1877 - More about Mr. Muth

Obviously Mr. Muth is someone people who are interested in bees find out about right away. That great engraving of his hives on his Cincinnati business building gives you an idea of his energy! While I saw that old late 19th century article first, I soon found out his honey jar is so loved that reproductions are still offered for sale. They are in the Mann Lake catalog this year, on eBay, and Amazon!   I like it, too...although the hexagonal glass jars are a nice design that looks expensive!  


Charles F. Muth who was one of the early leaders in American Apiculture, having founded the Muth Honey Business in 1858. 

He was one of the early entrepreneurs that found a niche and worked hard to fill it.  A beekeeper himself, he shipped into Cincinnati tons of honey from other regions as far away as California for processing and wholesaling.  

He developed and branded many apiary tools, my favorite being the Muth's Cold Blast Bee Smoker!

• Charles F. Muth's Two-Frame Honey-Extractor, with honey reservoir and honey-gate
• Muth's Cold Blast Bee Smoker
• Muth Honey Knife
• Muth's Wax Extractor

Charles Muth appears to have been a "straight shooter" as this next anecdote illustrates...

I've found one way to get a feel for a business man is to read their obituary.  I know people cut dead folks a lot of slack, but it still gives you insight into Muth's life.

Mr. Chas. F. Muth, of Cincinnati, one one of the grandest, whole-souled men in our ranks, has passed away;  probably by his own hand.  He was found dead (shot) May 16th, at his farm near Morristown; Ind.    Mr. Muth suffered from sunstroke several years ago, and since then his head has troubled him more or less.  Although he was possessed of considerable property, it was scattered and he was in debt, and these things probably worried him.

I remember so well my meeting with him at the World‘s Fair in Chicago, and noting how well and ruddy he looked and asking him how it was.  He said “Well, Brother Hutchinson, I‘ll tell you. I have a farm out a few miles, and I spend a good deal time there out in the open air. That explains it." 

The last time I met him was at the State fair, last fall, in Indianapolis. He came and talked with me as much as two hours, and told me, among other things, how he had suffered when his son died. The world had never seemed the same since. 

He also tried to speak cheering words to me, and did all that his big sympathetic heart could to lift the burden from mine. It is too bad that we do not know how to take better care than we do of these frail minds and bodies of ours, and, knowing it, do it.

The Bee Keepers' Review, Volumes 11-12 - 1898

Here is another...

DEATH OF CHARLES F. MUTH  

Mr. Charles F. Muth, senior member of the firm of Chas. F. Muth & Son, Cincinnati, whose advertisement and market quotations appear regularly in The Bee-Keeper, committed suicide by shooting on May 16th. The rash act is thought to have been committed in a moment of temporary insanity, resulting from a sunstroke, which he suffered several years ago. 

It is doubtful if there exists in the United States today a commission house that has succeeded in winning the same degree of confidence among the honey-producing fraternity as that of which the name of Chas. F. Muth has been at the head since our earliest recollection. 

The fact that Mr. Muth was, himself, a bee-keeper, may in part explain the cause of this confidence, which became the basis of a very extensive and successful business, as inferred from the reputed extent of his fortune; which is said to have reached hundreds of thousands. 

Deceased was about 65 years of age, and is survived by a wife and six grown children.

The American Bee Keeper, Volume 8 - 1898

Then this news turned up which puts things in a different perspective.

Be that as it may, Mr. Muth did great things for honey producers in his heyday and left us a charming honey bottle.