THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



there are men perhaps who have been at it 

 loner enough so that their brand upon a case, 

 if it is marked No. 1, is a guaranty of fine 

 quality ; and this to the man who is ac- 

 quainted with the brand is sufficient : but to 

 the stranger it is no good, and he wants to 

 see the inside of the case. This is the case 

 with all goods, and there is no certainty that 

 because you have put a No. 2 mark on a case 

 of honey or a tub of butter that it will go 

 to the consumer with that brand upon it. I 

 was once in a commission house in Chicago 

 when a man came in and wanted to look at 

 some butter. He was given a tryer. The 

 seller opened the tubs and the buyer went 

 through them, picked out what he wanted, 

 asked for a scraper, and scraped off every 

 mark on each tub selected. I asked my 

 friend, the commission man, " Why did he 

 scrape off the brands ? " The reply was, " I 

 don't know, he may be a commission man 

 himself." 



Now, my advice is, don't try to get up 

 something that cannot possibly be of any 

 use to you, but will be a positive injury. Do 

 your own grading at home and be honest 

 about it. Don't put in a nice, white clover 

 front and fill out the rest with honey dew. 

 Put your clover honey by itself, and mark it 

 " white clover," and your honey dew by itself 

 and mark it honey dew, and if you have to 

 mix some nice honey with that that is not so 

 good, put a rriark on it, (the best in front, of 

 course), and then call the attention of your 

 commission man to it and tell him what it is. 



Build up a reputation for your goods by 

 good, square dealing, and have them sold on 

 their merits. Let the buyer open the cases 

 and judge for himself as to its being No. 1 

 or No. 9. Don't fix up a deal so that the in- 

 spector can stand in with the buyer and sell 

 your nice, white clover or basswood honey 

 for the price of buckwheat or honey dew. 



Lyndon, 111., Jan. 31, 1892. 



Let the Trath be Known.— Foundation and 



tte Wiley Lie. — Raising and Selling 



SQgar-Hor.ey not Adulteration. 



GEO. E. WELLEB. 



!r. EDITOR:— It is refreshing to see 

 that you are not " bulldozed " in re- 

 gard to the article of Mr. Hasty's 

 about feeding suga^' to produce comb honey. 

 Most all advances have met a similar " hue 

 and cry " when proposed. 



If the Review is to represent " advanced 

 bee culture," let it do so : that it has done so 



is the one cause of its success, and when it 

 fails to give "the truth, the whole truth, and 

 nothing but the truth," through fear of lower- 

 ing its subscription list, or other interested 

 motives, it should, and doubtless will, be 

 added to the long list of departed bee jour- 

 nals. 



This same "roar" followed the introduc- 

 tion of foundation into sections — " the bees 

 did not make it," "'consumers will not buy 

 it," "the business will be ruined," etc., etc., 

 etc. However, it was the foundation on 

 which the "Wiley lie" rested, and was its 

 staying power ; the atom of truth in it that 

 caused it to live. The extra life stirred into 

 beedom generally, by this same lie, resulted 

 in more benefit than harm to the pursuit. 



People buy what they like, what suits the 

 taste or satisfies the eye, etc., etc. They 

 object to honey adulteration, because they 

 think the quality is injured thereby. 



Butterine sold as butter is a crime ; sold 

 on its merits it is legitimate and injures no 

 one except as it comes into competition with 

 other articles. If honey can be manufac- 

 tured from sugar, it is honest business. The 

 word adulteration does not apply. If the 

 product is superior, and anything else would 

 not pay, the result would be good. By all 

 means, let honey be sold as honey ; but if the 

 lots of poor stuff annually put on the market, 

 pure, mind you, which is dear at any price, 

 and which causes suspicion of adulteration, 

 and other abominations, could be manufac- 

 tured some, and improved thereby, how the 

 business would be helped. 



As to the advisability of its discussion, 

 while judgements differ, both sides should 

 be heard. For years our business has not 

 prospered, until it would seem that we must 

 improve or quit. Who knows but that by 

 feeding sugar we may get some of that best 

 "Chicago grade" which seems so scarce? 



It is hard to advance. To few is it given 

 to originate. Where one is ready to advance 

 about a dozen are ready to pull him back. 

 Stand by your guns I If there is anything 

 in this let us get it. If this should be the 

 thing to put the business on a paying basis 

 again, how are we to know it, except by 

 exchange of ideas and results through the 

 journals 'i 



If it costs thirteen cents a pound to make 

 comb honey as at present conducted, or any- 

 thing like it, let us have all the ideas possible 

 towards cheapening this cost, increasing the 

 product or otherwise, to enable us to give 

 better food and clothing to our families. 



