1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



801 



we shall keep on getting more mixtures. You 

 are just right, Mr. Editor, in wanting contri- 

 butions from men who have " done things " 

 in improving and changing other animals. 

 Such information will be of great value to 

 would-be bee-improvers, and enable them to 

 work intelligently. 



[Our friend Mr. Culley has perhaps, possi- 

 bly, hit upon the proper solution of the prob- 

 lem ; namely, that we should engage some 

 seed-grower to perform what may be impos- 

 sible to those of us who have had little or no 

 experience in this line. It would then remain 

 for us to put up a prize for the one who will 

 produce a red clover having cor- 

 olla-tubes with a quarter-inch- 

 depth hole, say of the present 

 red clovers. The A. I. Root Co. 

 will give a substantial reward 

 to any seedsman or any one else 

 who will produce seed from 

 which the short-tubed clovers 

 can be grown, and which will 

 not backslide into the common 

 species, and, moreover, will 

 guarantee an almost unlimited 

 market for the seed of such clo- 

 ver at good prices. 



But it was Dr. Miller, or at 

 least some one, who lately 

 spoke of the fact that, even if 

 we did get one variety of short- 

 tubed clover, our bees would go 

 right in and mingle the pollen 

 of the red and short-tubed vari- 

 eties, with the result that the 

 next crop of seed would grow a 

 long-tubed clover. If we grow 

 the one variety our neighbors 

 would be almost sure to grow 

 the other. Here is a little 

 mountain in the way. If one 

 were to attempt to grow short- 

 tubed clovers he would have to 

 get all his neighbors to raise the 

 same varieties, and here again 

 we might encounter the difficul- 

 ty that we have already experi- 

 enced in regard to alsike. 



I am not sure after all but the 

 problem would be easier solved by stretching 

 the tongues of your bees.— Ed. ] 



handed back my sample jar with the remark, 

 " We do not handle that adulterated stuflF." I 

 am always pleased to hear a grocer say that he 

 does not handle adulterated goods, and I made 

 this man a present of my sample. He is now 

 a good reliable customer. There are times 

 when one feels inclined to walk out and slam 

 the door ; but if you do, you were not cut out 

 for a honey-salesman. 



If there is a secret in building up and hold- 

 ing a trade in extracted honey it is in putting 

 up only one grade of best quality of honey. 

 The masses think that all honey should taste 

 alike ; and if they get a jar of clover honey, 

 and next time get a jar of basswood honey, 



SELLING AND BOTTLING HONEY. 



A Few Valuable Hints very Tersely Set Forth. 

 BY WALTER S POUD£R 



A producer can dispose of a good portion of 

 his honey crop to friends and acquaintances 

 without the least trouble ; but when it comes 

 to selling to strangers the trouble begins. A 

 druggist looked at my sample jar of extracted 

 honey, handed it back with the remark, " I 

 can make it just like that ; but if you will col- 

 or it a little more it will appear more like old- 

 fashioned honey." His advice went in one 

 ear and out of the other ; but Mr. Druggist 

 has since become a good customer. A grocer 



they will suspect that something is wrong. 

 When one is constantly having arrivals of dif- 

 ferent lots of honey, this may seem difficult. 

 I overcome this by using a tank holding 1000 

 lbs., and this tank is filled by emptying, al- 

 ternately, 60-pound cans of clover, wild-rasp- 

 berry, and basswood honey. (I hope the day 

 of putting honey in barrels is past. ) From 

 this tank I fill my jars, which are then placed 

 in a hot-water bath, and heated to about 190. 

 Corks are sunk about ^\ inch, and half a tea- 

 spoonful of hot wax on the corks seals them so 

 that they are safe from granulation for many 

 months. A tinfoil cap and a neat label, and 

 they are ready to deliver. 



I have never tried house-to-house solicit- 

 ing, my trade being principally in the whole- 

 sale way ; and yet quite a retail trade has been 

 established at my storeroom. The big syndi- 

 cate stores have taught the people to want al- 



