THE AMERICA?^ APICULTURIST. 



217 



tiini", ovoii in this present state of exis- 

 tence, wlK'n woll-doiiiii- I)o<'()inos its own 

 "exceedini; jrreat reward." 



lint, <l('Mr me! I n<'vei- started to write 

 a si-rmon, but to tell my "experienee at 

 tlie fair." Well, to mulve a lonij story short, 

 I also procured tlie Muth tilass lioncy jars, 

 in three sizes, and also the Newman liiass 

 pails in thi'ce sizes. Init it was all of no 

 use; I was served worse tiian Mr. Alley, 

 inasmuch as there was no question, as to 

 the superior (luality of my honey, either 

 comb or extracted. The sole dilliculty was, 

 it was not in as niarl<cta1)le sliape as that 

 in the '-Mason fruit jars," etc. I would 

 lik(( much to call Dr. '{'inker's attention to 

 the marketable shape of my coml) lioney, 

 to those beautiful white poplar shipping- 

 crates, manufactured l:)y him expresslj' for 

 my market, to the lovelj', four-piece white 

 poplar sections. M.y comb-hone}' was in 

 single-tier crates, in three sizes; also in 

 Mr. Root's one-pound pasteboard cartoons ; 

 and all lioney, l)oth comb and extracted, 

 labelled in the neatest possiI)le manner. 

 Tlie same fate befell Mr. Dadant's extra 

 thin fonndation, which I exhibited, and so 

 on right through. I will explain one point. 

 I think I was a little wiser than Mr. Alley, 

 in that I should never have thought of 

 making an exhibit, had I not Ijeen most 

 earnestly solicited to do so l)y the superin- 

 tendent of the department for woman's 

 work (Wisconsin State Fair) who wrote 

 me that this class (apiarian) had been 

 added to that depai'tment for tlie express 

 purpose of interesting me. Knowing that 

 no other woman in the state could make 

 an exhibit like mine, I was led, blindfold 

 into an egregious piece of folly, which fact 

 renders the result still more insufferably 

 provoking. For I well knew, that in the 



words of my friend, lawyer , I might as 



well expect to get justice in "going to 



law," as at a fair. Well, Mr. had two 



exhibits exactly alike : himself in charge of 

 one, his wife of the other; same ai'ticle 

 entered for premium in two classes. I was 

 unable to be present myself ; bnt promi- 

 nent l)eekeepers who were there assure 

 me that I had nnn'e and nicer goods, and 

 in better marketable shape, than had all 

 the other apiarists, in botli d(!i)artinents 

 put together. 



Public Prejudice against Ex- 

 tracted Honey. How shall 

 we overcome it? 



•T. M. IlAMUAlIOII. 



Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. 



I believe in selectinir competent men to net ms 

 judges .at fairs, and such are sometimes found. 

 ;in(l certaiidy would be found at all times were it 

 not for favoritism tliat interferes. Tlie person 

 who does not know tlie difference between a full 

 colony of bees and one in an observatory hive of 

 liutone e.onib.or one who e()nsi(ler8 honey in larsro 

 jars in better marketable shape than when put in 

 the small l)ottles as solil byC. Muth & Son, is not 

 a lit pei'son to serve in the capacity of a jiicIkc. 



This is a subject of no little importance 

 to the honey producer, and slionld be 

 earnestly studied and discussed, and we 

 believe that, sliould we successfully solve 

 this problem, we shall achieve one of the 

 most import.'int factors in successful api- 

 culture. Since embarking extensively in 

 the business, we have become better ac- 

 quainted with public, sentiment, and have 

 found numerous instances whercnn ex- 

 tracted honey was looked upon with so 

 much disrepute that to ask the parties to 

 purchase would amount to almost an in- 

 sult. 



In fact it seems that a feeling of disfa- 

 vor permeates the mind in some locali- 

 ties which to the producer amounts to 

 the barring of the doors against his trade. 



This state of affairs to us seems a mys- 

 tery, and causes us to wonder whence 

 the cause, and judging from what I have 

 seen and iieard I have formed my conclu- 

 sions, which are simply this, that consum- 

 ers have been most grossly outraged with 

 adulterated or bogus honey, or else there 

 is a conspiracy to break down the honey 

 traffic, and probably both. 



When I first embarked in the bee bus- 

 iness. I worked mostly for comb honey, 

 and took all manner of pains in putting up 

 my honey in neat one and two pound pack- 

 ages, assorting and crating the nicest and 

 most salable in crates glassed at the ends, 

 etc., whicli I found entailed an almost end- 

 less amount of puttering work, .at the end 

 of wliicli more or less clissatisfaction was 

 engendered from jammed or leaky section.s 

 which led me to aliandon the comb honey 

 trade, on a large scale, and to run my 

 stocks to extracting, reasoning that I 

 could afford to t.ake one-half the price for 

 my extracted honey and make more out 

 of my bees. My product lieiiig near or 

 quite as much again, expenses, time and 

 labor, curtailed about fme-lialf, etc., whicli 

 is near a correct estimate. But now comes 

 the rub. While I have a splendid trade in 

 the vicinity where I am accpiainted, and 

 the adulteration cry affects me but little, my 

 crop has exceeded my demand, and I li.ave 

 been playing the part of the drummer. 



With samples in my pocket, I have been 

 hunting sales, with results as before st.ated. 

 In nearly every instance when producing 

 my samples to the grocery men the an- 

 swer is, "little or no call for straine.d 

 honey, flave you any comb honey?" and 



