Retailing Comb Honey

There is need for a good, cheap and Bubstantial way to put up small quantitirs of comb honey to preserve it f rom being broken until the purchaser can get it to his home. Thn plan that one beekeeper has used for ten years and gives an illustrated deseription of in The American Bee Journal may not be the best,.but it is convenieut and ive when the material can be obtained with Httle trouble and expense. Here is what he says about his method : What I use is callee! " basket splints" at the shops. I think almost any basket shop will sell the material very cheaply if you will order it at a time when they are the least crowded with other work, say iu the winter or early spring. The size I use is abont 17 inches long, 4J inches wide and one-twelfth inch thiok made from basswood timber. These, I score across with the point of a knife, so they will bend at the scored places and not breaJ off. To score the splints in the right place I use blocks of thin' lumber cut the right sizeto score where I want them scored. These blocks I lay on the splints and score along each edge of the blocks with the point of a knife. The number of sections sold is set out, and then the splints are scored just right for that number of sections. Then the splints are wrapped around the sections and tied with twine; then a paper is wrapped around the package and again tied with twine. This niakes a good, solid package, and the customer cannot easily stick his fingers into the houey until it is untied. Sometimes when I have a little leisure I tie up a number of these pack ages so a customer does not have to wait for it to be done. By putting up paokages containing one, two, three, four, five and six sfictions each you will be able by combining these to give the customer the exact amount he may want. You can put it up in packages containing aa exact amount, as 25 cent, 50 cent or $1 packages or almost any other amount, as the sections will vary a little in weighfc, and you can select the ones that will rnake it come about even for the pricb you may need. I sgll the most 50 cent and $1 packages. Some of the packages have a convenieut handle or bail to cover them by. These are for the "foot folk" and those on bicycles or those who go on the train and wish to tako a package to a friend. This bail is made by cutting the twine long enongh to weave back and fonvard a few times. It pays to mako it easy and oonvenient for a customer to handle these packages. He gets his honey home without breaking the cappings or having aiiy mess about it and is much more likely to want more. Talue of Mncky Soils. Thero is wide difference of opinión among farmers as to the valne of mucky soils. This suggests a difference in the fertility of such soils, and especially of theiradaptability to certain crops. It is not often that graindoes well on muck, mainly because it is generally deficiënt in mineral fertility. Almost alwaya a dressing of potash will add greatly to the fertility of mucky soils. It will help the decomposition of vegetable matter, aside from supplying crops with the mineral plant food they require. ■ Phosphate also is needed on mucky soils where grainissown. The grain requires the phosphate to make a erop, and the .decomposition of muck in contact with the mineral keepsthe latter in condition to be used, when in soils lacking vegetable matter the phosphate will revert and become insoïuble. The most important consideration about muck is the kind of plant it was-ade from. In very wet land it is usually decomposed carbon, containing vory little nitrogenous matter ; henee even when cultivated it decomposes slowly. Where quick growth is desired, as with garden vegetables, muck is much beuefited by the addition either of stable manure or of commercial nitrates. These hasten decompositiou of the muck, making a great amount of plant food availabla - American Cultivator. Odd Mention. It no longer pays to grow over fat hogs. A thrifty pig with plenty of lean meat and little fat will briug the highest niarket price. Professor Lat ta of the Indiana station, after investigating the behavior of winter oats in that state, cousiders them unreliable. He would sow them only where spring oats are unprofitable and then only in a small way. Let the Irish potatoes be well dried out before they are stored away either in the cellar or pits. Farm and Pireside says: "Even at present low prices the farmer who produces 25 bushels an acre finds a profit in raising wheat. " In the report of Commissioner Boardman of Iowa 525 creaineries reported 52,204 patrons. Be prepared to shelter the stock as boou as the nights begin to get cold. Do not put corn into the silo till it ia ripe enough to cut and shock for fodder.1