THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



I will admit that I believe if sugar is fed 

 to bees uuder exactly the right conditions 

 the product will be so changed that it is 

 practically a variety of honey. But these 

 conditions are almost impossible to secure 

 in practice. 



The sugar muat be fed at some distance 

 from the hives. There are few places where 

 this would be possible. No one could afford 

 to feed all the bees for miles around, to say 

 nothing of the wasps, hornets and wild bees 

 of various kinds that so freely visit out-door 

 feeders. Tlie impracticability of this robs 

 the scheme of its only chance of an hone-t 

 success. It will probably be tried by feed- 

 ing in the hive. It will be fed more rapidly 

 than the bees can change it. Very likely a 

 cheaper grade of sugar will be used, and the 

 result will be that the product will be un- 

 mistakably from sugar, and if only a little 

 of this stuff is placed upon the market, it 

 may prove a lasting injury to pure hoiiey. 

 Some men might produce a good article and 

 sell it honestly. Many would do neither. 

 There is everything to lose and little to gain. 

 Why encourage the thing? 



While I am sorry that you admitted the 

 Hasty article, I am glad to see you have the 

 courage of your convictions and stand by it. 

 Your subscribers will at least know that you 

 will not drift with every wind. 



Datton, 111. Mar. 25, 18it2. 



The Grading of Honey of No Value, 

 and How it May do Harm. 



-Why 



OpStlE first thing to consider, in the grad- 

 GW^ ing of comb honey, is to get some to 

 grade, the next, is to decide why it is 

 to be graded ; and next, what good will be 

 accomplished if grading is established. 



I suppose that the Northwestern bee keep- 

 ers at Chicago discussed the first proposition 

 until they thought they had worn it out, and 

 then took up the subject of establishing a 

 grade, or grades, because they had nothing 

 else to do ; at least it looks that way to me. 

 I can see no use of an established grade 

 unless bee keepers expect to sell by it. If 

 so, it seems to me they will be obliged to 

 have a regular system of inspection in all 

 the markets where their honey is sold, so 

 that honey of any grade can be sold without 

 the purchaser seeing it : the same as wheat, 

 corn and all kinds of grain is sold at present 

 in Chicago and all the large cities. If this 



is the object of the grading, it will be well to 

 ask who will appoint the inspectors, who will 

 have to pay them, and who will receive the 

 benefit of the inspection, the buyer, the 

 seller or the commission man ? 



Now, I believe it is a fact that it is admit- 

 ted by all the country grain shippers and 

 grain raisers that the Chicago grain inspec- 

 tion is the biggest steal upon the producers 

 of grain that has ever been perpetrated upon 

 any people. 



There is no way of knowing, when you 

 load a car with grain for the Chicago market, 

 whether it will go No. 1, 2, ;'., or even no 

 grade. A load of half-rotten, musty grain, 

 is as likely to inspect No. 2 as is good, sound, 

 clean grain. Under these conditions the 

 buyer does not pay the price of No. 2 corn 

 to the raiser, although he may know that it 

 is No. 2 by the requirements of the inspec- 

 tion, consequently he pays the price of a 

 lower grade. If it happens to pass as No. 2 

 it is his good luck, but the producer has to 

 pocket the loss all the same. I had occasion 

 to ship a load of rye a short time since. 

 The requirements of the inspection on No. 2 

 rye is that " it shall be good berry, dry and 

 reasonably clean." This rye was raised by 

 myself, was plump, bright, clean and dry, 

 and had been kept in the bin from about 

 August 1st to Nov. 1st, and was as hard as 

 flint with not a grown kernel in it. It was 

 sold as No. 3 rye and return made in accord- 

 ance with that grade, which was about six 

 cents less than No. 2 was bringing. 



I protested, and the commission man sent 

 me the official certificate of inspection, 

 which read something like this, "Car No. 

 509, No. 3 rye, soft and grown." 



It is only a few years since that a promi- 

 nent newspaper of Chicago published a 

 statement of the amount of wheat inspected 

 in and out of the Chicago elevators, and the 

 report showed that several hundred thou and 

 bushels more of No. 1 wheat was inspected 

 out than was inspected in, the elevator men 

 pocketing the difference. 



Now, if you want to establish a grade for 

 the purpose of having an inspector, can you 

 expect the producers to receive any fairer 

 treatment than the producers of grain? If 

 not, then what do you want of it ? 



I presume that all honey producers, or 

 perhaps I Ijetter say apiarists, grade their 

 honey. That is, the whitest and nicest is not 

 packed with the indifferent, and each man 

 packs as he thinks is for his interest, and 



