1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



563 



may have more attraction than another. I 

 leave the reader to draw^ his conclusion. 

 Naples, N. Y., June 15. 



[I will explain to our readers that we have 

 employed Mr. Greiner to do our reviewing of 

 special bulletins relating to bee - keeping. 

 When I received the bulletin from the Austral- 

 asian Association, on the color of flowers and 

 its influence on bee-life, I referred it to Mr. 

 Greiner, asking him to give us a boiled-down 

 synopsis of the paper, and this he has done in 

 a most admirable manner. The reader will 

 find much of real value and interest in it. — 

 Ed.] 



CANDIED VS. LIQUID HONEY AT RETAIL. 

 A Reply to Dr. Miller, R. C. Aiken, et al. 



BY CHALON FOWLS. 



Editor Gleanings : — In reply to your query 

 on page 396, I did see Dr. Miller's Straw about 

 Mr. C. F. Muth selling candied honey, but 

 somehow I couldn't swallow that statement, 

 thinking Dr. M. must be mistaken. It look- 

 ed to me very doubtful or misleading. I have 

 no doubt that he " sold more honey than any 

 other man in the State;" but what part of 

 Mr. Muth's trade did Dr. Miller refer to? If 

 he meant that sold to manufacturers in origi- 

 nal packages, mostly barrels, I suppose that 

 was generally candied ; but that is not what I 

 am talking about. But if Dr. M. refers to Mr. 

 Muth's bottled honey, put up for the grocer's 

 trade, then my impression is that by far the 

 largest part of it was put up in the liquid form. 



In Nov., 1884, I spent over a week in Cin- 

 cinnati ; and as Mr. Muth in his hearty way 

 invited me to make my home with him while 

 there, I did so. I remember one day at din- 

 ner that Mrs. Muth spoke of melting up four 

 barrels of honey that morning. He had 700 

 barrels of honey in his cellar at that time, and 

 his store was literally crammed with comb and 

 extracted honey. Of the latter, nearly all 

 was displayed in the liquid form in the Muth 

 bottles. I well remember there was a pyra- 

 mid stacked up in front, higher than my head, 

 probably a ton or two, in the Muth bottles, as 

 clear as crystal. Right there is where I got 

 my first points on how to put up honey so as 



to make it attractive and sell. Now, if I were 

 raising butter I would lay all my plans so as 

 to capture the fancy trade and get the lop 

 price. 



In the name of common sense, why should 

 not progressive bee-keepers be as much alive 

 to their interests as progressive farmers ? In 

 answer to an inquiry I have the following let- 

 ter from Mr. C. F. Muth's son : 



Mr. Fowls : — My father always sold a good deal of 

 granulated honey to consumers (they were those that 

 you could talk to, and he at all times made it his busi- 

 ness to talk it) ; but when it comes down to business 

 among the trade, then it must be liquid, or there will 

 not be much sold. It is surprising how little the peo- 

 ple know of extracted honey ; and it takes talk, talk, 

 and only a few understand, or want to understand. 

 If the masses were made to understand that they 

 could buy pure extracted honey at retail at 15 cents, 

 we alone could dispose of many carloads a year to the 

 consumers ; but as it is, the real consumer that is look- 

 ed for is the manufacturer. Fred W. Muth. 



Cincinnati, Ohio, May 15. 



It would seem then that Mr. Muth's trade 

 in small packages for family use was built up 

 principally with liquid honey. His trade in 

 candied was only with such customers as he 

 could see personally, and this accords with 

 my own experience. 



I sell to 60 or 70 retail grocers, but I can 

 only guess how many people buy the honey — 

 perhaps between 1000 and 4000. 



Now, as I don't operate a store myself, as 

 Mr. Muth did, you can see that the number 

 of people I could see personally must be 

 small, .as I now have no time to peddle, and 

 in addition to my local trade my bottled hon- 

 ey is now handled by some grocers whom I 

 have never seen. 



What in the world does Dr. Miller call 

 "good prices"? The price Mr. Muth got 

 from manufacturers ? ^als ! probably 7 or 8 

 cents by the barrel for the best, and lower for 

 other grades. I have yet to learn of a single 

 producer who sells any large amount of can- 

 died honey put up for family use, at any thing 

 like a remunerative price. Can you find a 

 single person who sells exclusively candied 

 honey in that way ? If so, trot him out. 



But I can imagine that, if this fad obtains 

 favor in the country, it will mean lower prices 

 for us all. I have a letter from a New York 

 State honey-producer and seller of honey in 

 which, after heartily commending my former 

 article, he says, "If Aikin has his way we 



J. E. LYON'S METHOD OF WINTERING BEES IN THE VICINITY OF LONGMONT, COL. 



See Editorials. 



