674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1917 



honey; and tlie next size of seclioii was 

 41/4x41/4x1%. 



MR. ELWOOD'S locality. 



Since then average yields have gradnally 

 decreased. Buckwheat is very unreliable; 

 and, altho the introduction of alsike clover 

 has to some extent made up for the lack of 

 basswood, still the country has become less 

 suited for beekeeping. Mr. Elwood does 

 not consider bis section of the country a 

 particularly good bee-country at present, 

 especially since basswood has largely failed 

 and the seasons are more extreme, either too 

 wet or too dry. One reason why basswood 

 does not yield well is because the woods are 

 too open and the soil about the basswood 

 roots dries out more, owing to the access of 

 sun and wind. Last year, however, quite a 

 lot of basswood honey was secured. 



GLASSING SECTIONS. 



Since first producing section honey Mr. 

 Elwood has continued to glass his sections. 

 He said : 



You can tell your folks that Elwood has 

 not got out of the woods yet on glassed 

 honey. He got into the woods 40 years ago, 

 and his circles always bring up at the same 

 place. Some of the beekeepers of the Middle 

 West have been anxious that he tind him- 

 self; but, "Shall the blind lead the blind?" 

 When I was in New York a number of years 

 ago I saw a wholesaler putting glass on 

 honey bought from an Illinois beekeeper. 

 When my son was in the city this season he 

 saw the same operation repeated. These 

 Middle West men say it is positively wicked 

 to sell glass for honey. What shall we do 

 about it when several million people in New 

 York and other cities in the East want 

 glassed sections? Shall we tell them to stop 

 encouraging wickedness and to begin buying 

 "hayseed" honey that comes in carriers 

 with a bale of hay (more or less) in the 

 bottom of the carrier for a cushion? And 

 the Western beekeepers after a good deal of 

 hard work have obtained the consent of the 

 railroads to charge them double price for 

 moving their honey unless they buy these 

 carriers and furnish the hay. Of course, if 

 the beekeepers will persist in using a section 

 and packing-case so that the honey has to 

 support both the section and the packing- 

 case, he will have to pay the penalty in 

 freight bills, in brokerage, etc. With rea- 

 sonable care glassed honey will carry safely 

 without carriers. For many years we have 

 had no losses to pay, altho much of our 

 honey has been shipped direct to the buyers. 

 What breakage has occurred has been thru 

 carelessness or bad usage, and the railroad 

 and express companies have paid the loss. 



When the Black Hills was a mining camp 

 our glassed honey went there safely, travel- 

 ing the last 150 miles by stage; and when 

 H. K. & F. B. Thurber & Co. were in busi- 

 ness thev sent some across the ocean to the 



Paris exposition, and it arrived in suffi- 

 ciently good condition to obtain a first prize 

 when exhibited in the original packing- 

 cases. There is no doubt that glassed honey 

 carries more safely in a delivery wagon than 

 any other package. 



Not long ago I obtained a section of one 

 of the finest and best advertised brands of 

 carton honey. I pulled the section out of the 

 carton and found a bruised spot on one side; 

 and on turning it over there was a corre- 

 sponding spot on the other side. There was 

 no leakage, but a spot marring its beauty, 

 and enough of a bruise to set it candying. 

 Uncovered honey is so attractive to flies and 

 other insects and vermin that in some i3laces 

 it has already been ruled out by boards of 

 health. If this ruling should become general 

 the question to be decided is whether comb 

 honey is to be encased in cartons or glass. 

 This statement is supported by the following 

 letter from a wholesale dealer in New York: 

 Mr. H. R. Wright: 



Dear Sir : — If you send me any honey in the future, 

 be sure to send it either in glass or cartons, as the 

 Board of Health rules are very strict here on dis- 

 playing Tinglassed or uncovered honey. Therefore, 

 grocers have to keep it in the case. This they da 

 not like to do, as it is not a decent display. 

 Yours truly, 



S. M. Zaibkr. 



A score of years ago a leading firm of 

 retail grocers in New York said they would 

 buy none but glassed comb honey, and they 

 are still buying it. One of the reasons they 

 gave was that, as far as jiossible, their good i 

 must display and sell themselves, and that 

 their clerks had no time to show up goods. 

 A few boxes of glassed comb honey set in a 

 window whore the light shines thru them 

 will sell more honey than a ton of carton 

 honey placed on the shelves, and it will also 

 sell more than a whole grocery sown knee- 

 deep with advertising. The beauty of put- 

 ting up honey so it sells itself is that this 

 kind of advertising is inexpensive. The live 

 grocer is awake to this; and when he gctT 

 a consignment of peaches he puts them, not 

 in a cool cellar, but out on the sidewalk in 

 the dust and heat of the street where they 

 sell themselves. How many customers will 

 inquire for goods that have their season, 

 unless such goods are displayed? Some o^ 

 our friends said that the bothersome stamp- 

 act would put a finish to glassed honey. It 

 has not done so, but, on the contrary, has put 

 new life into this style of package. The 

 reasons are that, as comb honey is now sold 

 l:)y the dozen or piece, w^e give, in addition 

 to the standard assortment of honey, added 

 protection to the goods; added jirotection to 

 the health of the consumer; and with each 

 section-box a double page of advertising 

 that sells the goods. All this is done at only 

 a slight advance in cost over cartons. No 

 need of stamping such packages, for every 

 cell of honey .shows. 



LARGE OPERATIONS. 



Not nuu'h sugar svrup is fed for winter. 

 Tlie fall of lOlG. none at all was u.scd. For 



