1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1487 



rights as the inventor of jyractical movable- 

 frame hives. Some of the iUustrations of 

 hives ai-e exc^ellent, particularly that of the 

 "Holborn," which is evidently an up-to-date 

 home for a hive of bees. In this country we 

 have long since discarded the straw hive, 

 and it seems strange to find it referred to in 

 a work of this kind; but this is pro])ably to 

 suit the views of the Board of Education, who 

 may love old-fashioned things even when 

 they are bad. It is recommended because 

 Mr. Pettigrew, a Scotch bee-keeper, made $480 

 in one year with it; but some men in this coun- 

 try have cleared $8000 in a season with wood- 

 en hives, and quite possibly some have ex- 

 ceeded this, selling the honey, too, at half 

 the price it would sell for in' England. In 

 the matter of foundation, frames, sections, 

 etc., this book is right up with the times, how- 

 ever. 



A school-book on bee-keeping would be a 

 novelty in this country; but we see no rea- 

 son why bee-keeping should not become a 

 school-subject ii^ many parts of this country, 

 where bee-keeping is not well developed. 

 This book shows our English friends are not 

 slow on the subject of sound education for 

 the rural population. The book is published 

 by the old reliable firm of Kegan Paul, 

 Triibner, French & Co., London. 



"vthat's the use of knowin' so much, 



WHEN so MUCH YOU KNOW AIN'T SO?" 



Mk. S. J. Griggs, of the Griggs Brothers, 

 Toledo, the honey merchants of that city, 

 visited ns recently. I asked him what he 

 thought would be the effect of the Hepburn 

 pure-food law on the honey business. 



"Decidedly beneficial," he said. Prices, 

 in his opinion, would seek a higher level than 

 they had ever obtained before. The comb- 

 honey canard would not then have anj^ foun- 

 dation upon which to stand. 



He told a number of amusing instances in 

 his experience in selling honey, of how that 

 phantom canard would every now and then 

 be thrown up in his face. Once when he 

 was making a demonstration at one of the 

 bee and poultry shows, an old lady came iip, 

 looked over his nice comb honey, and nod- 

 ded very wisely, saying, "All manufactured." 

 Mr. Griggs paid no attention, for he was 

 giving some bees water through the wire 

 cloth of an observatory hive. A daughter of 

 the old lady remarked, looking at some bot- 

 tles of very nice extracted clover honey, 

 "But, mother, here is some nice strained 

 honey. ' ' 



"Naw," retorted the eldei', "that is noth- 

 thing but sugar-fed stuff — can't fool me." 



Mr. Griggs immediately sided with the old 

 lady in this wise: 



"You are right, madam. Now just watch 

 me and I will show you just how I do it. 

 See, I am pouring the stuff on the top of 

 these bees. Now if you will wait a minute, 

 you will see it come out of the entrance of 

 the hive right into this dish. 



"But say, madam," he added, "how do 

 you know comb honey is manufactured? " 



"Oh! "she retorted with a toss of her head, 

 "I have eaten too much of it to be fooled. I 

 know it when I see it and taste. Can't fool 

 ???c." 



Mr. Griggs was all but squelched, for he 

 knew that a woman convinced against her 

 will is of the same opinion still. He made, 

 however, one more attempt: 



"You do, eh? Say, my dear lady," he 

 said, growing serious, "if you will prove 

 that there is one pound of manufactured hon- 

 ey on the market, 1 will see to it that you 

 will get several thousand dollars. The Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association, with a mem- 

 bership of somethiuCT like 2000, and a big 

 fund in its treasury, has offered over $1000 

 for pi'oof of what you are talking about; and, 

 what is more, I know of a big firm that will 

 pay an equal sum. Yes, my dear woman, 

 there is a big pile of money waiting for you 

 when you prove your statement." 



"Ahem!" said she, becoming a little bit 

 shaken in her faith, "it tastes like it, any- 

 how." 



"But it does beat all," said Mr. Griggs, 

 "how many people l)elieve that comb honey 

 is manufactured. One of my best customers, 

 a man who produces nothing but fancy and 

 No. 1 comb lioney, sections all scraped, and 

 combs built clear out to the wood, took a 

 sample of these goods to a grocer in a neigh- 

 boring town. He displayed it on the coun- 

 ter, and held it up before his would-be pur- 

 chaser. The man examined it with a great 

 deal of interest, and then, with a knowing 

 . smile, said, 'Yes, it is genuine manufactured 

 comb honey. Ileal bees' honey is not so per- 

 fect nor so clean and pretty' as this. ' The 

 comb-honey producer was too mad to argue 

 the question, so he grabbed up his case of 

 honey and ripped out, ' You are a good guess- 

 er, you are.' Out he went and slammed 

 the door. 



"Now, may be that grocer," continued 

 Griggs, "thought he had actually spotted a 

 man who was putting out the bogus stuff, and 

 that the rascal admitted the fact. / woulcl 

 have turned around and argued the matter 

 with him a little, and convinced him it was 

 a mistake, and asked him to sample the hon- 

 ey with the view of making him a purchaser. 

 But not so with our gilt-edged comb-honey 

 man. He had no time to fool with such a 

 know-it-all ignoramus." 



It is no doubt true that an extra-fine lot of 

 comb honey, clean and well scraped, combs 

 pearly white, and well tilled out, to some 

 people appear not so honest as l^ee-bi-ead pro- 

 polis-daubed honey from the old farm of ye 

 olden days. These beautiful clean goods 

 they think mvTst be manufactured. 



Moral No. 1. — "What's the use of knowin' 

 so much, when so much you know ain't so? " 



Moral No. 2. — What's the use of scraping 

 sections, and selling only fancy to those who 

 know so much? AVhy not sell such chaps 

 bee-bready chunk honey? Let them have 

 what they want, and charge 'evi a good round 

 price until they know less, or, rather, know 

 more, about their own business? 



