was successful in putting them in places 

 where they would stick. On we sped on the 

 electric till we passed the beautiful place of 

 John Wanamaker. A short distance further 

 we stopped in front of a new and beautiful 

 residence, the home of Mr. Selser. Near the 

 front was a lawn hive bearing Mr. Selser's 

 sign, " Bees and Honey." This sign we gave 

 in Gleanings on page 46, current volume. 



That same evening, as I have already ex- 

 plained, some thirty or forty bee-keepers 

 assembled for an informal convention; but as 

 I have already referred to this before, I will 

 not speak of it further here. 



The next morning Mr. Selser and I followed 

 a path that led out through a beautiful grove, 

 on the other side of which was Mr Selser's 



apiary, his laboratory for analyzing honey^ 

 his office, his building for bottling honey, and 

 his barn. Elsewhere in this number, p. 878, 

 in the center view at the top, is shown a view 

 of the three buildings just named. The small 

 square building at the left is the laboratory ; 

 and in the second story of this Mr. Selser has 

 some of the very best and latest apparatus for 

 testing and anal} zing honey. The large 

 building at the right is Mr. Selser's bottling- 

 works. At the right of the picture will be 

 seen an interior view of one of the rooms. 

 The table at the right shows a lot of Muth 

 jars ready to be filled. In the foreground is a 

 barrel of honey, and in the rear of that a large 

 steam caldron, or melting-vat. Several lots of 

 honey are poured into this vat, and if there is 

 any that is candied it will soon be brought to 

 a liquid condition. When it is heated just 

 enough to prevent candying for a reasonable 

 length of time, and yet not aflfect its general 

 flavor, it is poured into Muth jars, and sealed 

 while hot. 



I do not dare to tell of the large quantities 

 of honey Mr. Selser buys and puts up in small 

 packages after this fashion. When I tell you 

 he takes the product of several large apiaries, 

 you may know what a business he is doing. 

 After he has a large supply of bottled honey 

 he loads up his honey-wagons, as shown in 

 the lower portion of the picture, and starts 

 out to supply the trade. He even goes as far 

 as New York — in fact, has quite a trade in 

 that city, that he keeps regularly supplied. 



Although there is a great deal of work con- 

 nected with bottling up honey in such small 

 packages, yet Mr. Selser makes it pay; but he 

 has every thing on a sufficiently large scale to 

 enable him to do the bottling cheaply. 



When I asked him why other bee-keepers 

 couldn't dispose of their honey in a similar 

 way he shook his head 'The margins are 

 close," he said, " and one has to be well 

 equipped, and work on a sufficiently large scale 

 to do it cheaply enough to secure a fair margin; 

 and then, too, many are careless regarding 

 the quality. Only the very best should be put 

 in glass." 



Mr. Selser objected to being kodaked in the 

 rear of his wagon, but I told him to stand up 

 and face the gun. I wanted our readers to 

 get a view of him in his everyday clothes, 

 equipped ready for business ; and there he 

 stands — see page 878 — beside his wagon, ready 

 to sell you a gross of Selser's fine bottled honey. 



IS THE UNITED STATES BEE-KEEPERS' UNION 

 IN THE TRUST BUSINESS? 



In an article appearing in the Dlodern 

 Farmer and Busy Bee, published by E. T. 

 Abbott, I find the following paragraph from 

 an article by Wm. StoUey, Grand Island, Neb. :; 



It was suggested by .some parties in whom I place 

 confidence, tfiat our Bee-keepers' Union was looked 

 upon with suspicion as to the tendency of forming "a 

 trust" among dealers and manufacturers of apiarian 

 supplies; and that a certain firm had been taken in 

 during the convention at Omaha, and that this meant 

 higher prices for goods generally which the bee-keep- 

 ers have to buy. I am not at liberty to name parties 

 who thus advised me, but I will say that, if this should 

 be true, the prospects of getting a strong union are 

 not good. 



