OCTOBER 1, 1913 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



GRADING AND CRATING COilB HONEY. 



•'• How shall I crate my comb lionoy ? 

 Tlus is my first experience in sencling houej' 

 to a distant city." 



'• I would advise you to put not over 

 twenty sections in a case, and then to put 

 nine of these cases in a crate made with two 

 handles on each side so that two men can 

 handle it. This large crate will weigh about 

 200 lbs. In tliis way there is not the liability 

 of breakage that there is where each of the 

 nine cases of twenty sections each is ship- 

 ped separately. This is on the supposition 

 that you will ship your honey as freight. 

 Comb honey by freight is much less liable 

 to breakage than when sent by express, for 

 all express matter is handled very rapidly 

 on account of the short stops of such 

 trains." 



'* But my honey is of different shades of 

 color's, some being made from clover and 

 basswood, some from buckwheat, and some 

 from g'oldenrod and fall flowers." 



'• These different kinds should all be kept 

 by themselves, and not mixed. You would 

 hardly expect that a man having apples of 

 different kinds to sell would mix greenings, 

 Baldwins, and Spies together, Avould you?" 



'' Xo. But suppose he has those green- 

 ings, Baldwins, and Spies, each in different 

 piles, and all of them are nice smooth ap- 

 ples. And we will assume that, as to size, 

 they run from l^o to 3 inches in diameter. 

 and that some of them grew on the sunny 

 side of the tree, so that they are nicely col- 

 ored, and some in the shade, with little color 

 on them. Will he pick them up promiscu- 

 ously and put them in the barrels tluis ? or 

 will he put the largest and nicest-colored 

 in the bottom and top of the bai-rel, filling 

 in the center with the remainder?" 



'' We are now getting at some of the old 

 difficulties of the past. Possibly I can an- 

 swer better by telling you of the instruc- 

 tions I received from a man to whom I sohl 

 apples a few years ago. He bought thou- 

 sands of barrels of apples, and sliipi^ed 

 them to large cities. In the fii^st place, no 

 apple was to go in that would go through a 

 hole bored with a two-inch auger, no matter 

 how smooth, perfect, or highly colored. All 

 these were to go in as seconds. Then from 

 the firsts and seconds the largest and best- 

 colored half bushel was to be selected to go 

 into the bottom of each barrel marked firsts 

 and seconds. These selected apples were 

 to be placed stem down on the bottom of 

 the barrel till that was covered, when the 

 rest of the half-bushel was carefully poured 

 on them. Two bushels were now picked up 



promiscuously and put in the barrel. A 

 second half-bushel of apples was selected 

 as Avas the first, and poured on top. The 

 barrels were now headed up, turned over, 

 and marked firsts and seconds, with the 

 kind : and when shipped the sloipping di- 

 rections were put on this end, so that, when 

 opened at their destination, the row of 

 choicest fruit would stand out prominently, 

 stem end up, which gave a very inviting 

 and tempting appearance." 



" But was not such a course a sort of 

 fraud ? " 



" That was the question I asked, but was 

 told that the market demanded this way of 

 putting up apples; and unless I put them 

 up according to instructions the apples 

 would not be accepted, as the buyer could 

 not get market prices in any of the different 

 cities he shipped to unless they were so put 

 up. I protested a little to draw him out, 

 and was met with ' How can it be consid- 

 ered a fraud to put up apples thus? All 

 apples that will not go through a two-inch 

 hole are called in market firsts or gilt-edged. 

 [ do not retail these apples, but sell from 

 one to forty or more barrels to grocers and 

 jobbers, and these men specify how I must 

 put them up.' Now, while this does not 

 fully apply to honey in sections, 'yet it has 

 a bearing in the matter. First, the different 

 kinds of honey should be kept separate, and 

 such sections as have mixed honey in them 

 should also be kept separate. 



" Second, while no two-inch hole can be 

 used for grading honey, yet each kind 

 should be sorted as regards travel-stain, 

 evenness of comb, unsealed cells, etc., gen- 

 erally making three grades, as fancy, firsts, 

 and seconds, doing this grading carefully 

 and honestly. Xow. as with the apples, let 

 us sujipose the honey is graded, and we are 

 casing fancy. We take out enough sections 

 to fill a case. How are these sections to be 

 put in that case? Hapliazard? Not one 

 buyer or commission man has so instructed 

 during my forty odd years of beekeeping. 

 All have believed that it was perfectly right 

 to select from that case a number of sec- 

 tions those that are the best, and put them 

 next to the glass. Yea, more. I have al- 

 ways been instructed to turn the best or 

 face side out at that. But you will note that 

 this dishonest facing matter hinges on the 

 sorting or grading rather than on any thing 

 else. For a man to go through his crop of 

 honey and sort out the very best- sections, 

 and use these for ' facing ' his cases of culls 

 would not only be dishonest, but also veiy 

 foolish, even from a business standpoint." 



