blemish. I think he will see from the 

 above that it was not used without good 

 authority. To my ear the words "Linn" 

 and "Linnswick" have a more antique 

 and poetic sound than " Linden" and 

 " Lindenwick." 

 Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 22, 1S79. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey in England. 



H. K. & F. B. THURBEB & CO. 



Now that the honey harvests are about 

 closing and the minds of producers 

 naturally enough turn to the problem 

 of how and where it will be best to sell 

 their crops, we thought a few lines 

 from us would be of seasonable interest 

 to them particularly if we touch upon 

 the question of a foreign outlet. 



As every one now pretty generally 

 understands, the season in the United 

 Kingdom has been singularly disas- 

 trous for all kinds of crops, and so en- 

 tirely fatal has the cold wet rains been 

 to the honey yield, that not enough 

 honey could be collected to make a re- 

 spectable showing at any of the fairs 

 this fall. In France the honey crop is 

 also short, but in the southern part of 

 the Continent as also in the West 

 Indies and South America, from whence 

 large shipments are made to this coun- 

 try, an average yield is calculated upon. 

 Prior to our general introduction of 

 American honey upon this side, the 

 London, Antwerp, Liverpool and Ham- 

 burg markets were supplied from 

 Chili, Jamaica and Peru, while connois- 

 seurs in England were supplied from 

 Narbonne, in France. Last year, how- 

 ever, the overflowing crop of America 

 fonnd its way direct from San Fran- 

 cisco and New York to the English and 

 German ports in such quantities that 

 the West India and Sout^ American 

 honey has not met with its usual ready 

 sale. When we first saw as much as 

 2,500 barrels of Chilian honey advertised 

 for sale in Liverpool, we were surprised, 

 and sought out the parcel with a view 

 of obtaining all the information we 

 could upon the manner of its sale. In 

 Liverpool, as in all other European 

 ports, the docks are regarded as their 

 greatest and most necessary public im- 

 provements, and to defray the expense 

 of keeping them in order every parcel 

 of goods unloaded is taxed for "dock 

 and town dues" a certain sum per ton. 

 Along the sides of these docks are im- 

 mense warehouses into which the ves- 

 sels discharge their cargoes. There the 

 honey is submitted to another tax ; 

 they charge for instance a six-pence (12 



447 



cents) per barrel for receiving honey, 

 and a six-pence for delivering each bar- 

 rel into the cart or wagon of the buyer, 

 and one-pence (2 cents) per barrel a 

 week for all the time it remains unsold. 

 When we reached the dock where the 

 2,500 barrels were being discharged, we 

 found an old man drawing a little sam- 

 ple from each of the barrels, after ex- 

 aming which he would mark the barrel 

 it was drawn from either " X," which 

 denoted white color, fine flavor and 

 heavy body, like basswood or white 

 sage ; " 1 " which designated a colored 

 honey about like white clover (we would 

 hardly have discriminated between 

 these two grades, but he did); "2" in- 

 dicated a grade the quality of which 

 was about like golden rod, "3" was 

 like our buckwheat, and "4" resembles 

 in color and body Louisiana honey. 

 Each of these marks were piled up 

 separately and those assorted samples 

 were sent to the broker or auctioneer, 

 who advertised and sold them in one 

 of the commercial salesrooms in Liver- 

 pool with the following result : 



We have since found this system prev- 

 alent in all the European markets, 

 and the prices named have averaged 

 just about the same for the last ten 

 months. The market is rather bare 

 and we anticipate higher prices this 

 fall. The cost of freight for honey in 

 barrels and square 5 gallon tins from 

 New York to London, including dock 

 and landing charges, equals about half 

 a cent per pound; that is, about one 

 cent per pound less than the freight is 

 from Cherry Valley to New York 

 City. Freight direct from San Fran- 

 cisco to London is \}4, to \% cents 

 less per pound than from San Francisco 

 to New York ; while the cost per pound 

 from New Orleans to London is 50 per 

 cent, cheaper than from New Orleans 

 to New York or Chicago. Eight and a 

 half cents per pound in London will 

 net the California honey producer more 

 than 10^c. per pound in New York 

 would. 



Extracted honey is liked much better 

 than strained, because it is free from 

 dead bees and filth, and this preference 

 makes American honey better liked. 

 While candied honey is sold in pots and 

 jars, the packers prefer it liquid when 

 they buy it, because they can pour it into 

 the pots and jars and let it congeal 

 there, They never remelt candied 

 honey, because, as they truthfully say, 

 after candied honey has been heated 



