44 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



the opinion of most of the neighbors, as it is 

 always tidy enough for the full comfort of 

 the family, and all who call, except this par- 

 ticular one spoken of above : but she says 

 such housekeeping as neighbor A's wife 

 does, is slovenly. I could not help think- 

 ing of these two women in reading your 

 leader, and what Mr. Baldridge has to say, 

 in A. B. J., of |th rules he formulated at 

 Chicago. The rules of the Chicago conven- 

 tion represent the particular housekeeper, 

 and if they ever become the standard, there 

 will be mighty few people who will "walk 

 into that house" on the first grade plank. 



The rules set forth at the Albany conven- 

 tion represent the other woman, and if they 

 are adopted, all but the particular ones may 

 comfortably walk in. It will be remem- 

 bered that four out of the nine of the com- 

 mittee at Albany were honey dealers. I 

 think it was Mr. Cornell, of Ontario, Canada, 

 who asked, while in that committee meeting, 

 he being chairman of the committee, what 

 the difference in price would be between 

 a fancy article as described as first grade by 

 the Chicago rules, and honey put up accord- 

 ing to the rules adopted at Albany. The 

 dealers replied that it would be hard to get 

 over one cent per pound more for it, and if 

 it were sold for that advance, it would have 

 to be kept in a room by itself and not by the 

 side of the rest, or what would become the 

 bulk of the No. 1 honey in the market ; and 

 these figures seemed to agree with the ex- 

 perience of all on the committee who had 

 tried the experiment of making a grade of 

 honey which might be termed " fancy." 



You say you "notice a disposition on the 

 part of some to oppose the adoption of any 

 grade requiring perfection," and then allow 

 that "some" may mean those favoring the 

 Albany rules. You are right, as far as many 

 of that convention are concerned, for here 

 at the East it will not pay us to make such a 

 grade, as you yourself well know that a 

 penny a pound would not pay for sorting 

 out (using your figures for the perfection 

 part) and carefully fixing up 500 out of 

 10,000 pounds. The difference in price be- 

 tween an article put up according to your 

 outline as fancy, and that of the first grade, 

 would not pay us apiarists here at the East, 

 and that is the reason we are opposed to 

 putting outer cases over our crates, sorting 

 out a few fancy sections out of our pile, etc. 

 We would rather sit down and read the Re- 

 view than spend our time in fussing in that 



way at a loss, for the Review is never read 

 at a loss, or at least has never been so far, 

 and we do not expect it will be, as long as 

 W. Z. H. is at the head. 



My way of putting up honey has been as 

 follows : When all the white honey is oft' the 

 hives, the pile is carefully sorted, and if the 

 year has been a good one, al)0ut half the 

 pile is put together as first grade, which will 

 all come under the rule of first grade, accord- 

 ing to my modification of the Chicago rule, 

 given above. About two-sixths of the pile 

 goes as second grade, and in appearance is 

 about like second grade according to the 

 Albany rules. The remaining one-sixth 

 takes in all the remainder of the pile that is 

 fit or profitable to market at all, and would 

 come under third Albany grade. 



In marking I use the letter X as suggested 

 by Mr. Nellis, having adopted this plan of 

 using it years ago. On the cases containing 

 the first grade I put XXX, on the second 

 grade XX, and on the third grade X. After 

 years of corresponding with commission 

 men, and much talk with different honey 

 producers, I have not been able to see any 

 paying reasons, I mean sufficiently paying, 

 to cause me to abandon the course which I 

 have been pursuing in the past ; hence con- 

 sider them good. 



BoBODiNO, N. Y., .Jan. 25, 1892. 



Accompanying the above was a private 

 note, from which 1 extract the following :— 



The fact is, not one of the committee at 

 Albany, on grading honey, agreed at all with 

 those Chicago rules. I have tried, however, 

 in the article, not to be prejudiced in the 

 least, nor use any terms or language that 

 should offend any. If extra nicety will pay 

 you of the West, go into it, of course, but as 

 it will not pay us here, it would not be reas- 

 onable to try to make what will pay you, 

 bind us, whom it will not pay. 



1 wish to say to you that the Dec. No. of 

 the Review outdid itself : not simply for 

 pictures, (they are an addition), but the 

 matter it contained was of the highest order. 

 All the ideas presented were logical, sensible, 

 to the point, and as bright and clean as a 

 "new dollar." Your new correspondent, 

 Aikin, is a gem. That article of his, if 

 fully comprehended, is worth ten times the 

 price of the Review for a year, to any be- 

 ginner. With best wishes to you and yours, 

 I am yours truly, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE, 



