338 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



Human nature is much the same, whether 

 you find it in the honey-producer, the apple, 

 peach, or berry grower ; and if a man would 

 face up his honey so as to deceive the unsus- 

 pecting he would face up his apple-barrel with 

 prime stock, and fill in the cenier with wind- 

 lalls and culls; or he would " unconsciously " 

 put the best peaches at the corners of the box 

 or crate, where their "rosy cheeks" could be 

 seen, you know; or he would just as " uncon- 

 sciously " put scarlet gauze (he has an eye for 

 the beautiful, you know) over a basket of 

 miserably poor green peaches. 



It is a mystery to me why he does not some 

 time select a covering of blue ; it's " beauti- 

 ful," and some people admire the color much 

 more than red ; or why he does not some 

 time select a facing of buckwheat or golden- 

 rod honey. I've seen sections which were 

 much more to be admired for color than the 

 whitest sweet-clover honey I ever saw. But 

 some people do such unaccountable things so 

 unconscioicely that thev in time, I suppose, do 

 them "unconsciously." 



Now, suppose the commission man is dis- 

 honest, and that he has his "secret mark" 

 given by the shipper, and that he intends to 

 use his best judgment in selling " to the best 

 advantage of the consignor." He purposely 

 avoids opening the shipment, and while not 

 guaranteeing the contents, yet he makes such 

 representations as to make the sale, knowing, 

 of course, what the qualitv of the contents is, 

 by the " secret mark put where none but him- 

 self and the shipper" could readily discov- 

 er it. 



It is just such practices as this that have 

 brought the producer and commission mer- 

 chant into disgrace with consumers. Every 

 honest man sliould put his heel upon every 

 such transaction as he would upon the head 

 of a viper, and assist in stamping out the 

 whole disreputal)le busine.ss. To adopt the 

 practice referred to, and carry it into every 

 avenue of business, would make us a nation 

 of cheats and swindlers. Perhaps some may- 

 think this pretty severe talk; but no milder 

 terms can be used and state the truth; much 

 more severe language might be properly- 

 applied. 



There is more than one way to lie. We can 

 lie fully as effectually b}- looks or actions as 

 by words. If a case of honey faced with XXX 

 sections does not tell you as plainly as any 

 words could what the case contains, why is it 

 faced at all ? Thus facing honey, with poorer 

 quality back of it, and putting up apples, 

 peaches, or any thing else in a deceptive man- 

 ner, is lying, pure and simple, and lying in a 

 business transaction is dishonest. We should 

 not charge our commission men with dishon- 

 est tricks, and at the same time place before 

 them such object-lessons as the cases cited. 



It has become quite too common for man- 

 kind, even in the more enlightened communi- 

 ties, to " consider it perfectly honest, if they 

 felt it to be their interest to do so," to do that 

 which they would not tolerate in others, with- 

 out the least regard for the interests of the 

 other fellow; and it is time the seal of con- 

 demnation were put on the whole business. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I have not said a tithe of 

 what I want to sa}% for I can cite scores of 

 cases such as Mr. Snyder mentioned, which 

 have come under my own observation ; but I 

 must close, for I have taken too much of your 

 time and space already; but you are somewhat 

 to blame. You invited us bee-keepers into 

 the arena on this subject, and hoped it would 

 be ' ' aired a little. ' ' I hope it will not only 

 Vje aired a little, but a good deal. I want to 

 know w-hether bee-keepers in general take the 

 same view expressed by Mr. Doolittle or not. 

 If they do, then I stand alone; and, rather 

 than join the crowd, I will brimstone my bees 

 and go out of the business. I am sorry that 

 vou, in footnotes, apologetically assented to 

 the false doctrine. 



Carlo, O., March 15. 



[As I have been on both sides of the fence, 

 and didn't know which side I was then on, I 

 I wrote Doolittle to put on a footnote; that I 

 would let him "have it out with him," and / 

 would look on. Well, here I am on the top 

 rail of the fence, looking on. — Ed.] 



DOOrjTTLE'S REPLY. 



vSome }'ears ago, at a certain bee convention, 

 there was a certain commission merchant who 

 exhibited two sections of partly unsealed 

 buckwheat honey which he said he found, 

 with many others of like sort, in cases which 

 showed only clover honey from the " face " 

 side, or glass front. He then went into a 

 tirade of abuse regarding any bee-keeper who 

 would do such a thing. Believing the bee- 

 keeper who had sent the honey was present, I 

 thought to draw out the commission man a 

 little; so, after he had sat down I was granted 

 the privilege of asking him a few questions, 

 as follow-s : 



" Did the bee-keeper of whom you received 

 the honey sell it to you as A No. 1 clover 

 honey? " 



"No " 



"Did he write you that it was all No. 1 

 clover honey ? ' ' 



"No." 



" Did he say anv thing about the qualitv ? " 



"No." 



" Is it not your business to sell whatever is 

 consigned }ou to sell on commission? " 



"Yes." 



"Have you sold any of those cases you. 

 were speaking about as A No. 1 clover honey ? ' ' 



"No." 



' ' Will you tell us why ? ' ' 



" Because it is my business to see what 

 there is in any box, barrel, or basket, which 

 is sent with no mark to show what it is, how- 

 it is packed, etc., so I can tell any customer 

 (or show him if he requires) just what he is 

 buying. Failing to do this, I am held respon- 

 sible." 



" Then you are really the salesman, and not 

 the one who ships you the goods? " 



" Yes, of course. Whj' did you ask that 

 question ? ' ' 



"Because you denounced the bee-keeper 

 who sent you that honey, ivithout any inark 



