322 Beekeeping 



High-class retail packages. 



The bottling of honey for the higher class markets requires 

 considerable skill and the beekeeper usually leaves this work 

 to the jobber, who has the necessary equipment and facilities 

 for buying honey from various sources. There can be little 

 question, however, that many beekeepers could well afford 

 to go to the additional trouble and expense of putting honey 

 in attractive, artistic packages for the trade that is ready to 

 pay a good price for a high-class product. 



An important consideration is the shape of the bottle. 

 If possible this should not be a stock bottle such as is used 

 either by other beekeepers or is obviously employed in the 

 bottling of other commodities. An odd shape or a bottle 

 made for the purpose on an original design will prove a good 

 advertisement. The neck of the bottle must of course be 

 wide. A cheap, homely label will do much to render a 

 package unattractive. Above all, a label should not be 

 used which obviously is used by hundreds of beekeepers 

 and which has the name of the producer printed in a space 

 left vacant in the making of the original design. It is possible 

 to make labels in this way which do not tell their history too 

 loudly, but to a bottler who sells honey in considerable quan- 

 tities the expense of having a distinctive, attractive label 

 designed and lithographed will be many times repaid. The 

 beekeeper should note that the extensive bottlers have 

 learned this. 



Blending. 



In a single apiary it is impossible to get honey of the same 

 flavor and color year after year because of differences in the 

 nectar secretion, due to climatic differences. It is rarely 

 desirable to attempt to bottle honey of one source, such as 

 white clover, because of seasonal variations which, the con- 

 sumer does not understand. If, however, honeys from two 

 or more sources are blended, the seasonal variations are 

 hidden and it is possible to give the consumer honey which 

 looks the same and has the same taste year after year. In 



