'J)-2 



i;Ll^v.\L\G^ L\ iJtl-: Cl:L'rtJtti-:. 



Mar. 



hiVes. Sometimes, especially in the sj^riiig. 

 almost 11 whole teacnpfiil of bees will be 

 fouiul clustering on a neigbboring hive, on 

 H side wlieie there is no entrance. The 

 reason is, this neighboring hive looks so 

 much like their own ; and, in fact, there are 

 so many hives looking almost precisely alike 

 that tliey pitch on to the wrong hive. Now, 

 if the entrances faced the same way, sup- 

 pose this teacupful or more of bees would 

 go into the hive where they don't belong. 

 May be this state of affairs does not do any 

 very great harm, but I feel troubled about 

 it. When we used to have black bees in our 

 apiary, sometimes a lot of Italians would 

 pile into a hive of blacks. In this case we 

 knew what was going on, for we could tell 

 by their color where the bees belonged. The 

 more regular and tasty you have your apia- 

 ry arranged, the worse you will find this 

 state of affairs. Setting the hives in pairs, 

 or putting four together, as in your last dia- 

 gram, I have reason to think, lessens this 

 trouble to a considerable extent ; but if you 

 have several groups of four hives each, what 

 is to prevent the bees from getting into the 

 wrong group? I know that some claim that 

 it does not make any difference if they do 

 go into the wrong hives ; but I am sure we 

 have lost queens in that way ; and Ernest 

 suggests that it makes a very big difference 

 when you get foul brood started in your api- 

 ary. Neighbor H. gets rid of all trouble of 

 this kind by setting his hives promiscuottsly 

 — one near this apple-tree, and the other one 

 under that, and letting the weeds grow 

 around the whole of them so that no two 

 are alike in any shape or manner. 



PACKAGES FOR RETAILING EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY. 



FRIEND MUTH SPEAKS A LITTLE IN DEFENSE OF 

 THE SQUARE HONEY-.IARS. 



fRIEND ROOT:— It has been my lot, of late, to 

 be away from home several days of every 

 week; and, when home again, I am busy go- 

 ing over my corrrespondence, and looking 

 after the rest of my affairs. When gone, my son 

 takes care of our business, with the aid of a young- 

 er brother, so you see that ray time is occupied, not 

 having enough left to read all of my bee-journals, 

 nor to write an occasional article, notwithstanding 

 there are many inducements. Whenever I see any 

 article which, in my estimation, needs a correction, 

 I must make that reply at once, otherwise it will 

 never be done. This is one of my weak spots, of 

 which every one has his share. I saw an article 

 some time ago, and meant to reply, as I was some- 

 what interested; but not having time there and 

 then, it slipped my mind again, and occurs to me 

 now, having a leisure evening at the farm. To be 

 positive when one knows that he is right, is a char- 

 acteristic we admire; but does it not occur to you 

 also, that many of our friends in apicultural and 

 agricultural papers put up theories and state their 

 experiences with a positiveness which is entirely 

 out of place? I do believe that the greatest number 

 of patents on bee-hives is granted to men who know 

 nothing about bee-keeping, or whose experience 

 was very limited. Yet their assertions are wonder- 



ful, and there is no end to their arguments. The 

 same is the case in other matters. 



'J'he article i-efcrred to above was from a friend 

 in Covington, in regard to honey-jars. 1 forget his 

 exact language, but he gave his points very posi- 

 tively against the square glass honey-jars. "They 

 won't do," my friend says; "we want something 

 better and more attractive," or words to that effect; 

 " I am selling gilt-edge honey, and know whereof I 

 speak," etc. Now, I don't object to letting every- 

 body follow his own idea, because life and business 

 would be too monotonous if we should all do alike. 

 But my friend knows that I am selling gilt-edge 

 honey also, and 100 pounds to his one. So I, too, 

 should know whereof I speak. My friend is a good 

 man; and when he reads this article I am certain 

 we shall coincide, and we shall be as good friends as 

 ever. It is merely for the sake of the controversy, 

 and in order to show both sides of the case, that I 

 take up this matter. 



We have a pretty large trade in extracted honey 

 put up in our square glass jars. You can And them in 

 almost every wholesale and retail house in our city, 

 and from there they go, perhaps, to more parts of 

 America than the jar honey of any other dealer in 

 this country. This fact is due to our square glass 

 jars, to a very large extent. We never made great 

 pretensions, nor did we ever employ drummers. A 

 good many years ago, eastern dealers were our 

 strongest competitors in our city, with and because 

 of their fancy jars; but now our jar honey has the 

 field almost exclusively. I will send you a case when 

 T get home, as a present. If you can get up a case 

 more attractive for home trade, and more practical 

 for shipping i)urpo8es, let us know, please, for we 

 want the best. Our square glass jars are calculated 

 for the trade. 



We keep, also, tin buckets, fruit-jars, and tum- 

 blers filled with honey. We sell a good many; and 

 if we were courting the retail trade only, or were 

 peddling our honey from house to house, we should 

 use the latterlhreepackagesprincipally. Notonein 

 a hundred of our retail customers takes a tumbler or 

 a fruit-jar for the reason that he can make use 

 again of the empty package. But as this may be 

 different in other localities, let every one get the 

 very package which suits best for his market, for 

 which every one should be the best judge himself, 

 otherwise he will miss the point. 



Cincinnati, Feb. 28, 1888. Chas. F. Muth. 



I do not need to tell you, old friend, that 

 I am with you on what you say about pat- 

 ents on bee-hives. I should not mina so 

 much the agents being positive in regard to 

 their own notions, if they did not go through 

 the country taking people's honest hard 

 earnings, giving them worse than nothing 

 at all for an equivalent. — Your cases of 

 honey are at hand, and they are certainly 

 the nicest for retail of any thing I have ever 

 seen. AVe notice you have adopted the cor- 

 rugated paper for packing, entirely doing 

 away with hay, straw, sawdust, or any thing 

 of that SOI t. The bottles are all nice and 

 clean, without even any dust on them to be 

 brushed off. Neither is there any thing- 

 dauby about the packages. Very likely you 

 have told us before what you do when the 

 honey gets candied ; or perhaps you don't 

 do any thing but turn sucli l)ottles over to 

 such customers as prefer candied lioney. 

 Our trade in honey has now gone entirely 



