^^(i 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



THE GRADING OF HONEV. 



Mr. H. R. Boardman, of East Town- 

 send, Ohio, made me a short, sweet visit 

 a few days ago. We sat out in the ham- 

 mock in the moonlight and talked bees 

 until — well, it wasn't so I'eiy late. The 

 next daj- we went over and made R. L. 

 Taylor a short call. Mr. Boardmen then 

 , started for the western part of Michigan. 

 He got no surplus this year, and when he 

 read what I said in the Review about 

 northern Michigan it stirred him all up. 

 After he is home again I may ask him to 

 give the readers of the Review his im- 

 pressions of that countrj'. You may, in 

 the future, often see me remark: "Mr. 

 Boardman says," but, at present, there is 

 not room for nmch of this. As this is an 

 appropriate time of the year, I will say 

 that he is opposed to the grading of 

 honey into " fancy " and "No. i." He 

 says that we get no more for our fancy 

 than we would for both "fancy" and 

 ' ' No. I ' ' crated together. After the 

 "fancy" is sold, "No. i" is hard to 

 sell and we must sell it at a low figure. 

 These are the very views taken by 

 neighbor Koeppen. I must admit that I 

 have never practiced these Washington 

 rules for grading. I put the " fancj- " 

 and " No. i " all together, and what is 

 lower than these grades I sell to private 

 customers at a reduced price. 



«HrfH«^rf^*^^<« 



THE DEP.A.RTMENT OF CRITICISM. 



A subscriber over in Merrie England 

 objects to the Department of Criticism on 

 the ground that it contains too nuich 

 fault finding. He thinks that the good 

 things ought to be pointed out as well as 

 the faults. Perhaps the heading to that 

 department is not exactly what it ought 

 to be. According to the dictionary, 

 criticism is the art of judging well, of 

 judging and remarking with exactness. 

 I suppose it means judging of the good 

 as well as the bad qualities. Somehow I 

 had fallen into the idea that criticism 

 meant the pointing out of defects. I 

 think a great many have that understand- 

 ing of the word. We say ' ' the course 



that he took laid him open to criticism." 

 That is, fault could be found with what 

 he did. We say a painting, or a book, 

 " is above criticism.'' It is so good that 

 no fault can be found with it. You may 

 call Mr. Taj-lor's work "fault finding," 

 or "criticism," or whatever you like; 

 what I have asked him to do is to point 

 out errors and fallacious ideas, and when 

 it is possible for him to give better plans 

 in place of the ones that he condemns, to 

 do so. I thought that this would be a 

 good feature; that subscribers and even 

 the other journals would welcome it. 

 Some subscribers hai'C praised, while 

 others have condemned. One journal 

 has praised. While none of the journals 

 have condemned, there is to me, as 

 read between the lines, in some of them 

 or else I imagine it, a sort of antagonism. 

 Now, if this department is going to stii 

 up ill will and hard feelings, and break 

 up friendships, and cause the Review to 

 be looked upon with resentment, the 

 sooner it is d'-opped the better. Than to 

 have such a state of affairs we better al- 

 low each man to be his own discoverer of 

 " errors and fallacious ideas." While I 

 appreciate desei~i'cd praise, there is a still 

 greater thanfulness when my errors are 

 pointed out; and, if I am making a mis- 

 take in publishing this department, I 

 wish to know it. 



I am running the Review to make a 

 living and for the good that I can do 

 bee-keepers; and in this work I have al- 

 wavs tried to keep close to my readers; to 

 keep in touch with them; to take them 

 into my confidence; and it is to this that 

 the success of the Review is largely due. 

 Now there has come a time when I wnsh 

 to again ask for their advice. Let each 

 one who has the success of the Review at 

 heart, who wishes to see it and bee-keep- 

 ers ])rosperous, write to me and say what 

 he thinks of the Department of Criti- 

 cism as it now conducted. Even if it is 

 to be continued, there may be changes 

 that would be desirable; and I know that 

 Mr. Taylor and myself would give care- 

 ful consideration to any suggestions. If 



s 



