1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



957 



cheese at his store is displayed in glass — ha, 

 ha ! but I'll bet if he carries off that display 

 glass he will soon bring it back. I think I see 

 Mr. Fowls going home with his cheese in 

 a glass box. Who ever heard of glass pack- 

 ages for cheese ? 



Yes, yes, Mr. Fowls ; display can not be ig- 

 nored and do ourselves justice in getting our 

 product before the consumer ; but that is no 

 argument that the consumer should have to 

 pay for a display-stand every time he makes a 

 five or ten cent purchase. I tell you the peo- 

 ple will quickly learn the nature of honey to 

 candy if you will give them a chance to learn 

 it, instead of trying to keep them in ignorance 

 of the fact ; and they will appreciate an effort 

 on your part to give them good gilt-edged 

 honey at a fair price without having to buy a 

 glass-factory. We want the cheapest neat and 

 serviceable package we can get, that thereby 

 we can get the product to the consumer with 

 little extra cost. ; " .j i.-^^ , J 



Let those who have been selling honey as a 

 luxury only, get out something that the poor 

 people can buy, and you will be surprised how 

 much you will increase your business. Had I 

 some of those high-toned customers that want 

 us to sell them high-priced goods I would sup- 

 ply their need (desire), but I would also try 

 to meet the needs of the poor, which would be 

 more honorable, and a good business proposi- 

 tion. 



I am putting up my honey so that it is a 

 rare thing for me to sell single pounds. The 

 pound deals belong to the well-to-do fancy 

 trade ; but when a common every-day man 

 comes he wants honey to feed the children, 

 and seldom buys less than 25 to 50 cents' 

 worth. It is better to have ten deals of five 

 pounds each than 20 one-pound deals. The 

 smaller the package the greater the propor- 

 tional expense per pound for first cost of ves- 

 sel, and the greater expense in time, filling, 

 etc. 



My four-pound pails, nicely lithographed 

 with business card and liquefying instructions 

 on them, cost me from 5 to 7 cents each; larger 

 pails in proportion ; the three sizes of 4's, 7's, 

 and 14's cost about a cent per pound on the 

 honey, averaging all around. The honey is 

 drawn into these pails while yet liquid, and 

 once in them there is no melting or other ex- 

 pense to run up the cost. 



Again, touching on the packages in general 

 use for all kinds of groceries, while many 

 things used to be weighed out of bulk pack- 

 ages, and tied in paper, now these goods are 

 put in packages at the factories. In this re- 

 spect the West is ahead of the East in many 

 ways. The wheat and oat preparations, dried 

 fruits, and a great variety of dry products, are 

 put up in some neat and convenient paper 

 p ickage, and wet goods are in tin, except a 

 few things. Two prime objects are kept in 

 view — to make it convenient to handle, and to 

 cheapen the article. It is very much quicker 

 and cheaper to hand out a ready-packed piece 

 of goods in such quantity as is generally called 

 for than to weigh out of bulk. Do away with 

 the liquefying and trading honey, and you 

 take off a useless expense. 



I said the West is ahead of the East in many 

 ways, and I will mention several. Here every 

 housewife or butter-maker puts the butter in- 

 to pound prints or rolls, and these are wrap- 

 ped in butter-paper. Our storekeepers would 

 not think of ladling butter out of a tub by any 

 quantity you might want. You buy by even 

 pound or any number of even pounds. Anoth- 

 er great improvement is the decimal system of 

 counting. Wheat, oats, corn, and all grains, 

 potatoes, apples, onions, and all such, includ- 

 ing squash and cabbage, are sold b)^ the pound 

 or hundred. There are lots of people here 

 who could not answer you if asked the price 

 of any product by the bushel. A peck or 

 bushel measure is seldom seen in stores ; but 

 the scale is everywhere in evidence. 



We need to simplify our methods, and leave 

 off the old slow methods that are out of date. 



►♦♦•••♦*-•-. 



BOTTLING HONEY. 



Questions Answered ; Bottling Cold Honey, and 

 Heating Afterward. 



BY WALTEK S. POUDER. 



[I would say to our readers that this is an answer to 

 a .series of questions asked of Mr. Pouder at the close 

 of his first article on bottling honey, which article ap- 

 peared in our issue for Oct. 15, p 802. As some of our 

 readers may not have this number handy I would 

 state that I asked Mr. Pour^er 7vkv he poured his hon- 

 ey cold into the bottles, and then'heated the same aft- 

 erward before corkiug ; whether he did not consider 

 190 degrees of heat as a little too high, and what prep- 

 arations he considered best for dipping the corks into 

 before inserting into the bottles. As will be seen by 

 that which follows, Mr. Pouder has answered these 

 questions. — En.] 



A Speedy method that can be practiced by 

 any bee-keeper, without the aid of steam-pipes 

 or expensive appliances, is what the readers 

 of Gleanings demand, I believe. May be if 

 I had a tank equipped with a steam-coil I 

 would heat honey for bottling on this plan ; 

 but I am not so fortunately equipped, and I 

 think many of us are no better off. I prefer 

 to do bottling with cold honey early in the 

 fall, before granulation starts, thus requiring 

 but one heating just before the labels are put 

 on. The corks can be inserted and the filled 

 jars stored away, and what better storage 

 vessels could one wish for ? This can all be 

 done at odd times without interfering with 

 other work. If I heated my honey and then 

 filled the jars with hot honey, the work would 

 have to be done hurriedly; if finished up they 

 might not look fresh and clean as those that 

 have just had a hot bath and a clean new la- 

 bel. This cleaning up and labeling can be 

 done just before the goods are delivered, so 

 that no part of the work need be done in a 

 rush. A number of years ago I laid aside the 

 use of thermometers in connection with melt- 

 ing granulated honey. I have seen the water 

 boil, which must have been at a temperature 

 of 212, and the honey in the jars would indi- 

 cate a much lower temperature. To be sure, 

 it would not do to permit the water to boil 

 any length of time, and' it is a great mistake 

 to allow the water to come to the boiling-point 

 at any time. Wtih a little experience one can 



