42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



not reached a general perfection in this 

 line by a considerable. 



Mr. Mandelbauni truly says there are 

 honest and dishonest beemen, just as in 

 other pursuits. Last fall I personall}' 

 handled about three car loads of honey; 

 beisdes being a member of a company 

 that handle-d as much or more. I bought 

 one lot of comb that looked nice through 

 the glass, yet behind it was all sorts of 

 stuff; crooked, partly sealed and partly 

 filled sections. Brethren, do not boast in 

 print or othet"wise of the wonderful hon- 

 esty of bee-keepers as a class; they are 

 of same materal as other people. 



I am not going to lay down here a set 

 of grading rules; honey varies in so many 

 particulars that it is almost impossible to 

 live up to a fixed set of rules. The grad- 

 ing of honey is in a large measure a thing 

 to be seen in order to know how to do it; 

 and for this very reason, isolated apiarists, 

 whether because of distance or simply be- 

 cause they do not stir themselves and 

 find out, cannot properly grade. If in 

 every producing community there was a 

 central depot or packing house, and the 

 apiarists could haul their honey there to 

 be graded, they would soon learn. 



There is one general rule that it seems 

 to me should be followed by every produ- 

 cer who produces for the retail trade 

 (that means every one who sells on the 

 general market or puts honey into the 

 hands of the grocer direct), it is the use 

 of separators. Scrape all the rough pro- 

 polis off the sections, I do not sa}' all the 

 stains, making the wood look neat. A 

 planed board shows colors, it is not a 

 rough board, plane the rough off your 

 sections with a knife or similar tool so it 

 is neat. 



For every grade above No. 2, have 

 every section with no honey beyond the 

 wood, and all the honey sealed. Pack in 

 smooth and regular cases, and have the 

 face show the average of the whole case. 

 As for fastening of honey to the wood, 

 never put in a section you would not risk 

 any of your boys to take to the store, or 

 that you would not dare to haul to mar- 



ket in a common wagon on ordinary roads 

 and with reasonable care. Mr. Mandel- 

 bauni says put your name on the case but 

 never your address; but I saj' put on both, 

 for then I know there will be very little 

 dishonest grading. 



I must surely criticise Mr. Mandel- 

 baum in advocating deception of custo- 

 mers; selling them one thing, they hav- 

 ing asked for and expecting another. 

 Because the customer does not know the 

 difference between one kind and another 

 is no valid excuse for deceiving him. 

 Begin to deceive and where will we draw 

 the line and stop ? The proper way is to 

 tell your customer what you have, the 

 reputation of the goods, and get him to 

 try them. 



Mr. Mandelbaum says pack the honey 

 in large crates, eight cases to the crate, 

 when shipped in less than car lots. I 

 have never taken kindly to those bulky 

 crates, and I cannot say that I believe 

 them the best. I favor a smaller crate 

 that a man can pick up and carry all by 

 himself. Two cases in one crate are suf- 

 ficient, and can be so crated as to be al- 

 most invariably right to stand a shock, 

 and less likely to be shocked. I approve 

 the idea of crating the cases, but not so 

 heayy and bulky. Several years ago I 

 invented a crate which was described and 

 illustrated in Gleanings in May 1898 page 

 380. I have used such a crate and know 

 it is a good thing and am sure it is more 

 safe than the big, two-man affair. 



I meant to say more about the name 

 and address of the producer being on the 

 case, and lest I forget it will say it here 

 although a little disconnected. As I in- 

 timated above, if a bee-keeper puts both 

 name and address on his honey, it will be 

 almost a guarantee that he will grade 

 honestly, that is, to be the best of his 

 judgment, for a producer would not be 

 so unwise as to willingly and knowingly 

 send out under his full name and address, 

 goods that would be a detriment to his 

 business. I can very easily understand 

 that the middleman would want the ad- 

 dress left off so that he might substitute 



