242 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



this part of the business is cheapened and 

 simplified to the same extent as has been 

 done with that of cell building and queen 

 hatching, queens may be sold for a 

 "quarter" — I guess. Some attempts 

 have been made in this direction by hav- 

 ing small frames, section honey boxes, 

 for instance, for nuclei, and massing them 

 on top of a colony of bees so that they 

 may derive warmth from the colony; but 

 such methods have never come into gen- 

 eral use. It is clear to me that there 

 would be some disadvantages. 



WHAT THE DEAI,ERS THINK OF FACING 

 COMB HONEY. MR. DOOLITTI.E 

 MISUNDERSTOOD. , 



Several times I have thought of writ- 

 ing to the commission men and honey 

 dealers asking for their views regardi ng 

 the "facing" of comb honey when crat- 

 ing it for market. It seems that Bro. 

 York not only thought of the same thing, 

 but had the enterprise to carry it out. 

 In his letter to the dealers, Bro. York 

 quoted the paragraph in which Mr. Doo- 

 little said that he could see nothing out 

 of the way, that is, dishonest, in putting 

 even buckwheat honey in the center of 

 the case, and facing with white honey; 

 provided it was to be sold on connnission. 

 All dealers are opposed to the putting up 

 of honey in such a way as to deceive the 

 buyers, or to the mixing of inferior grades 

 with those of a higher grade. I svippose 

 that pretty nearly every one takes this 

 view of the matter. 



By the way, I think that Mr. Doolittle 

 has been entirely misunderstood in this 

 matter by a great many. If anyone will 

 take the pains to read carefully, they will 

 see that Mr. Doolittle never adi'iscd the 

 putting of buckwheat honey in the same 

 crate with white honey. The real point 

 of his argument seems to have been over- 

 looked. Some one said that it was 7vrof!g 

 to "face" cases of comb honey. Mr. 

 Doolittle said that it was not, //the hon- 

 ey was sold on conmiission; that it would 



not be wrong under such circumstances 

 even to put buckwheat in the center of 

 the case. In short, he believes that a man 

 has a right to put up his honey in that 

 manner if he wishes, and to say to his 

 customer " There is a case of honey. 

 Look it over; and if you want it you 

 can have it for 12 cents a pound." 

 That is his argument; and it is correct. 

 But when it comes to the advisability of 

 so putting up honey, that is a horse of 

 an entirely dilTerent color; and if you will 

 examine him carefully I think you will 

 find that Doolittle his not on its back. 



The foregoing was put in type for use 

 in the July Review, but was finally crowd- 

 ed out. Since then Mr. Doolittle has 

 had an article in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal in which he takes similar grounds. 

 I feel positive that Mr. Doolittle has been 

 grievousl)^ misunderstood. 



In his comments upon Mr. Doolittle's 

 article Bro. York says that Mr. Doolittle's 

 weak point is in saying that there is no 

 wrong even in putting buckwheat honey 

 in the center of a case of white honey that 

 is to be sold on commission . Like almost 

 every one else, Bro. York fails to catch 

 the true spirit of this position, viz., that 

 goods sold on commission are supposed 

 to be opened and examined and sold for 

 what they will bring. 



Department of 



riticism 



R. I.. TAYLOR. 



Blame where you must, be candid where you can, 

 And be each critic the Good-natured Man. 



GOLDSmiTH. 



CONTRACTION OR SUBSTITUTION, WHICH 

 IS IT? LET'S AVOID OUIBBUNG. 



In Gleanings, 519, the editor is not 

 satisfied with my calling his removing 



