1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



175 



that every passer-by may see them when the 

 other twelve are set in the center of the ship- 

 ping-case out of sight. Now, mind you, all of 

 these 20 sections were XXX honey; but some 

 of them had a little " fairer cheeks " than the 

 rest, and it was these " fair ones " that were 

 to say to the passers by, " Ho ! turn this waj- 

 if you would have something sweet ! " And I 

 consider such " facing " just the thing to do, 

 and shall continue to do it unless " something 

 gets me," as it is something that is customary, 

 demanded by nearly all, and contains nothing 

 of a dishonest nature. 



A little boy about five years old, too tired 

 for any thing but sleep, refused one night to 

 say his prayers. His uncle, who was present, 

 said, " O Harry ! would you go to sleep with- 

 out asking God to take care of you during the 

 night?" The little fellow answered, "I didn't 

 say 'em last night; I ain't goin' to say 'em to- 

 night, and I ain't goin' to say 'em to-morrow 

 night ; and then, if nothin' don't get me, I 

 ain't goin' to say 'em no more." 



And now a word about those apples the edi- 

 tor tells us about. Apples are graded and fix- 

 ed very much as are my cases of honey, and, 

 as the editor was told, " everybody expects it." 



A professional apple barreler was through 

 this section this fall, and as he was in the or- 

 chard adjoining my bee-yard I went to see him. 

 I found him sorting " facers, " as he called 

 them, for his No. 1 apples. I asked him about 

 the matter, and he handed me his "rules," 

 which were given him by the firm he was at 

 work for, which handled thousands and mil- 

 lions of barrels of apples. These rules told 

 him that, in a barrel of No. 1 apples, he must 

 not put an apple of the Northern Spy, Bald- 

 win, Greening, etc., varieties that measured 

 less than "Iji inches in diameter; and he had 

 a piece of board with that size of hole bored 

 in it for a measure; and any apple that would 

 slip through that hole was to be rejected. 

 Then no apple was to go in that had any worm- 

 hole or wormy blossom end, or that was knot- 

 ty, or specked with rot or moth patches, etc. 

 Then from such No. 1 apples he was to sort 

 the largest and most perfect, and place a tier 

 all over the bottom of the barrel, with the 

 stem ead down and on this tier pour from a 

 peck to a half-bushel of the same apples he 

 had put stem down. He was then to fill the 

 barrel with No. 1 apples, and, after heading it 

 up, turn it over and write the grade and the 

 variety on the head having the facers imme- 

 diately under it. Now, I ask the editor, Mr. 

 Snyder, or any one else, if there was any thing 

 dishonest or wrong in this matter? Was not 

 every one of those No. 1 apples just as good 

 as any housewife would ask for? And were 

 not the 2'2-inch apples just as valuable, looks 

 excepted, as were the three-inch ones? And 

 the same applies to my XXX honey; and I 

 also claim that there is nothing out of the 

 wa3', if any one chooses to do so, in shipping 

 cases of honey having XXX facers and XX or 

 X honey inside, o>i eoiinnissio)i. Yea, more; 

 I claim that there would be nothing dishonest 

 in filling the center of the case with buck- 

 wheat honey, the same having XXX white- 

 honey facers, providing it was shipped on com- 



mission, every case alike, and the producer 

 thought it to his interest to do so. I should 

 doubt the wisdom of such a course, but I can 

 not see that such a thing would be dishonest. 

 But if a customer was told that the honey was 

 such as he sees on the face, all through, and 

 it was sold to him with that understanding, 

 then the thing would be decidedly dishonest. 

 Commission men are supposed to show the 

 goods they have to their customers, by open- 

 ing a case or two, and the buyer knows what 

 he is purchasing; and, also, the commission 

 man is supposed to sell whatever is shipped 

 him according to his best judgment, to the 

 best advantage of the consignor. It is alwavs 

 well to stop to analyze our thoughts and words 

 before we go off in a tirade of abuse, lest, 

 when they are fully analyzed, we find our- 

 selves open to censure and reproach. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



[I am sorr}' to do it, but I am afraid I shall 

 have to confess again that I have never notic- 

 ed the tendency of the queen at certain times 

 to seek a fresh comb further from the brood- 

 nest ; but you may be sure I will be on the 

 watch next season. 



Yes, it is indeed true that we each and all 

 are sometimes using some little valuable kink 

 that we ignorantly suppose every one knows 

 of ; but in the case of the Morton-Niver meth- 

 od of grading, it would appear as if it were 

 new to many. 



With regard to using the " letter X " meth- 

 od of grading, it may be that here is another 

 good idea — perhaps an improvement over the 

 methods that are usually used for designating 

 sections. X is very easily made, and three 

 X's can be made with six strokes of a pencil 

 or pen. The equivalent term, /r7;/rv (to desig- 

 nate the same grade), takes, as I write it, fif- 

 teen strokes. Then the use of a single letter 

 X to designate the third grade of honey does 

 not sound so bad as the ordinary term em- 

 ployed — No. 2 honey. Now, understand I am 

 not advocating that we shoidd make the 

 change — only that the X system has certain 

 advantages worth considering. 



With regard to facing crates of hone}- or 

 barrels of apples, I think it all depends on 

 whether intentional (\?c&^i\on is used. In the 

 case that Mr. Doolittle mentions, it would ap- 

 pear that the apple-packer had no thought of 

 trying to deceive. At present I do not see 

 any objections to putting up honey in the 

 manner Mr. D. describes. Whenever we buy 

 hone}- we always judge of a crate by random 

 sections picked out here and there in the 

 crate, and never by the facing. The front of 

 the case, as Mr. D. .says, will be apt to have 

 the l)est honey out for display, and not for the 

 purpose of deception. — Ed.] 



A. A. M., Pa. — The keeping of bees in gar- 

 rets has been practiced by bee-keepers for 

 a good man}- years. As you state, it seems to 

 obviate entirely the trouble of swarming. P'or 

 full particulars in regard to the method, we 

 would refer you to the department of "Swarm- 

 ing," in our A B C of Bee Culture, under the 

 particular heading of " Bees in a Garret." 



