The Greeley tribune., 1910-05-19
The Honey BUSINESS

and was written by w. l.. Porter:
Most of the honey In Colorado is
produced by bcekeepers that are
making Il business OF II. and through
the long summer months. as they are
toilipg at their work, they are con-
stantly turning over In their minds
how much cash Will II be possible
for us to realize for our seasons
crop of honey. Then the question
arises how can we convert our honey
into the most dollars and cents in
the shortest time with the least
labor and expense? The money bust
ness has reached such large proper
tions in Colorado that 1t ia possible
to market but a small part of IL in
our own state. Then the second
question presents itself. which is a
very important one. how can we lay
our honey down in the markets OF
the eastern states with the least cx-
pcnsc and ST the highest possible
price? This, I answer. can be done
best by corporation. We find by
observation for number of years
that the first honey ready for market
brings the highest price. The In
quiries for honey in car lots for Au-
gust and September are numerous,
and the demand is greater than we
can hll for the supply is not so great
as it might be. on account of the
slowness with which beekeepers get
their honey in. AS the season ad-
vances the calls for Colorado honey
are less and the price weakens.
| II any of us are fortunate enough
to produce car of honey. we can
not have IL ready for shipment in
| August as II is impossible to have II
/ h;x.A MOI For
and then II takes time to handle it
and case it ready for market. Then.
IL we wish to avail ourselves of the
best market, we can only do II by
co-operation-each beekeeper bring
| ing his honey. as fast as he can get II
ready. to common point and by so
doing we can bring together car
at the earliest possible time. In
this way n car can be shipped In the
/ latter part of July. u number of cars
| in August and so on through Sep
tember and Ostobcr. until the larger
proportion OF the crop has been sold
The beekeepcr who gets the most
of his honey early Is the one that
will realize the most money for his
crop: the one who gets ii fairly dis
tributed through the entire season
will get the average price: and the
one who gets his crop in late will
get the minimum price. The bee
keeper who sells part OF his honey
early gets part of his cash early,
which enables him to meet out
standing bills that have accumulated.
I loaded the first car of honey ship
ped from Colorado. which was in
January. 1891. Since that time
great many cars have been shipped
and have had the supervision of a
COON many OF them. receiving and
loading the cars. and | find gener-
ally II is pleasant and agreeable. But
sometimes II is not so easy and there
are difficulties that do not need to
exist n we all knew how to- get
things ready and would act accord
/ ingly many of the difficulties OF car
loading would disappear.
The first step. then. Is to get the
honey ready for market as early as
possible. The bees begin to finish
up supers about July 10 and the
sooner the super Is taken on the
whittier will be the honey and the
higher will It grade. lhe bees should
always have plenty OF room but not
/ too much room Many beekeepers
seem to get excited when the honey
flow comes and rush on too many
supers. On this account I often find
whole crops Of honey running light
SO II is not satisfactory even in sec
ond or No. 2 grade, when the pro-
duccr thinks II ought to be No. l.
This Is common trouble and I want
to caution all beekeepers not to tier
up too fast. Give the bees room
enough. but not too much. Another
common trouble Ia bad grading.
White and amber honey are mixed.
This maker contrast and Is sure
to throw the whole lot into No. 2.
when large proportion would grade
N. n kept separate. Put the white
honey in one case. the next shade In
another and 10 on up to the darkest.
In this way more OF II will grade
No. | than n mixed. Have all clean.
new cases The double-tier twenty
four-pound case la becoming more
and more in favor. not only In the
Denver market. but In the east,
Some OF our eastern customers have
requested that the honey be shipped
In double-tier cases
The manager OF our Colorado
Honey Producers association has
cited number OF instances In which
the nat and single-tier case has had
the greater amount OF damaged
honey. The cases are light and thin
with large surface on the top on
which objects may be thrown. They
are of thin lumber and give corner
wise. 30 that the honey is wrenched
in the comb. 1t would be far more
satisfactory in loading II each com
munfty would use case made by
the same factory. so that they would
all be uniform in size. Or, 1t would
still be more sensible n all factories
would make n uniform standard
case.