HONEY SEASON

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 38, 13 January 1944, Page 4

HONEY SEASON

RECORD HARVEST PROSPECTS

While the dairy-farmer is lamenting the dry season which has caused an alarming drop in butterfat production, a dissimilar view is taken oy honey producers who, it is learned, anticipate a bumper crop this season. It is anticipated that the honey harvest will equal that of 1938, when crops were particularly heavy. In some districts, including the Manawatu, record production is predicted. For several seasons past the crops of honey have been just on the average, but this year, due to the absence of high winds and the prevalence of good "fielding" conditions for bees, together with the abundance of clover available, the hives have been well supplied. , Extracting operations are being carried out at present in the Manawatu, and the bulk of the supply will be marketed by the Internal Marketing Department, through which 70 per cent, of the production passes for distribution to retailers. The producer receives 7d per lb for his honey from the department and he has to supply the tins in which it is packed. He has also to defray other expenses involved in the despatch of consignments to the department, such as freight, labels, and tins. The remainder of the output (30 per cent.) the producer is permitted to dispose of privately at a fixed price of lid per lb, which gives him a much greater profit, it is stated, than that which he makes on the bulk supply to the department.

In the shops honey will bo sold at the same price as last year's. Is 2d per lb carton. The public, it is pointed out by producers, have therefore to pay double the price obtained by the producer from the Internal Marketing Department, which for handling the product raises its cost to lid, leaving tho retailer a margin of 3d profit per lb. Honey flavours vary according to tho type of nectar collected by the bees, and in various districts the fluctuation in flavours is pronounced. In some areas tho product is only slightly flavouVd and in others strongly. It is the function of the department to grade and blend the supplies submitted through it. and as a result the public are supplied with a standardised article, and are precluded from making an . individual selection from brands hitherto marketed by tho producers themselves.

It is understood that .the production of honey has been good throughout the North Island. Honey from the Manawatu district enjoys a good reputation for flavour, due to the variety of blossoms from which the industrious but frail bees make their collection.

Honey _ has not been readily obtainable during the year just past and the prospects of the new season's supply coming on to the market soon will bo welcomed by housewives.