820 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^ovxzsyiontltntt. 



ThlB mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center or the state named; 

 5 northof the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 ♦O west; and thi8f< northeast: "« northwest: 

 0< southeast; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the Amencan Bee JoonuUL 



United States Linileii Honey. 



DR. A. B. MASON. 



Well, did you ever I Who will be 

 the next to " rile " me up V Because 

 I was so generous and kind-hearted 

 as to try lo set Mr. Peliit and the 

 "managing committee" right, in re- 

 gard to some of his statements in the 

 Amehican Bee JouRNAL,here coii.es 

 Mr. R. McKnight (on page 791), and 

 says that 1 " manifest a good deal of 

 feeling towards " my " cousins across 

 the border." I conless that I do have 

 " a good deal of feeling " concerning 

 all wayward people, and to the extent 

 of my ability desire to aid in getting 

 them in the right way when they go 

 astray. 



In his second sentence, Mr. Mc- 

 Knight says : " None of his remarks 

 already published, or hereafter to be 

 written, will deter Canadian bee- 

 keepers from selecting their own 

 names for their own products." That 

 is right; but give the proper wedit 

 when you make your '• selections." 

 My understanding of this sentence is, 

 that 1 have said, or uill say something 

 to "deter" them, etc. Such is not 

 the case. I have nowhere made the 

 least objection to Canadians giving 

 their products any name they may 

 choose, and had Mr. McKnight read 

 my article on page 709, he would have 

 found no use for his assertion above, 

 for I am there quoted, and correctly 

 too. as having said that I " thought it 

 perfectly right to make Canadian 

 articles distinctively Canadian," etc.; 

 and Mr. Pettit agrees with me 

 about it. 



I am not aware that I am obliged 

 to " confine " myself to the " refuta- 

 tion " of any one erroneous statement 

 made by Mr. Fetlit, Mr. McKnight, 

 any other Canadian, or any one else, 

 but I think I shall " wander around " 

 after such bee-literature that " gets 

 off its base," as I may see fit, and 

 although Mr. McKnight, in each of 

 his Drst two paragraphs, seems to in- 

 sinuate that I object to Canadians 

 using such names and terms for their 

 products as they see Bt, I wish to 

 state most emphatically that I have 

 nowhere done anything of the kind. 



I will admit that there is a "moiety" 

 of seeming truth in Mr. McKnighfs 

 statement that I charge Canadians 

 " as a people with dishonesty and 

 fraud " in the q\iotation he gives, if 

 "in a 'wily' way" means "dis- 

 honesty and fraud ;" but I believe my 

 "copy "had a capital W, and an e in 

 " Wiley," and if so printed, I pre- 

 sume no one would have thought that 

 I charged Canadians with " dishonesty 



and fraud " in that connection ; but 

 in other places I did use the term 

 "misrepresentation and fraud," and 

 I do not wish, nor intend to " take it 

 back," nor apologize for it till lam 

 satisfied that I was mistaken. 



In another place I said : " 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 basswood honey produced in the 

 United States is inferior to the ' fine, 

 richly- flavored' Canadian article, be- 

 cause of its quality or color," and I 

 intend to let it stand just in that way, 

 too. 



I do not, in the least, doubt the 

 truth of Mr. McKnighfs statement 

 when he says that " the sins of that 

 sharper " (if there was such) "are 

 visited upon his countrymen to this 

 day," for a people who do not know 

 the difference between " basswood 

 nutmegs," "basswood hams," or 

 "basswood" honey, unless properly 

 " stamped," would not be very likely 

 to know the difference between a 

 "sharper" and a nation of honest 

 people. Oh ! yes, neighbor, I have 

 trequenily heard that Englishmen are 

 •'modest" (for how can an English- 

 man write an article without putting 

 his "modest" foot in it); but I have 

 never seen any proof of it, unless the 

 terms "modest" and "bombastic" 

 are synonomous. Now, this does not 

 apply to Canadians, for my personal 

 acquaintance with Messrs. D. A. 

 Jones, F. H. Macpherson, Pettit, 

 Emigh, and Holtermann, and the 

 Rev. W. r. Clarke, lead me to be- 

 lieve that, if they are representative 

 Canadians, that the Canadians are 

 just about as nice and genial as the 

 " Yankees " are. But 1 do not mean 

 to say that all Canadians or Yankees 

 are nice and honest. 



" No, no," Mr. McKnight, I did not 

 say that it was a " put up job" on 

 your part to rob us of the reputation, 

 etc., but what I did say was. that the 

 more I thought about Mr. Peltit's 

 statements, "the more thoroughly 

 did I become convinced that it was a 

 ' put up job,' and a deliberate and un- 

 warranted attempt, by misrepresen- 

 tation and fraud, to buildup a name 

 and market (italics mine) for Canadian 

 basswood honey," etc. Nothing about 

 reputation, you see. Mr. McKnight 

 should stick to the text, and not get 

 too much " misrepresentation " in his 

 "remarks." 



I am more than pleased to have Mr. 

 McKnight say that " Dr. Mason mis- 

 states the facts when he says that 

 Canadians in a ' wily way,' or any 

 other way. . . have not sought to de 

 stroy confidence in the good qualities 

 of American basswood honey, and 

 claim superiority for their own ;" but 

 how are we to know that his utter- 

 ances have more of truth in them 

 than Mr. Pettit's, or even as much V 



Perhaps I made a mistake in taking 

 Mr. Pettit for a represeniative Cana- 

 dian, but he was President of the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 and it seemed rather natural to pre- 

 sume that he was the very best au- 

 thority ori the subject, for he signed 

 his name and " President Ontario 



Bee-Keepers' Association." It mav 

 be possible that it is one of my blun- 

 ders, but I am not going to make 

 another by putting Mr. McKnight 

 down as better authority than Mr. 

 Pettit, for I do not believe it. 



" Ono swallow does not make a 

 summer," Mr. McKnight says. Well. 

 I suppose he is right, for I /laue several 

 times heard that it takes two. " Nor 

 one man make a nation;" I expect 

 that depends upon the man and the 

 nation. I have heard of a man saving 

 a nation. Perhaps it is not " gener- 

 ous " on my part to manifest such 

 antipathy against my "cousins and 

 relatives," because one (or in this case 

 ttio) of them " hold and express opin- 

 ions peculiar to himself (themselves), 

 and in which his fellow countrymen 

 do not sympathize." But, "it is 

 English you know," for, as Mr. Mc- 

 Knight shows, they visit " the sins of 



that sharper upon his countrymen 



to this day." How is that for being 

 generous f 



I am not sure that to " hate " is an 

 " evidence of fear on the part of the 

 hater, and power on the part of those 

 hated ;" neither do I see its applica- 

 tion here. It certainly does not apply 

 to me, for Idonot " hate " any person, 

 but 1 do hate the actions and doings 

 of a large number of people ; and as 

 for " fear," I do not now remetnber 

 that I am particularly afraid of, or 

 fear any one. 



I am not aware that any one has 

 asked, or even expressed a desire that 

 some one should aplogize for adopting 

 the word " linden " as against " bass- 

 wood," and I fully agree with Mr. 



McKnight, "that the term linden 



is more correct," and the Cana- 

 dians have shown their good sense in 

 adopting it ; and now that it is used 

 in the North, South, East and West, 

 it is to be hoped that those living in 

 the limited area in the United States, 

 that have been following the bad ex- 

 ample of the Canadians in using the 

 term " basswood," will soon get back 

 into the "right way," and use the 

 term " linden " only ; for it certainly 

 is " more correct." The only reason 

 that I can see why the " term linden 

 is at once more respectable " is, be- 

 cause it is " more correct," and it is 

 " more respectable " to be correct 

 than to be incorrect ; so let all try and 

 be among the " more respectable " 

 ones. 



I do not, and did not "complain," 

 and am not " riled " because Cana- 

 dians adopted our name "linden,'' 

 but give them credit for their shrewd- 

 ness in holding on to a good thing 

 when they see it. What 1 did com- 

 plain of, was the seeming, if not real 

 attempt of the Canadians (Mr. Pettit 

 being their representative) to intro- 

 duce their honey " in the markets of 

 the world by misrepresentation " (and 

 that is fraud, I guess) in calling it 

 " superior " to our honey. 



If I am mistaken about " the warm 

 words about the $1,001) grant," I am 

 glad to " stand corrected," but I said 

 what my impression was in scanning 

 the matter in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal. 



My object in my articles on this 

 subject was to show that Mr. Pettit's 



