1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



349 



too much inclined, as I fear Bro. Taylor is, to 

 stick to an old expressed opinion in spite of 

 evidence to the contrary. — Ed.] 



THE NEW-YORK HONEY-MARKET. 



How the Market was Broken Down in New York 



Forty Years Ago ; the Amount of Honey now 



Sold Extracted, and Where it Goes; 



Honey Gingerbread. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



As I was coming through New York iu De- 

 cember last I thought I would spend a little 

 time in the markets of the city to see what I 

 could learn that was new in regard to the sale 

 of honey. Many years ago I sold most of my 

 honey in that market, and was fairly familiar 

 with its wants and capacity. The last of my 



give way to taller sections. Another dealer told 

 me he had no use for square sections, which I 

 thought was putting it pretty strongly. 



Mr. Segelken said the 35^x5 were preferred 

 to a 4^x4^ ; but a section 4x5 was preferred 

 to either. I was told 4jS4 inches was quite too 

 low. Indeed, so much was said in praise of 

 the tall section I began to wonder if it was not 

 a fad in that market. As I noticed very little 

 honey that was finished to the wood — i. e., 

 very little where the row of cells next to the 

 wood was capped — I inquired as to the value 

 of it, or, perhaps, I might better say, the im- 

 portance of it, and was given to understand 

 that in New York it was of no importance 

 whatever ; and then I began to wonder if this 

 was not equally a fad in some other places. 

 However this may be, it seemed certain that 

 in New York a tall section is more in demand. 

 A thin comb with a large comb surface of light 

 weight was preferred to one that is thicker 



HBi 



FIG. 2. — CASANOVA APIARY, CUBA. 



being in that market, much of the honey was 

 in four-pound boxes, while many of the more 

 enterprising bee-keepers had already changed 

 to two-pound single combs, with glass on each 

 side. In December last I did not see a single 

 four-pound box, and scarcely a two-pound 

 section remained. 



Mr. Segelken, of the firm of Hildreth Broth- 

 ers & Segelken, received me very cordially, 

 and gave up his time to answering my ques- 

 tions which were not a few, as he showed me 

 their large stock of beautiful honey. I ex- 

 pressed some surprise that there was so large 

 a proportion of honey in tall boxes, when he 

 told me that they were much preferred to the 

 square 4^x4^- 



" Yes, but have not these same A%s.i% done 

 more to make a demand for honey than almost 

 any thing else? " I asked. He admitted it was 

 so, but said they had had their day, and must 



and has less surface, or of heavy weight. If 

 a comb were one inch thick it would answer. 

 Thickness does not seem to count for as much 

 as surface. 



A great deal of glass is still u^ed in New 

 York, on the sides of sections, most dealers 

 seeming to prefer it. As honey began to be 

 sold in that market fifty years ago or more in 

 glass, so it is still ; while in all the newer 

 markets it is rejected so far as I know. 



Mr. Segelken expressed himself very strong- 

 ly on the size of packing-cases, saying that 

 each case ought to hold at least 25 combs, and 

 one large enough to hold 30 combs would be 

 better. He said, as wholesale dealers have 

 said to me before, that almost the first ques- 

 tion a buyer asks in looking at honey is, 

 "How many sections in a case? and how 

 much do they weigh?" And this led to a 

 discussion of selling by count rather than by 



