THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



693 



the comers, four nails to the frame. 

 These nails reach through and go 

 Into the head of the hive an inch and 

 a half. Sometimes I fasten at the 

 corners, in the way of foe-nailing, 

 with small nails.— James Heddon. 



1. Cut strips i-^-inch square, and 

 put down between the side bars of 

 each frame, so as to hold the combs 

 securely. 2. A space of ^g-inch he- 

 low, with from 2 to 4 inches above 

 will do. 3. If the hives have por- 

 ticos, nail wire-cloth over the outer 

 edges of them. If not, nail wire-cloth 

 over the entrances, and give ventila- 

 tion and a place of refuge in case of 

 breaking down of combs, over the 

 frames.— The Editor. 



(^oxxcsipontltnct. 



ThlB mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center ot the state named ; 

 5 north of the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 •O west; and thisi^ northeast: ^northwest; 

 o» southeast; and ? southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tne American Bee Joomal. 



"Basswooil" Ys. "LMen." 



DK. A. B. MASON. 



For several months past— in fact 

 ever since the appearance of Mr. S. 

 T. Pettit's article under the above 

 heading, on page 23, 1 have intended 

 to answer him, and also review some 

 statements made by him in the Cava- 

 dian Bee Journal for 1886, page 167, 

 that called forth my remarks as re- 

 ported on page 805 of the American 

 Bee Journal for 1886. 



I commenced at once to do as Mr. 

 Pettit suggested on page 23. above re- 

 ferred to, " to get average samples of 

 basswood honey from the different 

 points of the United States, especially 

 from the southern limit at which this 

 tree produces honey," and wrote to 

 one or more well-known bee-keepers 

 in Virginia, West Virginia, Ken- 

 tucky, Missouri, Kansas, Nevada and 

 California, and to every State and 

 Territory south of the above-men- 

 tioned, for a sample of basswood 

 honey. I did not get the last answer 

 till May, since which time I have 

 been too busy working to get bread 

 and butter, and honey, etc., for our 

 family, to indulge my desire to write 

 sooner. 



It is possible that many of the 

 readers of the Asierican Bee Jour- 

 nal, do not understand why I called 

 attention to Mr. Pettit's article, and 

 why he refers to what I am reported 

 as having said on page 80o. mentioned 

 above ; and the same number of read 

 ers may not even be aware that there 

 was an " Indian and Colonial Exhi- 

 bition " in England last fall, and that 

 our Canadian beekeeping cousins 

 made a very large and creditable dis- 

 play of honey, and that previous to. 

 during, and for some time after the 

 exhibition, that the Canadian Bee 



Journal was " chock full " of what 

 was to be, and was done at the 

 " Colonial ;" and also contained some 

 pretty warm words about what was 

 done with some of the $1,000 granted 

 them by the Government to help pay 

 the expense of making their honey 

 exhibit at the " ColoniaL" 



That all the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal may know just 

 how our Canadian cousins started out 

 to place their basswood honey in the 

 " markets of the world," especially 

 the English, it may be well to copy 

 Mr. Pettit's article and the Editor's 

 remarks from the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal for 1886, as found on pages 167 and 

 168. It is as follows : 



LINDEN HONEY. 



The question whether Canadians 

 shall in the future name the honey 

 produced by the Canadian linden tree, 

 linden honey, or " basswood " honey, 

 has been carefully considered by the 

 managing committee. And I am 

 proud to be in a position to state that 

 the term " linden " has been unani- 

 mously adopted. So that name will 

 in the future be used by all Canadians. 

 Hence, no more " basswood " honey 

 in Canada. 



E. McKnight, Esq., of Owen Sound, 

 whose opinions we all so much re- 

 spect, says, " Let it be linden, as at 

 once more respectable and correct. 

 Basswood is a term known to the 

 people of England only in connection 

 with things disreputable." 



Our American friends use the term 

 '.' linn," or " basswood," but generally 

 " basswood." Now, we desire to 

 make everything in connection with 

 our exhibition, and in the markets of 

 the world, too, as distinctively Cana- 

 dian as possible. So let us all use the 

 name linden on our labels, and in our 

 conversation both at home and 

 abroad. 



Another thing, our fine, richly- 

 flavored, crystal " linden " honey is 

 superior to American "basswood" 

 honey. Messrs. C. F. Muth & Son, of 

 Cincinnati, O., who perhaps handle 

 more honey than any other firm in 

 America, class American basswood 

 honey with buckwheat and other fall 

 honey, thus proving conclusively that 

 the bulk of American basswood honey 

 is inferior to Canadian "linden" 

 honey. 



Allow me further to say that there 

 are two varieties of trees in Europe 

 belonging to the linden family, and 

 two in America. Tilia Americana. 

 American linden, or common bass- 

 wood, and Tilia luUrophylla. white 

 linden, are as emphatically true lin- 

 den as any tree in Europe. 



But it seems certain that the further 

 south the honey is produced by this 

 tine tree, the poorer it is. No ques- 

 tion but our American cousins will 

 adhere to the name basswood, that 

 they have so long used ; and I am 

 sure that Canadians have no objec- 

 tions to that, and we will all use the 

 name " linden," both for honey and 

 sections. And so, by the way, our 

 products will all stand upon their own 

 merits. 



A little friendly rivalry in the mar- 

 kets of the world very likely will do 



us all good.— S. T. Pettit, President 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association. 



We were not aware that friend 

 Muth classed basswood and buck- 

 wheat in the same category. We 

 never saw American basswood as 

 dark as buckwheat. The Northern 

 States should, and we believe do, pro- 

 duce just as tine basswood honey as 

 we. We agree with friend Pettit, 

 that it is well to have some distinc- 

 tive name by which this particular 

 brand of honey shall be known " the 

 world over," and as the word " lin- 

 den " has never had the stigmas cast 

 upon it that "basswood" has, the 

 former certainly should be the name. 

 Then our English friends will not be 

 able to class our honey with " bass- 

 wood nutmegs." " basswood hams," 

 etc.— Editor of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, 



With the very kindest, and most 

 friendly feeling towards Mr. Pettit 

 personally, I hope I shall be pardoned 

 for anv seeming unkind expressions 

 that 1 may use in reviewing his 

 articles. 



I was thoroughly surprised at some 

 of the statements made by Mr. Pettit 

 in the above article, and some of the 

 comments of the editor ; and on re- 

 reading it, my surprise was somewhat 

 mixed with vexation, and the more I 

 thought about it, the more thoroughly 

 did I become convinced that it was a 

 " put up job," and a deliberate and 

 unwarranted attempt, by misrepre- 

 sentation and fraud, to build up a 

 name and market for Canadian bass- 

 wood honey, in markets and localities 

 where United States basswood honey 

 had already been introduced; and I 

 feel quite confident that if I had been 

 in the presence of that august " man- 

 aging committee " at the time it was 

 classing United States basswood 

 honey with " buckwheat and other 

 fall honey," it would have had some- 

 thing to have thought about, for a 

 few minutes at least, besides bass- 

 wood and linden honey, and I pity the 

 ignorance, or the dishonesty (I do not 

 know which it is) of every one, be he 

 Canadian, Englishman, or " any other 

 man," who has said that the bass- 

 wood honey produced in the United 

 States is inferior to the " fine, richly- 

 flavored " Canadian article, because 

 of its quality or color. 



To be sure, the name " basswood " 

 is used as the name of the honey pro- 

 duced by the linden tree in the more 

 northerly portion of the United States 

 and Canada, but in the southern part 

 of the United States, and as far north 

 as the centre of this State (Ohio), the 

 tree and honey are both called either 

 linden or " linn," and to speak of 

 basswood trees in that locality, to any 

 one not acquainted with the name as 

 used further north, is to mention a 

 (10 them) new kind of tree, until told 

 it is the same as linden. 



AVhere Father Langstroth lives, this 

 tree is known as linden, and was so 

 called by him more than a quarter of 

 a century ago in his " Tieatise on the 

 Hive and Honey-Bee." It is also 

 known as linden in some localities 

 further north. 



