144 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Now the question is, in my mind: is 

 that not one of the reasons why Cali- 

 fornia dark honey is selling so much 

 lower ? 



Mr. Dadant — I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Burnett on that subject. 



Mr. Burnett — Mr. President, I do not 

 know that I can help you very much 

 about it. 



As to the relative difference in the 

 price between sugar and honey, I 

 might say that one really does not re- 

 place the other. Take for instance the 

 case cited by Mr. Wheeler. The reason 

 that they are not using so much honey 

 in the last year as they did previously 

 is because perhaps the style of goods is 

 changed. Honey is used for goods that 

 will keep moist for a length of time, as 

 in jumbles; and so-called honey goods 

 generally has required honey that 

 would carry through the oven and keep 

 its flavor. They have not liked the low 

 grades of honey; in fact, the better 

 bakeries do not use it. 



The alfalfa honey from California 

 differs from the alfalfa honey from 

 Idaho and Utah very materially. I 

 mean the lower part of California; that 

 honey is not suitable for table purposes 

 yet it is produced from alfalfa, they tell 

 me, almost exclusively. The alfalfa 

 of Utah and Idaho and those countries 

 are entirely different honey. 



The bakeries do not care for honey so 

 much because it has not the carrying 

 properties that will come out in the 

 goods through the oven. 



Perhaps the substitute referred to is 

 a confection they are using instead of 

 honey goods. People seem to have 

 tired of those honey goods; that is, the 

 general buying public, and prefer this 

 preparation called confection. 



As to the relative price, again, when 

 I said that one will not replace the 

 other to any great extent, I do not say 

 but that it will to a degree, but not to 

 a degree that is of commercial interest. 



Therefore, by Education — if you can 

 persuade people that honey is much 

 more conducive to their health than 

 sugar — you will increase the sale of 

 honey. 



I think that is perhaps the chief 

 measure that can be effectively used to 

 interest people in honey. Have them 

 understand that these properties are 

 conducive to health whereas the aver- 

 age sugar is not so. 



The fermentation that comes from 

 sugar is avoided by the use of honey. 



I guess that is about all that I can 

 say on the subject. 



Mr. Woodman — I think what Mr. 

 Wheeler had reference to: I was in- 

 formed that a firm in Philadelphia is 

 engaged in the manufacture of some 

 substitute for honey. I believe they 

 call it some kind of sugar, used for 

 baking purposes. I know that the bak- 

 ers in our city have used that as a 

 substitute for honey; it woufd seem to 

 me that the present low prices of bak- 

 ing- honey ought to put them out of 

 business at least for a short time. 



Mr. Miller — What the gentleman 

 said last seems to me to be true be- 

 cause this sugar is made of ordinary 

 sugar by the addition of acid and rais- 

 ing of the temperature; the cost of 

 skill and labor to do that amounts to 

 something; so if sugar gets up to eight 

 cents a pound and they have to use 

 additional skill and labor to form this 

 confection used by the bakers, we 

 ought to be able to charge more for 

 honey. 



Sugar is higher than usual this year 

 and the honey crop is only two-thirds 

 what it is ordinarily, or two -thirds of 

 what it was last year, and we have 

 practically the same prices. Why is 

 it? Is it caused by the hard times, or 

 what? 



Mr. Wheeler — The prices are lower 

 on the general market, are they not, 

 Mr. Burnett? 



Mr. Burnett — The prices are lower; 

 extracted honey is lower. 



Mr. Miller spoke of the cost of 

 the chaijging of the nature of sugar. 

 Do you now what it costs to do that? 



Mr. Miller— I have not figured out 

 the exact cost; I have made it in a 

 small way, but I do not know what it 

 will cost on a large scale. 



Mr. Burnett — I understand- the cost 

 is infinitesimal; it is very little; it 

 would not make much difference in a 

 pound of sugar. 



Mr. Dadant — I might say I have oc- 

 casion to know that one reason why 

 baking honey has gone so low is be- 

 cause so much honey has come in from 

 Cuba and the West Indies, which for- 

 merly went to Germany and European 

 countries. 



I heard of some 400 barrels that had 

 come to New York and they were 

 holding it in bond until it could be 

 sold; of course that honey is very 

 cheap honey and would be bound to 



