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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



cents. As the crates can be made at from 5 

 to 8 pounds each, they could be returned from 

 Denver — 56 miles — at about 2 cents each, pro- 

 viding enough are sent at one time to make a 

 100 pound shipment. 

 Loveland, Col. 



[Friend Aikin sent two crates showing his 

 manner of putting up the shipping-cases of 

 honey, and I had our artist make drawings of 

 one of them. There are many things in its 

 favor. But there are two objections that oc- 

 cur to me, one of which is already referred to 

 by friend Aikin himself ; namely, the extra 

 cost of the several smaller crates as compared 

 with one large one holding the same capacity ; 

 and then, too, I am a little doul>tful about 

 commission men returning them as " emp- 

 •ties." Would they not be apt to dump them 

 on the general pile of refuse boxes and ship- 

 ping crates? Still again, there has been no 

 complaint that the large shipping-crates hold- 

 ing 200 lbs. were too unwieldy to handle. 

 While 50 lbs. is all one man can conveniently 

 lift, j-et two such men can more easily pick up 

 200 lbs. if it has convenient handles. 



With regard to getting combs well filled out 

 to the wood, friend Aikin knows what he is 

 talking about, for the samples of combs he sent 

 are evidence in that direction. 



The only trouble that I have had with bot- 

 tom starters was their curling over, and I be- 

 lieve I so reported it in Gleanings. I did 

 find, however, that, when they are only % or 

 3,^, they would answer the purpose quite as 

 well, and no curling. — Ed.] 



FACING COMB HONEY. 



A Bit of History; a Rejoinder. 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Yes, Mr. Editor, Doolittle does care to say a 

 little more on that subject of "facing coinb 

 honey, ' ' for it seems to me that all the ideas 

 advanced have failed to take in the condi- 

 tions to which the older bee-keepers were ac- 

 customed. Bringing up has much to do with 

 the way a person looks at a matter; and while 

 much of the instruction that is given at the 

 time when " as the twig is bent the tree's in- 

 clined," may not be just as it might be, yet it 

 has its bearing in all future life. So let us go 

 back over the past a little and see which was 

 right — the past notions or those of the pres- 

 ent. In the early fifties my father took all of 

 his honey in boxes holding from 15 to 25 

 pounds. He sold those boxes as they came 

 from the hive, good honey, fair and poor, all 

 mixed together, as the bees left it, sometimes 

 selUng his whole crop to one man. Was there 

 any thing wrong in that ? Present arguments, 

 put forth by the non-facing side, would have 

 made him cut that honey all out, sort it, put a 



little the poorest on the upper side, and take 

 what each grade would bring, or else the trans- 

 action would have been a dishonest one. 

 Father's first boxes were made with no glass 

 in them; but he wished to know when the 

 bees commenced work therein, and also see 

 when the)' were completed, so he bored a two- 

 inch hole in one side, put a glass on the in- 

 side and a "button" on the out, and, by 

 turning the button, he could see what was go- 

 ing on inside, at any time Later on, glass 

 was put on the honey so that the "railroad 

 smashers ' ' would handle it with care when it 

 was being shipped; and glass, so as to make 

 each shipping-crate a "show-case," is of re- 

 cent origin. Was the old-time method to be 

 censured, or the present ? Which? 



Next came the " quarter " or six-pound box, 

 with glass sides, or with corner posts and four 

 glass sides. These latter were styled "glass 

 boxes," and brought from one to three cents 

 per pound more in market than did the for- 

 mer; but when sent to market the zvliole crop 

 was put together — good, bad, and indifferent, 

 and the whole sold at one price, " taking the 

 whole crop." Present argiiments say, " vSort 

 that honey or you will be dishonest." Are 

 they right? 



Next came the two-pound sections, in the 

 early seventies. Doolittle has his whole crop 

 off — white clover, basswood, mustard, and 

 buckwheat. He takes a fair sample of the lot 

 to a buyer, and sells it for 28 >< cents per 

 pound. Having the average before the buyer, 

 Doolittle asks, " How shall I crate it ? " Re- 

 ply, " Put an average in each crate, then each 

 one to whom I sell will get an average of the 

 whole crop, the same as I bought it." I think 

 I see lots of Miller's, Hasty 's, Snyder's, Whit- 

 ney's, and Thompson's hands up in "holy 

 horror ' ' of the sin being committed when I 

 add the other part of the instruction given, 

 ' ' and face it up with the nicest and whitest you 

 can find in the average for one crate." But, 

 gentlemen, remember that, about the first 

 rules for grading honey were passed in 1891 

 by the North American Bee Convention in its 

 session at Albany, N. Y.; and Bee-keepers 

 were the main movers in this thing, to their 

 own loss, as honey has " tumbled " ever since. 

 Buyer sold the crop of honey alluded to last, 

 at 35 cents per pound, distributing it in many 

 of the cities of the East; and both by letter 

 and personally have I been told by bee-keep- 

 ers about seeing said honey in some one of 

 the cities, but not one of them thought aught 

 but that it was honestly put up; or if they did, 

 they did not manifest it by saj'ing so. No, 

 this dishonesty part is of recent origin, and 

 originated in the idea that any man is dishon- 

 est who would attempt to sell his crop of 

 honey as a whole, without sorting or grading 

 it A little incident: 



A neighbor did all of his wool up with the 

 dark or outside ends of the fleece out (as 

 Thompson would have us do with our honey, 

 if we would be honest). I went with a buyer 

 to see the wool. He would offer the man only 

 two-thirds the price for this wool that he did 

 for other fleeces which were done up with the 

 whitest and nicest side out. He did not buy 



