ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 63 
but very little honey; but I have always noticed that, if rightly done, 
it is sure to bring good results. If we get a family to commence using 
honey they are sure to continue as long as we supply them with a 
good article at a moderate price. We have several customers who buy 
a 160 lb. keg of dark extracted honey every year for their own family 
use. They have got used to having it on their table, and they tell 
me they don’t see how they could get along without it. They started 
by buying a ten-pound pail once a year. One man in particular bought 
six kegs this fall to retail out to his neighbors. This man never bought 
any honey until four years ago, when a friend of mine sold him a pail- 
ful. I speak of these incidents to show how easy it would be to start a 
large demand for our honey if each one went to work in the right way 
to bring it about. 
Now in connection with the selling of honey let me say a few words 
in regard to producing. For some time there has been an almost un- 
limited demand for light extracted unless it is water-white and can 
compete with the water-white honey of California. This white honey 
is a hard thing for us to compete with and for this reason I would 
suggest that we try hard to have all our light honey put in sections, 
and sold as comb honey, and all our dark honey extracted. This 
would relieve the comb-honey market to quite an extent, and cause those 
who prefer dark honey, as many do, to buy dark extracted for their 
table use. I am often asked what our dark extracted honey is mostly 
used for. I find out from those who handle large quantities that the 
Jews are our best customers for this grade of honey, They not only 
eat a great deal, but use it extensively to make a certain drink which 
they like during their holidays. One of the largest dealers in New 
York told me last summer that these people used more dark extracted 
honey than all other classes put together. Then our large bakeries use 
considerably more dark extracted than they do light, and it is the 
same with all manufacturers who use honey. A very intelligent Jew 
once told me that their people were suspicious of all light honey, but 
had confidence in dark honey being what it claimed to be. 
Personally we have been very fortunate in being able to sell all 
the honey we could produce, at a good price, as soon as it was ready 
for market; but I know that many others are not so fortunate, and it: 
is for them that I hope some way will be devised so they may turn: 
their surplus honey into ready money. 
In attempting to write on this subject I fully realize that I am not 
competent to do justice to the question; but I hope you may find in 
the above some little thread that, when woven in with the knowledge 
of others, will be the means of bringing a better market to us all. 
