THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



59 



ting the best side out," or " the best foot 

 forward," or whatever it may be called. 

 Putting it mildly, he thinks that this 

 practice is carried too far by many bee- 

 keepers in crating honey for market — but 

 here is what he says : — 



I have been buying and selling honey 

 for many years, and can come to no other 

 conclusion, after repeatedly seeing po.si- 

 tive evidence, than that bee-keepers who 

 produce comb honey ( I will nothing 

 about extracted-honey producers ) , and 

 crate and market the same, are dishonest. 

 Let me tell you why I have come to this 

 conclusion. Almost ever\' case of comb 

 honey I ever bought has been "faced" — 

 that is, the outside row of sections, next 

 the glass, was nicer than the rows in the 

 middle of the case filled up with inferior 

 quality, and that very act alone, done, 

 too, by the producers themselves, has 

 caused more mischief and done more to 

 lower ])rices than all other evils combined 

 as regards the .standard of comb-honey 

 ])roduction. 



A few days ago I went into a store in 

 this city to sell some extracted honey. 

 The lady who manages the store u.sed 

 very plain language in telling me that all 

 honey-men were frauds. I tried to con- 

 vince her my honey was pure and all 

 right, which it was; but she would not 

 listen to me. She then called my atten- 

 tion to a case of comb honey she had 

 lately bought, sa^-ing: "Ju.st look at that 

 case of honey over there on the counter;" 

 and added that if we bee-keepers would 

 cheat in comb honey we would cheat in 

 extracted honey too, and gave me to un- 

 derstand that she wished me to leave the 

 store. This lady had bought what she 

 supposed to be a case of nice honey. The 

 outside rows were very nice, but the mid- 

 dle ones were very inferior. She said she 

 would never buy any more honey of that 

 hou.se, meaning commission man; but 

 don't you .see the commission man was 

 not so very much to blame? Most likely 

 he had never opened the case, supposing 

 it was put up honestly, and knozL'iiii; that 

 it should have been; and now don't you 

 realize the whole blame rests on the man 

 who crated the honey ? He was dishon- 

 est. Grocers the world over are finding 

 fault with us bee-keepers for putting up 

 honey as we do. They call us frauds, 

 dishonest, slick article, and the like. It 

 is a shame that we as a great army of men 

 must be looked upon as frauds, humbugs, 

 dead beats, etc. ; but there is no one to 

 blame but ourselves. We deserve just 

 what we are getting, and shall, so long as 

 we continue to practice fraud and de- 



ception in trying to pull the wool over 

 our neighbors' eyes in order that we may 

 get a few more cents than honestly be- 

 long to us, while, in fact, we are getting 

 less and less all the time, just because 

 honey-buyers can not trust us. It's on 

 the same principle of the farmer putting 

 up apples when he puts a few nice ones 

 in the bottom of the barrel then fills it 

 up about two-thirds with little ones, then 

 tops it off with the very best. Don't you 

 see? Then he laughs to himself to think 

 how nicely he has cheated .some one; but, 

 instead he has cheated himself. 



I know a. farmer who several years ago 

 had a lot of poor bog hay, and conceived 

 the idea that he would bale it up in such 

 a way that it would sell for first quality; 

 so he engaged a man to "fix it up" by 

 wrapping good hay all aroimd the poor 

 bog hay when baling it, putting the bogs 

 entirely out of sight. This man shipped 

 the hay to New York for sale, and in a 

 few days had to pav a very nice sum as 

 damages in order to avoid being arrested 

 for fraud. It .served him just right. He 

 ruined his reputation as a man, and just 

 .so we bee-keepers are ruining our reputa- 

 tions as men. Away with such business! 



I should like to mention one more case. 

 Not long ago I drove out of town to a bee- 

 keeper's place to buy .some comb honey. 

 I got a few ca.ses picked out, then, look- 

 ing up, saw a case on a shelf that looked 

 very nice, and asked if I could have that. 

 He .said, "No. That is some very nice 

 .sections I have assorted out to face up 

 with." Now, brother bee-keepers, what 

 do you think of this kind of bu.siness ? I 

 won't mention this man's name, but he 

 lives eleven miles north of Kingston, N. 

 V. ; and if he should see this in print it 

 might do him good. 



Kingston, N. Y. 



The editor of Gleanings gives expression 

 to his views in the following language :— 



[Mr. Snyder's arraignment of bee-keep- 

 ers seems a little .severe. I can not think 

 that even a majority of our fraternity are 

 guilty of some of the things that he so 

 justly condemns. However that may be, 

 I am afraid there is truth in much that he 

 savs — seldom smoke without some fire. 

 It is certainly true that commission men 

 are not entirel}' to blame for some of the 

 diflficulties that arise between them and 

 bee-keepers. 



It is easy — oh, so eas}-! — to face cases of 

 comb honey. I do not think bee-keep- 

 ers have au}^ intention whatever of deceiv- 

 ing when they unconsciously, on seeing 

 a nice box of honey, put it next to the 

 glass. They do not put it there because 



