THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



149 



Yes, we have had some cori'espoudeuce with 

 Mr. Porter, aud knew the line in which he 

 was at work, hut he declined to allow the 

 publication of his correspondence. He now 

 says that we may — 



"Tell Rambler not to get the blues yet. 

 even if Mr. Dibbern's latest effort in the es- 

 cape line fails to come up to his ideal. He 

 may yet have others to choose from, and 

 those, too, of the kind for which Mr. Dib- 

 bern has all along predicted failure. That 

 is, those having working parts. 



My experience (which is by no means 

 limited ) with escapes of all kinds, leads me 

 to conclude that a perfect escape cannot be 

 made without such parts. If Mr. Dibbern 

 had predicted failure for escapes having 

 hinged parts, ho would have been more 

 nearly correct. More anon. 



Mr. Porter has more to say in the adver- 

 tising columns. 



BIG PRICES FOB EXTKAOTED HONEY — HONEY 



HOUSES — don't advise HONEY FOB 



COOKING PUEPOSES. 



\Ve wrote to M. M. Baldridse asking for 

 his views and experience in regard to mar- 

 keting honey. He replied the ''spirit did 

 not move" him to write, but that he had, 

 early in the year, had a long correspondence 

 with Mr. Heddon on this subject, and that we 

 were welcome to his letters if we could get 

 them of Mr. Heddon. We secured them, 

 and from them we glean the following : — 



In the first place it fairly "makes his 

 blood boil " to see what "fools " bee-keepers 

 make of themselves in selling their extracted 

 honey for less than they do their comb hon- 

 ey. He gets twenty cents a pound for both 

 comb and extracted honey. He carries sam- 

 ples of each, and sells five pounds of either 

 for .fl.OO. No order is taken for a less 

 amount. His customers are given their 

 choice, and almost invariably they take the 

 extracted. He doubts the policy of telling 

 consumers how much more honey we can get 

 by extracting ; that we can sell it cheaper, 

 etc. Says it is none of their business. Life 

 is too short to tell all this and then explain 

 the reasons why. Aud when through, not 

 one in 100 understands and believes. If 

 he does, he thinks what a fool the bee-keep- 

 er is not to keep his mouth shut upon this 

 point. Mr. Baldridge simply says : " Here 

 is a sam pie of comb honey, and here is a 

 sample of the same honey separated from 

 the comb — now take your choice : the price 

 is the same." As we have stated, the major- 

 ity chooses the extracted. In one small vil- 

 lage, only three out of seventy-five orders 



were for comb honey. Mr. B. says : "When 

 people are willing to pay 20 to 2.'"i cents per 

 dozen for eggs, 12>2 cents per pound for 

 sausage, 2'> to 80 cents per pound for butter, 

 .'') or 10 cents per drink for whisky, or from ;"> 

 to 25 cents for a worthless cigar, they have 

 no right to complain at 20 cents per pound 

 for honey — either comb or extracted — when 

 gathered from clover or basswood." 



We have no doubt that had bee-keepers al- 

 ways asked tlie same price for extracted 

 honey as for comb honey, and should con- 

 tinue to ask it, it would be paid unhesitat- 

 ingly. Neither do we doubt that a high 

 price — the same as that obtained for comb 

 honey — might be gotten for extracted honey, 

 exactly as our friend says, from people who 

 are ignorant in regard to modern methods 

 of honey production. But, to universally 

 keep the price of any article, so universally 

 produced as extracted honey, very much above 

 its cost, is impossilile. A new commodity is 

 often sold at a high price, but is a natural 

 law that everything eventually finds its 

 level — is sold at a price that is in proportion 

 to its cost. 



Continuing, Mr. Baldridge says; "The 

 longer I continue in the honey trade the 

 stronger is my belief that every large city 

 ought to have at least one house devoted ex- 

 clusively to honey. It ought to be kept as 

 clean and as free from bad odors as a pri- 

 vate house ; and, at no time, should the tem- 

 perature of the comb honey department be 

 allowed to go below freezing. It is my be- 

 lief that comb honey ought always to be 

 kept in a hot, dry room, and that when thus 

 treated it may be kept at least one year, 

 perhaps two or three years, without any ap- 

 preciable deterioration. I know that Cal- 

 ifornia comb honey has been kept in Chi- 

 cago at least two years, and apparently it 

 was as nice as when first received. This is 

 an important point in years when there is a 

 large surplus. But few commission houses 

 are fitted up properly for keeping comb 

 honey in the condition indicated. Besides, 

 commission men handle too many other ar- 

 ticles, such as fruit, hides, calves, etc., to 

 give proper attention to honey. As a rule, 

 honey with them is a side issue. One large 

 honey house in each of our large cities prop- 

 erly managed, would handle and dispose of 

 more honey each year than all of the com- 

 mission men combined. Besides, such a 

 house would attract attention, and make 

 the business of honey production respectable 



