694 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



While on a business trip in the East 

 last summer, a friend who spent some 

 time in Wisconsin several years ago, 

 told me of a forest of linden trees that 

 extended along a road, on both sides, 

 over three miles, and he did. not learn 

 how far it extended each way from 

 the road, and it was known as the 

 " Linden Forest," being composed of 

 linden trees only. So 1 judge that the 

 name " linden honey " is not a new 

 one, probably having been in use in 

 the United States ever since it first 

 became Ijnown what flowers produced 

 the different Ijinds of honey, and was 

 simply discovered, abducted, or stolen 

 and adopted by the " managing com- 

 mittee." 



With these facts before us, I wonder 

 if it will occur to the mind of the 

 average Canadian, that the word 

 basswood is of their own coining, and 

 that the people in the northern por- 

 tion of the United States, owing to 

 their " nearness " to Canada, nave 

 also adopted it. 



And now, after the " Yankees " 

 have established a name for their 

 " fine, richly-flavored crystal " bass- 

 wood honey in the " markets of the 

 world," especially the English mar- 

 ket, it seems that the Canadians, 

 wishing to take advantage of its pop- 

 ularity, have previous to. during and 

 since their " Colonial Exhibit," been 

 pushing their basswood honey under 

 a (to them) new name, calling it (in a 

 "wily" way) superior to "Ameri- 

 can basswood " honey. 



If some of Mr. Pettit's assertions 

 did not carry upon their face the 

 evidence (at least to some of us) of 

 their untruthfulness, they might be 

 put down as " bombast"— which, of 

 late, has so frequently shown itself in 

 the writings of our Canadian and 

 English relatives. 



Can it be possible, as Mr. McKnight 

 says, that the term " linden " is " at 

 once more respectable and correct" 

 than the term " basswood V" If the 

 term has at any time been used in 

 connection with something not "re- 

 spectable," why should the name it- 

 self be any the less respectable ? Be- 

 cause so many men are not respect- 

 able, it by no means follows that Mr. 

 McKnight is not respectable because 

 he is a man, and ought not to acknowl- 

 edge the name man in order to claim 

 respectability. 



Mr. Fettit says : " Our fine, richly- 

 flavored, crystal 'linden' honey is 

 superior to American 'basswood' 

 honey." He certainly is not well in- 

 formed in regard to the quality, color 

 and flavor of the basswood honey pro- 

 duced in tbe United States, or he has 

 deliberately made what he ought to 

 have known is a false statement. He 

 further says: "Messrs. C. F. Muth 



& Son, of Cincinnati, O class 



American bass wood honey with buck- 

 wheat and other fall honey, thu? 

 proving conclusively that the bulk of 

 American basswood honey is inferior 

 to Canadian ' linden ' honey." IE the 

 testimony of one is "conclusive" 

 proof, then I have a large number of 

 "conclusive" proofs that Mr Pettit 

 has made statements, for true ones, 

 that are absolutely false. 



If the Messrs. Muth have classed 

 basswood honey as Mr. Pettit says, 

 they have made a bigger blunder than 

 I can give them credit for. But if 

 they have so classed it, it does not 

 follow that they were right ; and it 

 seems to me that any one, in the least 

 posted as to the color and quality of 

 the"fine,richlyflavored crystal" bass- 

 wood honey produced in the United 

 States, would know that Mr. Pettit's 

 statements were made without his 

 being well informed in the matter, 

 and such statements are slanders 

 upon one of our flnestgrades of honey. 



" Slander, that worst of poisons, ever finds 

 An easy entrance to lKDol)le minds." 



Now for "just a little" of the 

 " thus proving conclusively that the 

 bulk of the American basswood honey 

 is " NOT "inferior to Canadian linden 

 honey :" Mr. James Heddon, whose 

 opinion on this subject is probably 

 not a whit less valuable than Mr. 

 Pettit's or any one else's, in an article 

 in Seed Time and Harvest for Feb- 

 ruary, 1887, speaking of the different 

 kinds of honey, says : 



" The basswood is very white and 

 fine flavored. It is the whitest of all 

 honey. Last season I presented 

 Father Langstroth with his choice of 

 a 100 pound keg of either grade, and 

 he chose the basswood," and wrote, 

 " That he believed there was no other 

 honey to compare with itin richness." 



And then says : " It is a favorite 



on our table." Two "conclusive" 

 proofs ; but here is another : 



The editor of the American Bee 

 Journal, who, it will be conceded is 

 first-class authority, on page 24, at the 

 close of Mr, Pettit's article, says : 

 " United States basswood honey is by 

 no means dark, and is not so classed 

 in this city. That it varies in differ- 

 ent localities is true, but it is never 

 dark." Another " conclusive " proof. 



One more " conclusive " proof, and 

 it comes from a " conclusive " source, 

 and on this account is more valuable 

 than any other, it being a Canadian, 

 and none other than the editor of the 

 Canadian Bee Journal, who says : 

 " We never saw American basswood 

 as dark as buckwheat. The Northern 

 States should, and we believe do, pro- 

 duce just as fine basswood honey as 

 we." " Conclusive," eh V 



One thing more : The editor of the 

 Canadian Bee Journal, after speaking 

 in favor of " linden " as the " dis- 

 tinctive name" for Canadian bass- 

 wood honey, says : "Then our Eng- 

 lish friends will not be able to class 

 our honey with ' basswood nutmegs,' 

 ' basswood hams,' etc." AVhy nofrdo 

 as the boy did when he drew a pict- 

 ure and wrote under it, " This is a 

 horse i"' Just mark the packages 

 sent to the English market, " This is 

 Canadian Linden Honey," and then 

 keep close watch of the market and 

 see that no " basswood nutmegs " or 

 "basswood hams" are marked the 

 same way by some "wily" Cana- 

 dian, and put on the market, thus 

 defrauding the unsuspecting and 

 " modest " Englishman. 

 fiOne of three things seems evident, 

 namely, either " our English friends " 



must be very poor judges ; or tha 

 "'basswood nutmegs.' 'basswood 

 hams,' etc.," dealt in by "our Eng- 

 lish friends " are so much like "our 

 fine, richly-flavored crystal ' linden ' 

 honey," that they cannot tell the dif- 

 ference ; or it is a huge " joak." 



Is it not about time some one just 

 slightly pricked some of the egotistical 

 and bombastic bubbles that have 

 been sent up by some of our " cousins 

 across the border," and other rela- 

 tives on the other side of " the pond?" 



Auburndale,^ Ohio. 



[We have handled thousands of 

 pounds of basswood honey, which, 

 when candied, was as white as lard, 

 and of as rich and fine flavor as any 

 one could ask for or desire. 



Dr. Mason has given some excellent 

 proofs on his point, but will no doubt 

 pardon us for adding another. It is 

 also from a Canadian, and one of her 

 best and brightest sons— the Hon. 

 Louis Wallbridge, Lord Chief Justice 

 of Manitoba, and an ardent lover of 

 the pursuit of bee-keeping, as well as 

 a practical apiarist and an eminent 

 and learned jurist. We formed his 

 acquaintance in the oflBce of the 

 American Bee Journal, to which 

 paper he has been a subscriber for the 

 past 17 or 18 years. In 1881, before 

 the Ontario Agricultural Commission, 

 he testified as follows in answer to a 

 question concerning the quality of 

 the honey of " other countries " as 

 compared with that of his locality 

 (Belleville, Ont.) and other portions 

 of the Province of Ontario. He said : 



I think the white clover and bass- 

 wood the best. There are in all the 

 accounts published a good deal of 

 brag, for which due allowance must 

 be made. I find that bee-keepers 

 over-estimate. The occupation is of 

 an exciting character, which may 

 account for it. 



After making that due allowancb 

 for '■ brag," and the tendency to over- 

 estimate, of which the Hon. L. Wall- 

 bridge speaks, the conclusion is in- 

 evitable that the basswood honey 

 which he refers to is one and the 

 same, as to quality, whether grown 

 north or south of the great lakes, 

 either in Canada or the United States, 

 for he mentions no difference, and 

 makes these remarks in reply to the 

 question concerning the quality of 

 honey in Ontario and other countries. 



Then as to the average production 

 of honey, he said : 



Last year, 1879, a very good year, 

 each hive, taking that as the basis of 

 calculation, averaged 98 pounds, ex- 

 tracted. This is more than a general 

 average — perhaps 75 pounds would be 

 a fair average : 40 pounds would be a 

 fair average of comb honey. I have 



