144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



hot, and then use a spoon with which to 

 pour a small quantity along- the edge of the 

 foundation, which is first placed squarely 

 in the center of the top-bar. 



The question has been asked me, "How 

 about it when the extracted part candies?" 

 Well, you will either have to dispose of the 

 honey before it candies, or teach your cus- 

 tomers that there is no finer dish on earth 

 than a fine grade of candied bufk comb 

 honej'. Our Texas trade does not object to 

 candied honey in the least, as it has learn- 

 ed that honey is really better in its candied 

 state. I fully realize, however, that this 

 propensity to candy will be one of the draw- 

 backs to its production in the North, and so 

 would advise all to go slowly until they 

 have a ready market for it before cold 

 weather, or until they can teach their cus- 

 tomers that it is really better candied. 

 Several of the parties writing- me say that 

 they have already experimented with the 

 article in a small way, and are fully con- 

 vinced that my statements are correct. I 

 was not aware, until the receipt of these let- 

 ters, that the bulk-comb idea had so thor- 

 oughly permeated the minds of Northern 

 bee-keepers. 



Before I close, let me ask all to call this 

 product "bulk comb honey" in contradis- 

 tinction to the miserable stuff sometimes 

 put on the market, taken from box hives 

 and logs, and called chtmk honey. While 

 the term "bulk comb" may convey an idea 

 more of quantity? than quality or kind, yet 

 it is the best term we can use to be under- 

 stood. 



Floresville, Texas. 



[Chunk comb honey is somewhat in dis- 

 repute, it is true, from the fact that it used 

 to represent the product of the old box hive, 

 and was a mixture of every thing — old 

 combs, dead bees, pollen, propolis, wax- 

 worms, light and dark honey — in fact, a 

 little of every thing- that may come from an 

 old-fashioned box hive. Bulk comb honey, 

 as Mr. Hyde would have us call it, repre- 

 sents an entirely different product — the very 

 best table honey, being a mixture of the 

 best extracted and the whitest comb honey. 

 Some of my chance acquaintances have spo- 

 ken in glowing- terms of the " real honey " 

 of "father's table," as if that in sections 

 was manufactured. To argue with them 

 that the latter is just as pure is almost a 

 hopeless task. Sometimes I think we 

 might just as well satisfy their whims by 

 giving- them what they will accept, and I 

 do not know of anj' thing- very much nicer 

 than clean sparkling- extracted honey, of 

 g-ood qualit}% having- chunks of delicious 

 comb honey mixed in it, of the same grade 

 and quality. When such goods can be dis- 

 played to the consumer, and he knows it is 

 all honey, he very likely would take it in 

 preference to either comb or extracted sep- 

 arate. 



A correspondent near Oakland, Cal., 

 once went out and peddled some of his very 

 white comb honey in tall sections among the 



wealthy class. They would have none of 

 it. Some of them were from " down east." 

 What did he do? He went home and cut 

 that honey out of the sections, and mixed 

 with it a nice grade of extracted, and sent 

 another man around with the goods. The 

 same people accepted that at once. Why, 

 that was honey, just like that used 3'ears 

 ago on "father's table." Of course, they 

 could easily sample it — something they 

 could not do with the pearly-white comb 

 honey in sections; and the mere taste of it 

 was enough to assure them that it was all 

 right. But our readers will remember our 

 friend was disgusted with modern bee cul- 

 ture and modern traps. He was going to 

 give the people what they asked for, and he 

 did.— Ed.] 



INSISTENCE, PERSISTENCE, SUCCESS. 

 An Interesting Incident in Peddling Bottled Honey. 



BY PENN G. SNYDER. 



In canvassing about to find new custom- 

 ers for my honey I ran across a case that I 

 thought might help some other poor down- 

 trodden bee-man in the same pursuit. 



I have my honey put up in pound bottles 

 with paraffine over top, and capped with a 

 white paper on which I have my trademark. 



To begin with, I first knocked at the door 

 and an old ladj' of about 70 or thereabouts 

 opened it. I began bj' saying, "I am look- 

 ing for customers for hone3^ I have my 

 own bees; extract my own honey; fill my 

 own bottles as you see them, and sell it for 

 the small price of 15 cts. a pound. I can 

 guarantee it to be pure, for I have seen it 

 from the hive to bottle." 



The lady said, "You can't sell me liquid 

 honey. I have been fooled too many times. 

 I like comb honey better, anyhovv'." 



She was about to shut the door when I 

 said, "Now, I have mj^ name stamped on 

 each bottle, and I can't give a better guar- 

 antee." 



She said, "I do not know 3'ou, and have 

 never heard of you or your hone)' — where 

 do you come from, anj'how?" 



I started to explain where I was located, 

 and she knew the place thoroughly, as she 

 had lived near the piroperty for about thirty 

 years. 



I said, "Now I should like you to try 

 this, as I am sure you will want more." 



She said she would take it; but when I 

 told her I charg-ed 2 cts. extra for the bottle, 

 which I refunded on its return, she said, 

 "Uh! — well, I guess I don't want it." 



I said, "Well, I do not think you could 

 buy honey at as low a price elsewhere. I 

 am selling it for 15 cts. As I am compelled 

 to buy the bottles I sell them for the same 

 price they cost me — 2 cts. apiece." 



Still she didn't want any. By this time 

 I was getting disheartened, but was inter- 

 ested enough to make her take it if it was 

 possible, so I said: 



"Well, you don't seem to think the honey 



