Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-08-14
FORTUNES MADE In HONEY.
A YANKEE WHO GOT QUEEN VIC.
TO TASTE AMERICAN NECTAR.
The Big Orders for New York Honey that
Followed from the Britishers--Profit-
able Bee Ranches.
Special Correspondence of the Sentinel.


Special Correspondence of the Sentinel.
PHILADELPHIA, August 5.-Seeing
that the SENTINEL desires to encour-
age the honey making industry, by
offering premium for the best exhib
it at your approaching county fair,
have thought that letter regarding
this industry might not be uninterest-
ing to your readers who seemed to
relish my letter on the Dried Fruit
trade.
had conversation to-day with q
large wholesale honey dealer. He
said, "While California is the greatest
bee-ranching or honey-making region
in the world, owing to the excellence
of its climate and the endless variety
of its honey-yielding flowers, the quail
ity of its honey does not excel, even
if it equals, that of the honey made in
New York State
zone of the most extensive bee cul-
turists in this or any other country"
he continued, sis Capt. Hetherington,
whose apiaries along the Cherry Val
ley Creek, in Schoharie county, annu-
ally turn out over 100000 pounds of
the choicest honey. 1t takes nine
men and two steam saw mills five
weeks to prepare the lumber for the
boxes in which the honey is made by
his bees. Nearly 10000 panes of
glass, about six inches square, are u.s.
ed in these boxes. Capt. Hethering
ton has at work this season nearly D.
500 swarms of bees These are not
all ON his own premises, but are scat
tered among the orchards and fields of
farmers along the creek, to whom he
pays a rent for the privilege of his
bees working in the clover, buekwheat
or whatever blossoms are in season on
the farms. The care of these bees
does not fall upon the owner of the
land. Capt. Hetherington keeps men
and teams constantly employed look
ing out for them. He has received as
much as $4,000 for one seasons crop.
"Another large York State bee
keeper is G.. b. 1sham, of Peoria. Up to
1879 there was no market in England
for American honey. The English
dealers would not handle it, and the
periodicals devoted to the interests of
bee keepers in that country in every
possible way. The reason for this
was that they knew the superiority of
American honey, both in flavor and
appearance, over the British article,
and were aware d. if it were once
introduced in Lol Ion it would be a
great blow to the trade in . the home
supply. There was smart Yankee
named Hege working for grocery in
this city, and he assured his employ
ers that it they would give him the
commission he would manage to place
American honey on the English mar
ket. A large lot of Isham's honey,
which the firm was then handling,
was packed, just as it came from the
hives, and Hoge was sent to London
with it. He found he needed all his
Yankee ingenuity and acuteness, for
he met with universal opposition from
the dealers. He labored with them
for weeks to nopurpose. In conversa-
tion one day with the proprietor of
the hotel at which he stopped, the lat
ter told Hoge that if he could manage
to have his honey introduced on the
table of Queen Victoria it would solve
the problem at once, for if she was
pleased with it she would commune
cate with Hoge through the Lord
Steward. This communication once
made public would make American
honey the fashion in England
"a former Lord Steward was
friend to the hotel keeper and was at
that time engaged largely in the man
ufacture and sale of pickles This
man the landlord introduced to Hoge.
They dined together. Hoge gave the
pickle man an immense order for his
goods, to be sent to the American gro
Ger. More wine followed, and before
the ex-Lord Steward went away he
promised to use his influence to have
the 4 merican honey introduced on the
royal table. He succeeded in inducing
the then Lord Steward, Sir John Cow
ell, to accept box of the honey for
the queen, and to serve it on her ta-
BILE. The Queen was so delighted
with the honey that she directed the
Lord Steward to present her thanks
to the donor, to order supply of ten
cases at once, and to keep American
honey constantly on the royal table.
"Hoge lost no time in making this
communication public. The conse-
quence was that the opinion of Amer
lean honey was changed at once, and
Hoge came back to New York secret
ly laughing at the Britishers, but re-
joicing over an order for half a million
pounds of American honey for the
English markets, which he carried in
his pocket The demand for it has in
creased ever since, and the trade that
was started in New York State honey
is now largely shared in by the Cali
fornia product.
In California there are no long win
ters, with dearth of flowers, through
which the bees must be fed by artific-
ial means, and in the mouth of almost
every canon there is bee-ranch or
apiary. The bee keeper of the Pacific
coast is not beset by as many difficult
ties as confront his Eastern brother,
and he grows indolent and rich from
the labor Of his ever-industrious
brown-winged servants. These bee
ranches are models of neatness and
comfort, and the business is so light,
pleasant, and profitable, and requires
so little capital at the start, that it is