470 



AMERICAN BEE JOURJNAi-. 



Inclication§ of the Honey Mar- 

 ket — Some Experiences. 



Written Sor the American Bee Journal 



BY C. W. DAYTON. 



1 believe if bee-keeping is wortli dab- 

 bling with at all, it is worthy of our un- 

 divided attention. If after producing 

 a crop of honey a man has not the time, 

 interest or love for the pursuit, to load 

 his honey into a wagon and sell it to 

 those that would consume it, he is not 

 the man to find out what consumers 

 want, but he is the man who would shut 

 both eyes just before the time to pull 

 the trigger. 



Like the persimmons once described 

 in Gleanings, which look ripe and lus- 

 cious while they are yet green, and not 

 until they appear stale and rotten are 

 they eatable, so is honey not at its best 

 until it has remained in the hives long 

 enough to become travel-stained. 



In Denver, as I was filling a lunch 

 basket for a journey in the mountains, I 

 stepped into a grocery for a section of 

 honey where several grades occupied 

 one show-case. The first section the 

 grocer took up was much travel-stained, 

 and he said, " You don't want that 

 one ;" and he took up another unstained 

 one. I inquired what was the fault with 

 the first one. 



" Oh," he said, " the bees have worked 

 and fussed with it until they have 

 spoiled it." Said I, " I think the longer 

 bees work with honey the better it be- 

 comes, and I would rather have that 

 section than any other one in the case." 



"Yes," he answered, " I presume the 

 twney is best, but our trade demands the 

 lightest colored combs." 



On leaving the store I added, " I have 

 often noticed the same of those who 

 come for honey, and have wondered why 

 they do not prefer butter to be white 

 instead of yellow, as well." 



On the opposite page from the fore- 

 going reference to Gleanings, it says : 

 "We, as bee-keepers, may know better 

 than any others what honey is, and 

 which is the best, but unless we supply 

 the consumer we cannot tell how to 

 grade or classify it to suit the trade 



but the man who is a dealer 



knows it in exact proportion to his ex- 

 perience The meaning of the terms 



of trade, 'fancy,' 'choice,' etc., may be 

 different from what we understand them 

 to be, and the taste of the public may bo 

 different from ours. It is the commission 

 man who understands these things best." 



Very truly, the dealer "understands" 



exactly " in proportion to his experience," 

 but he sadly lacks experience, both fore 

 and aft, and the intervening space is so 

 limited there is scarcely room for the 

 terms " fancy," " choice," etc. If these 

 terms were changed into Latin, they 

 would serve him still better. 



It only requires one or two short les- 

 sons to teach a man that persimmons 

 should look spoiled before they are fit to 

 eat, because it is not pleasant to have 

 one's mouth and throat so puckered up 

 that he cannot swallow what his mouth 

 contains, or, if he attempts its ejection, 

 it will find its way into his shirt bosom. 



In the case of honey there is no 

 trouble. Ripe honey is relished more 

 and more as it is eaten and the appetite 

 for the flavor increases. When the 

 honey is unripe, or the flavor impaired, 

 it is still palatable, and can easily be 

 swallowed, but the wishes for more 

 mouthfuls become less and less imper- 

 ceptibly. After awhile it is not brought 

 from the pantry at all. Finally, to make 

 room for other things, it is doomed to a 

 shelf in the cellar, and when the honey- 

 man comes around next year they tell 

 him, " We don't any of us like honey, 

 and have a quantity on hand which was 

 obtained last year." 



One taste is deceptive. Except by 

 eating of honey for several meals is the 

 flavor found to be tiresome. No dealer 

 tests it in that way. 



The flavor of persimmons, or any 

 other fruit, is better or worse, as Nature 

 decides to make it, and cannot easily be 

 altered by man, just as there is more or 

 less water in the nectar the bees find in 

 the flowers ; but the removal of honey 

 from the hives before the water is ex- 

 pelled, is an artificial proceeding within 

 the easy control of the bee-keeper. The 

 bee-keeper not only has taste as well as 

 the dealer, but may consider how and 

 when it was taken from the care of the 

 bees, where stored, etc. 



In the fall of 1886, I took a load of 

 TOO pounds of extracted and 300 

 pounds of comb honey to sell in Hamp- 

 ton, Franklin county, Iowa. The mar- 

 ket was bare of all honey except a small 

 quantity in the comb. After a canvass 

 of the seven or eight groceries, it was 

 found that 250 pounds of comb and six 

 one-pound jars of extracted abundantly 

 supplied the dealers. 



At last a groceryman, to whom I was 

 trying to sell more of the extracted, 

 broke out, "What do you 'raise' that 

 stuff for, any way ?" " For the money 

 it brings," was the reply. 



" Well, you can't sell any of it in this 

 town. Nobody wants it at any price. 



