1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUliE. 



8(53 



Tlic lii'st one was rci-civcd with chci-k tor 

 honey sold on commission. 



Mr. R(ii>t:—V>\' hand you lioivwitli i-lic-L-k foveiiiif;- 

 sales of yoiii- hist shipnu'Ut of ht)iioy to us. Wo luid 

 bad luck with part of it. We made shipment to 

 the country of a lot, and it was refused on account 

 of beinu- hlai-k. We ordered it returned. In the trip 

 it was hadl.v broken up, and we sustained heavy loss 

 on it from leakase and waste. This hist end was 

 what keiit us waiting' so Ion"-. We are now in good 

 shape to handle another shipment for you. One- 

 pound sections nvv the kind that sell best. 



KeYNOLDS & WiLia.VMS. 



Cleveland. O., Nov. 19, 1890. 



The above lot of honey was a part of the car- 

 load received from friend Kail. As it looked 

 very nice when taken from the car, and seemed 

 to be in excel hMit ordei'. therefore we were 

 greatly astonished, and wrote immediately to 

 know what the commission men meant by call- 

 ing it ■■ black.'" I confess that we were some- 

 what stirred up abont it, as a great part of the 

 carload had already be(Mi sold at good ijrices. 

 and no complaints. The hotter below explains: 



Mr. Root: — We are very soriy to have you feel 

 as your letter indicates in res'ard to the honey 

 receipts and report of sales. The writer saw the 

 honej' that was I'eturned, and it was black on the in- 

 side sections while the outer ones were clear and 

 white. We had several shipments returned which 

 ■delayed remittance, and the causes for returning- to 

 us wfere .iust, as the honey was as we have stated. 



Cleveland, O., Nov. 21. Reynolds & Williams. 



There yon have it. friends. From what I 

 know of friend Ball I can not believe tliat he 

 .himself put up his honey, or knew that it was 

 pnt tip with unsightly sections inside and the 

 nice white ones outside; and I confe'ss that I 

 was quite loth to believe that he had in- 

 trusted anybody with packing it for him that 

 would do such a thing. In all great markets it 

 is well known that the man who packs his pro- 

 duce so as to make it show well on the outside, 

 while inside it is poor and unsightly, it sure 

 to get a wide berth on any future shipments. 

 It kills any man's reputation. You remember 

 what Jesus said about the scribes and Phari- 

 sees: 



" Ye make clean the outside of the cup and 

 -of the platter, but within they are full of ex- 

 tortion and excess." 



In fact, I had looked at the honey, and had 

 seen several cases opened, and had taken great 

 comfort in thinking that we hadawhole cdrUxtd 

 t*hat was just as good clear through as it was 

 outside. But I at once hastened to our men 

 who put the honey up for shipment, and some- 

 thing like the following conversation occurred: 



" Mr, W., how many cases of that carload of 

 ■comb honey have you overhauled so as to get a 

 look at the inside sections as well as the o?tt- 

 ■side ones'?" 



'•Oh! quite a few — I don't know exactly how 

 many. Where a case was leaking a little we 

 ■overhauled it and got out the broken section 

 and put a sound one in its place." 



'• Well, did you find any cases of honey that 

 were dark and bad looking inside, with the out- 

 side sections clean and white?" 



" Y'es, there were some put up in just that 

 way, and I showed it to Mr. C, and he replied 

 that the dark ajjpearance was only the result 

 of leaving it too long on the hive — that the 

 ■ qunlity wdS just as good as the other, and he 

 thought it would not be nec(^ssary to go to the 

 trouble of overhauling and repacking." 



So the commission man was right, after all — 

 at least, our honey was open to the charge that 

 the best sections were put on the outside. Mr. 

 C. said afterward that this was not the case 

 with a great many, certainly, for he saw badly 

 stained sections right out against the glass, in- 

 dicating that the packer put at least some of 

 •them in just as they happened to come. 



Now. a great maiiv think this is a small mat- 

 ter, any way. But I tell ynn. it is a nuitter of 

 treiiiciidous im])ort to iioney-i)rodncer and hon- 

 ey-dealer. The thing has come up so many 

 tinu'S that our grocers are sore and sensitive; 

 and just as soon as they begin to oi>en a pack- 

 age of goods, and lind it put up with the best 

 outside, they get indignant. Who can blame 

 them? Had this dark or stained honev been 

 put by itself, and sold at what it would' bring, 

 it would have saved condemning, and selling at 

 a low figure, perhaps quite a quantity of tirst- 

 class white honey. I know there are some who 

 say that th<» hon(>y that has been longest on 

 the hive is the best rijjened. and is thci'efore 

 uot infei'ior: but when it comes to Thanksgiv- 

 ing, or Christmas, circumstances demand that 

 he who wants something nice-looking should 

 have it. Our daughter Constance has just 

 come home from Ob(M-lin to siiend Thanksgiv- 

 ing. Like the average schoolgirl of 18, she has 

 a big appetite for every thing belonging to 

 home, especially for fn'iits and dainties. On 

 my way home from the union prayer-meeting I 

 stepped in at one of our leading groceries to 

 get something to please " Blue Eyes." As I 

 looked over their display, what sort of goods do 

 you suppose I picked out? Why, like everybody 

 else I wanted something handsome-looking— 

 something that would make the whole house- 

 hold lift up their hands in admiration. Of 

 course, I wanted it good too. But I was ready 

 to pay— shall I say double price?— to have 

 something that looked perfect to the eye. 

 What I mean is. some perfect and faultless 

 specimen of dame Nature's handiwork. I paid 

 20 cents per lb. for .some beautiful clusters of 

 white grapes— that is, just a few— etc. Now, 

 dear bee-keeping friends, do you see what the 

 great outside world demands' of us, and wants 

 us to do? The beautiful litthi text, " Thinketh 

 no evil," is making big headway in the hearts 

 of our people; and when we give way to this 

 foolish, selfish longing for the thirty pieces of 

 silver, as Judas did, we are not only killing 

 ourselves spiritually, but we are also killing 

 ourselves fiiiancialiy. In fact, we are doing 

 just the thing to spoil for ever any possible 

 chance of getting hold of any silver at all; and, 

 besides that, if we are professors of religion we 

 are tempting this great outside world to say, 

 " There, there. Not any more of that, if you 

 please. If that is Christianity, I think I would 

 rather buy my stuff of somebody who does not 

 make any profession." What shall it profit a 

 man if he gain the whole world and lose his 

 own soul? But you see he does 7)ot gain the 

 world either. The UK>rld is lost and the soul is 

 lost — everji thiiid is lost. This is Thanksgiving 

 day, and ten o'clock in the morning. May the 

 Lord help us all to shake off this fearful night- 

 mar*; of selfishness that seems so bound to set- 

 tle down upon us unless we are holding fast to 

 the strong arm of Him who went about doing 

 good, and who went through the world and 

 lived a human life, but who came out victori- 

 ous, a model and a pattern of all that is unself- 

 ish. Ife ■' pleased not himself." 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



(JAROKNIN(f IX DKCKMBKIJ, 



It is now the day before Thanksgiving. We 

 have beautiful (Jrand Rapids lettuce in the 

 open ground, still unharmed by frost. And this 

 reminds me that the Rund New-Yorker makes 

 a suggestion that is new to me, and possibly is 

 of considerable value to the market-gardener; 



