1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



331 



principled dealers to bi'eak it up by selling at 

 low prices honey obtained on commission from 

 bee-keepers here. It will take some years yet 

 before the majority of Eastern bee-keepers are 

 ready to join a similar or the same organiza- 

 tion. They have not yet graduated from 

 "brush college." There is no doubt that adul- 

 teration, and the well-grounded fear of the 

 same, has lessened the consumption of honey, 

 and at the same time lowered the prices more 

 than all other causes combined. The only way 

 to stop it is, as the editor of Gleanings says, to 

 fight It and not attempt to hush it up, as I fear 

 some of our California friends have lately been 

 guilty of doing. Silence just suits the mixers 

 of the vile stuff, for they are continually cry- 

 ing, " Let us alone," as did their ancestors who 

 went down to the sea in a herd of swine. The 

 farmers of this country went into the fight 

 against oleomargarine and its allied compounds, 

 and have won a great victory. This is being 

 repeated with filled cheese, and must be with 

 glucose adulteration. The idea advanced, that 

 we stop adulteration by stopping the produc- 

 tion of extracted honey, and produce comb 

 honey instead, is a cowardly surrender to the 

 enemy. Comb honey, can never take the place 

 of liquid honey for warm cakes and for other 

 purposes. In my home market I sell ten times 

 as much extracted honey as of comb, and this 

 locality is the counterpart of many others. If 

 my patrons could obtain no extracted honey 

 my sales of comb would increase but little. 



INACTION OF THE UNION ON THE MATTER OF 

 ADULTERATION. 



It is a pity that the Bee-keepers' Union, 

 while under the efficient management of Thos. 

 G. Newman, could not have taken up the mat- 

 ter of adulteration. Undoubtedly it would 

 have done so had the bee-keepers of this coun- 

 try thrown all of their energies into one organ- 

 ization instead of dividing them between two. 

 It will require a united front and some money 

 to stop this business. At a time when the 

 Union so much needs the cordial support of 

 every intelligent bee-keeper of the United 

 States, it seems unwise to refuse the admission 

 of the North American, for this is really what 

 this society is asking of us. The constitution 

 advised by the amalgamation committee differs 

 but slightly from the present constitution; and 

 I can not see that it will impair the usefulness 

 of the Union, while it will bring to us a large 

 and valuable support. The management re- 

 mains the same, vested in a board of directors 

 selected by the votes of all of the members of 

 the Union, as at present. The popular annual 

 meeting, if such is held, has no control over the 

 funds of the Union — neither directs its policy 

 nor elects any of its officers. lean undersiand 

 why the Canadians oppose the amalgamation, 

 as they probably foresee that it will be found 

 impractical to make the new Union interna- 

 tional. For several years the usefulness of the 



North American has been seriously impaired, 

 and its existence imperiled, if not shortened, by 

 a long-continued quarrel between the Ameri- 

 cans and the Canadians. I suggest that the 

 present time would be a favorable opportunity 

 to end this belligerency by each party consent- 

 ing to mind its own business. By making 

 the Union a national organization we shall be 

 at liberty to attend to the question of adultera- 

 tion of our products, and the enactment of such 

 laws as may be necessary to wipe it out; and 

 if, at any future time, the board of directors 

 conclude that the Union can assist in any way 

 in marketing lioney, there will be opportunity 

 to do so. It may be found practical to dissem- 

 inate information as to the relative needs of 

 different markets and different parts of the 

 country for shipments of honey. Our weekly 

 American Bee Jour?ial is published at the pres- 

 ent headquarters of the Union, and information 

 as to the weekly receipts and further needs of 

 the chief distributing-points could be quickly 

 disseminated. In some such way an intelligent 

 oversight of the markets might be had, of much 

 service to honey-producers, with no invest- 

 ments, and at not a heavy expense. It would 

 not do to use Canadian money for this purpose, 

 nor would it be advisable for us to try to assist 

 them in a work that they could do so much 

 better themselves. 



But more important than any exchange or 

 possible supervision is the thorough develop- 

 ment of a home market by every bee-keeper. 

 The bee-keepers of this part of the country 

 could easily sell all they produce in their home 

 markets when such amount does not exceed a 

 ton, and is put up in such form as to suit the 

 demand of consumers. This would reduce the 

 amount sent to the cities or main distributing- 

 points, so that prices would materially improve. 



Starkville. N. Y. 



[This I regard as one of the most valuable 

 and suggestive articles that we have ever pub- 

 lished; and while Mr. Elwood's views on the 

 subject of feeding may not harmonize entirely 

 with my own, or perhaps with those of Mr. 

 Boardman and others, I shall not be so foolish 

 as to declare that he is wrong. I was associat- 

 ed wiih Mr. Elwood one time for nearly a week 

 at his home, and met Capt. Hetherington at 

 one of the Albany conventions. My acquain- 

 tance with both led me to believe that they are 

 among the most careful thinking men in our 

 whole industry; at all events. I venture to say 

 that there is not another pair in the world who 

 own and manage so many colonies. We may 

 give their opinion of the matter due considera- 

 tion. 



But 't is well known that bees can be reared 

 very cheaply by feeding; and is it not possible 

 that waste occasioned by extra energy on the 

 part of the bees during spring and early sum- 

 mer feeding, on the plan laid down by Mr. 

 Boardman, will be more than overbalanced by 

 the extra amount of brood, young bees, and 

 early honey? 



Yesterday I talked with Mr. M. G. Chase and 

 U. Prince, prominent bee-keepers of this coun- 

 ty, and told them briefly Mr. Elwood's point— 



