THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



were capped over I eitracted the honey (?) 

 aud wife aud I had some of this adulterated 

 stuff for ourselves aud to set before com- 

 pany. 



This was six years ago, and as I kept no 

 memorandum of the matter, what I say will 

 be from memory. Why I kept no notes re- 

 garding the matter was that such a hue and 

 cry was made over the matter of adultera- 

 tion, where even feeding was carried so far 

 that some of the feed might remain over to 

 the next summer in the combs, that I did not 

 feel like standing the " storm " which would 

 arise should I make the matter public. After 

 some of my intimate friends had eaten of 

 this sugar honey I ventured to ask them if 

 they could tell me from what source it came, 

 and I found that the live pounds of honey 

 used to prevent granulation, so flavored the 

 whole, that every one would pronounce it 

 honey from basswood or .. hite clover, just in 

 accord to the kind I had used to keep from 

 crystallizing, while all, without exception, 

 called it the finest honey they ever saw or 

 tasted. Not wishing to have it said that 

 Doolittle was aiding the adulteration of 

 honey, I let the thing rest where it was till 

 last spring, when, out of sympathy for the 

 Editor of the Review, I expressed myself as 

 siding with him, in a little note, which he 

 saw fit to publish. 



Now I am free to say that I consider sugar- 

 fed honey just a little better than any other, 

 and that I do not consider it adulterated 

 honey by any means, but whether it will be 

 the wise thing for the bee-keepers of the 

 world to go into raising sugar-honey and 

 putting it on the markets, is quite anothi r 

 question. At the present prices of honf,\ 

 and sugar, a specialist with the needed para- 

 phanalia could produce honey at a cost much 

 below the present prices, and the knowledge 

 of this would cause other specialists to go 

 into such production which would finally re- 

 sult in competition, and this competition 

 would result in two things : first the building 

 up of large " ranches," turning out thou- 

 sands, if not millions, of pounds of honey ; 

 and, second, the lowering of prices to where 

 the "little" bee-keepers could not make it 

 pay to keep bees that they might gather 

 honey from the flowers ; for, if sugar-honey 

 is to be the thing of the future, the " locali- 

 ty," the " seasons," and such things will 

 play no part in the matter of " honey trusts " 

 which will probably be formed, while they 

 will be an important factor with us "little 



fellows." Now I am not a prophet nor the 

 son of a prophet, but I will predict that if 

 sugar is ever fed in large quantities to bees 

 to make into honey, that when that time ar- 

 rives, there will not be 800,000 bee-keepers in 

 America, as there are now reported to be. 

 From the above reasons I am inclined to 

 think that this present discussion of the sub- 

 ject will not be for the best interest of the 

 bee-keepers, but if it should prove to be of 

 the " greatest good to the greatest number," 

 the apiarists of the country ought to feel to 

 say amen, for do we not all belong to the 

 great " brotherhood of man ?" 



Borodino, N. Y. Nov. 10, 1892. 



[In a little private note Mr. Doolittle adds 

 the following :] I do not know that I have 

 a private word to add on this subject of 

 sugar-honey more than what I have said in 

 the article. While I admit that all of the 

 notions of the past have been illogical, yet 

 I confess that a nervous anxiety steals over 

 me regarding the future, when I contemplate 

 what may be the possible outgrowth of agi- 

 tating this sugar-honey matter. May Him 

 who rules above guide in this matter. 



G. M. D. 



Feeding Sugar for Comb Honey.— Can it be 

 Honorably and Profitably Done 1 



E. L. TAYLOK. 



rOHERE can be no 

 ll' question that the 

 feeding of sugar to 

 produce comb honey 

 WDuld be honorable 

 aud legitimate if in 

 disposing of it there 

 is no concealment of 

 the source of the 

 honey. But how far 

 ['' -ijH is it necessary to go 



fe ^^^MB in order to satisfy 



this requirement ? 

 \\ ouiu It ue sufficient to pack the honey 

 without distinguishing mark and say to your 

 commission merchant that it is made from 

 sugar ? That would leave the consumer, 

 who alone is the one really interested, with- 

 out any sure protection. You may say he is 

 getting as good as he supposes or better, 

 but he may reply that he has a right, with a 

 full knowledge of all the facts, to exercise 

 his own judgment. And one can hardly deny 

 his claim. 



