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GLEANINGS IN BEE Cl'LTURE. 



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A CINCINNATI apiary on the housetop. 



immediate surroundings, can well boast of 

 nearly 650,000 people, and a good many eat 

 honey, yet the real consumer is the manufac- 

 turer who buys in quantity and buys often 



It is a big mistake for bee-keepers to send 

 their honey to commission houses to sell. 

 The reason is, the commission merchant is not 

 posted as to the different qualities and their 

 respective values. They generally take the 

 first offer made on honey, just to close the 

 account. They don't take time, and they 

 haven't the time to look up the trade that 

 buys honey ; and then, again, the manufac- 

 turer doesn't buy from him unless it is a bar- 

 gain. The manufacturer does not look to the 

 commission man for his honey, and it is he 

 who ruins the market on extracted as well as 

 comb honey. I will give you an instance : 



The other day we had a lot of ten barrels of 

 the finest clover I have seen for a long time. 

 I took a sample and called on several parties. 

 The very first man I called on bought a snap 

 of several barrels the day before from a com- 

 mission house (the manufacturer tried to tell 

 me how cheap honey was), and at such a price 

 that I felt inclined to buy at those prices 

 myself. The beekeeper, I think, was hurt 

 more by that sale than I, because when Mr. 

 Commission Merchant takes out his drayage, 

 commission, and I don't know what else, I 

 think the bee-man had very little left. Then, 

 again, the quotations the bee-keeper gets from 

 him are entirely different from what his net 

 proceeds are when he receives his check for 

 his consignment. 



We do not handle honey on commission, 

 but buy for cash. When the bee-keeper sends 

 his hone} 7 to us he gets exactly what we quot- 

 ed to him. There is no drayage and commis- 

 sion and snap sales. 



Cincinnati, O., Aug. 2. 



[Perhaps I should explain that C. H. W. 

 Weber, an old neighbor of the late Charles F. 

 Muth, bought out the business and good will 

 of the firm of C. F. Muth & Son. Another 

 son (not the one with the old firm), who has 

 been away from home for some time, and who 

 has been connected with the grocery business 

 for the last five or six years, but who worked 

 along with his father years ago, has been re- 

 tained as manager of the honev business for 

 Mr. Weber. This is Mr. Fred W. Muth, a 

 young man of sterling qualities and of con- 

 siderable business push and sagacity. As did 

 his father, he believes in the principle of buy- 

 ing honey outright, and that is the policy to 

 be pursued by Mr. Weber. 



Some little time ago I spoke of the visit 

 that the junior Muth made here to get " point- 

 ers " on modern bee-supplies and modern 

 bee-keeping. It was this same gentleman 

 who was associated with his father years ago, 

 when the latter bought honey by the carload 

 and even by the boatload. Mr. Muth told me 

 that his father would have at times as much 

 as $40,000 worth of honey on hand, most of 

 which was sold to manufacturers. The senior 

 Muth did more than any one else, perhaps, to 

 introduce honey among bakers ; and now it 



