6o 



THE BEE-KEEPERS'?REVIEW. 



they wish to convey the impression that 

 all thelioney which shows is of that char- 

 acter, but because the honey is beautiful, 

 and they wnsh to put it where its heautv 

 can show. We have had several lots of 

 comb honey shipped us lately from differ- 

 ent bee-keepers from widely separate 

 localities, but I do not think there was 

 any evidence of '-facing" in any of the 

 lots that were sent to us. 



If bee-keepers are guilty of this one sin 

 they are no worse than farmers. A year 

 or so ago I was in one of our large com- 

 mission houses when a carload of apples 

 was received and opened. As a lid was 

 lifted off I remarked, "My! what beau- 

 ties!" 



"Oh! they will not look like that all 

 the way down," said the clerk with a 

 smile. 



"Why not ?" said I. 

 "Because they never are," he replied. 

 "But don't vour customers soon learn 

 that, and find fault?" 



"Not a bit. They <?.i-/>fr/' it." 

 "I do not see how that can be," I said. 

 "If I were buying apples that stood in 

 front of your store, I should want to know 

 how they would run clear through the 

 barrel; and I should expect the center of 

 the barrel to average with the top.'" 



"You do not understand," said the 

 clerk. "Our customers chiefly are gro- 

 cers, or at least those who buv to sell 

 again. They ctw;// their barrels faced." 

 I did not say any thing further; but up- 

 on a moment's reflection I made up my 

 mind that some one somewhere at the 

 end of the route made "a kick" at such 

 a species of dishonesty, or that even the 

 consumer had learned to expect ( because 

 he had to ) that the apples in the center 

 of the barrel he bu3's are poorer than 

 those at the top, or "facing," by about 25 

 or 50 per cent. 



I wonder if it is possible that commission 

 men expect to have their cases of comb 

 honey faced. I wonder, too, if it is also 

 possil)le that tlieir cvistomers, their grocery 

 trade, also demand it. I can hardly 

 credit it, for the great majority of comb'- 

 honey buyers pull out a section or two at 

 random, and by these nu/doi/i sect/ous the 

 valuation of the honey is gauged, rather 

 than by the "facing" behind the glass. 

 It seems to me it would do no harm to 

 have this subject aired out a little. If we 

 bee-keepers are culpable, let's hold up 

 our hands, and confess. If we are not, 

 then let us know the exact condition of 

 things, both from the commission niaji's 

 standpoint and that of the bee-keeper. It 

 is a sort of faniilv affair, you know, and 

 we might just as well talk plainly among 



ourselves if the talk willjresult in good, 

 as I have everj' reason to believe it will. 

 —Ed.] 



I have visited few places that I enjoyed 

 more than South Water street, Chicago. 

 The profusion of products, and the neat, 

 attractive and tempting manner in which 

 ihey are put up and displayed, challenge 

 the admiration. I have seen those same 

 barrels of apples that Bro. Root mentions. 

 The apples all of good size, laid exactly 

 the same side up, and in circles. If I had 

 been buying one of those barrels of apples, 

 I should not have expected that att of 

 the apples in the barrel were as nice as 

 those on top. I did not suppose that auy 

 one expected such results. But I should 

 expect/air fruit. I look at it about like 

 this: After the apples have been sorted, 

 and the culls thrown out, let a barrel of 

 apples then be placed on a table, or other 

 convenient spot, and then the nicest ones 

 in that barrel may be picked out and 

 placed at the ends. I think that tliis is 

 about what is done. For a man to go 

 through his crop of apples and sort out 

 the very best, and use these for "facing" 

 his barrels of culls, would not only be 

 dishonest, but also verj- foolish. It would 

 certainly bring him trouble, as did the 

 marsh hay in the center of the bales 

 bring trouble to the man -who put it there. 

 On many of the street comers of Chi- 

 cago may be found'fruit stands. At these 

 places we will find the apples polished 

 until they shine, and the rosy side of the 

 apple is ahuays placed uppermost. Not 

 only this, but some kinds of fruit are cov- 

 ered w^ith some kind of thin fabric, some- 

 thing like mosquito-netting, and care is 

 taken to choose just the right color to 

 heighten the effect of the natural beauty 

 of the fruit. If we go into a butcher-shop 

 we will see pieces of meat h-ing on the 

 table, and they are all so turned as to 

 show a nice, clean, lea?i side. Pick up 

 one and turn it over, and we may find 

 that the other side is about all fat, or half 

 bone. But there is no use of nniltiplying 

 examples. The whole world has been 

 putting the best side out so long that i 



