THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



167 



and leak. It is all right till it candies; 

 then it is all wrong, or nearly so. Some 

 prefer candied hone}- and buy it, but if it 

 would not candy, the trade could be ex- 

 tended ten fold or possibly an hundred 

 fold. 



I stencil on each side of every case of 

 my goods that I ship " these goods speak 



FOR themselves. " 



I have sent sample lots of a few cases 

 each, all over the country to be paid for if 

 satisfactory, and have thus increased my 

 trade year after year, 



I do not believe it occurs to bee-keepers 

 generally, how little I care whether they 

 like my manner of putting up honey or 

 not, as I do not solicit orders from them. 

 I have to cater for an altogether different 

 people, who know little or nothing about 

 honey, and I have to put it in such shape 

 as will meet the readiest sale and give the 

 best satisfaction to the consumer. Of 

 course you can see that it would be the 

 greatest folly to put up something that 

 would not give the most eminent satisfac- 

 tion. C. O. Perrine. 



Chicago, 111. 



For the American Bee Jouinal. 



The Ripening of Honey. 



In reply to the remarks in A. B. J., and 

 Gleanings of last month, of several of our 

 brethren, in regard to the "ripening of 

 honey," allow me to send you with to- 

 day's mail a jar of clover honey of my 

 own crop of 1874. We had no honey 

 crop last year. You will oblige me by 

 giving to our friends your own idea of the 

 state of ripening of this lioney. I have 

 thicker honey from the same season, but 

 it is in larger jars and not so easy mailed. 

 All of my honey was extracted when the 

 combs were filled, and not in a single in- 

 stance did I wait for the cells to be 

 capped. On the contrary, cells were only 

 capped when my time would not permit 

 to extract sooner. Opening, a few weeks 

 ago, a couple of cases of 2 fib jars which 

 stood in my store ever since the harvest of 

 1874, I found almost every jar ungranu- 

 lated. Honey was coming in slow, two 

 years ago, so that we had a chance of 

 leaving it in the receiver a week or two 

 for evaporation. From the receiver we 

 bottled it and packed it in cases (with 

 sawdust.) Our chief aim, in the pro- 

 duction of honey, should be quality, and 

 our next quantity. I should not wish to 

 be understood that I consider it an im- 

 provement to the quality to -extract -the 

 uncapped honey, but I do believe that it 

 is not in the least detrimental, providing 

 we give the honey a chance for evapor- 

 ation after it is extracted. It is very im- 

 portant to the trade to keep each kind of 

 honey separate, and this can hardly be 

 done if we extract our capped combs 

 only, excepting it be during a heavy flow 



of honey. Several of my friends who 

 furnish me with honey, assure me that 

 they never extract any before their combs 

 are capped. Yet some of their honey is 

 very thin, and some has even a sour taste 

 about it. I could prove this to you by 

 sending you a sample of one. I am sure 

 my friend is sincere in his assertion, as I 

 know him to be a good man. My own 

 honey may be thin some seasons, like 

 that of other parties, but I never found 

 this sour " twang " about it. If I was not 

 particular about keeping separate each 

 kind of honey, I should very likely allow 

 the combs to be capped before extracting. 

 But, capped or uncapped, all extracted 

 honey should stand in open vessels for 

 evaporation, and all impurities which 

 will arise to the surface should be 

 skimmed off carefully before it is barreled 

 or jarred. From those parties who work 

 contrary to this rule, comes our thin or 

 sour honey principally. Such, at least, 

 is my experience. I am perfectly willing 

 to modify my opinion if I am convinced 

 of being wrong. Chas. F. Muth. 



[A later note from Mr. Muth says that 

 by mistake one of his young men sold 

 the jar of clover honey which he meant 

 to have sent, and so he has sent us a jar 

 of honey of the crop of 1874, but not 

 clover. So far as quality is concerned, 

 we have tasted better honey than the sam- 

 ple seot. It is thick and nice in appear- 

 ance with no evidence of having ever 

 soured in the slightest degree, and there 

 is nothing to make us suppose the flavor 

 any different from that got directly from 



the flowers. — Ed.J 



^ ■ » 



For the American Bee Journal . 



Albino Bees Again. 



In the March number is an article 

 headed, " Albino Bees," in which Mr. 

 Staples tried to misrepresent that stock of 

 bees. Any intelligent person who will 

 read the article will see that the writer 

 contradicts himself. He says he does not 

 like "misrepresentations;" now, I do not 

 like to see any person or any thing mis- 

 represented. 



He tried to destroy the reputation of the 

 Albinos from selfish motives. Because 

 he has failed to accomplish anything 

 with them, does it follow that every one 

 must fail ? Is he the Solomon of the 

 apiary ? Are there not others in the busi- 

 ness who have studied it as closely as he? 

 Is it because he has failed that he would 

 become jealous of one who has succeeded ? 

 If he " dislikes misrepresentations from 

 the very heart," why does he try to mis- 

 represent another ? If' I am to judge of 

 his character from the tenor of his article, 

 I would infer that he is egotistical, and 



