American ^^e Jfonrnal 



343 



^^^^E3 



Miscellaneous News-Items 



A Barrel of Honey a Year lor 

 IVIedi<-iiie 



1 began eatini; extracted honey Nov. ii. 

 looo. for kidney tronble. and have used a 60- 

 pound can every 3 months since then, using 

 my tliird can now. It cured my kidneys. 

 This is at the rate of 240 pounds a year. I 

 can eat 300 pounds a year. I think, and may 

 be more. — 0. A. Neal. in Git\i/iitt^s. 



Mr. N'eal has been eating honey at 

 the rate of two-tliirds of a pound a tfay. 

 Should he increase it to 300 pounds a 

 year then he would be consuming 

 about five-sixths of a pound a day. If 

 every bee-keeper and every member of 

 the bee-keeper's family would equal 

 Mr. Neal in using honey, there would 

 be no question about finding a ready 

 market for all the honey that is pro- 

 duced. 



It seems that Mr. Neal ate all that 

 honey as a " medicine." We think it 

 came pretty nearly being a food, also. 

 Honey is both medicine and food. 



This writer has not kept track of the 

 amount of honey he uses personally 

 during the year, but can say that he 

 has it on the table all the time, and 

 rarely a meal passes that he does not 

 use it. Surely, bee-keepers and those 

 interested in the production of honey 

 ought to set a good example to the rest 

 of the world, whom they would like to 

 have buy and use their product more 

 generously. 



All honorable means should also be 

 employed to induce the public to con- 

 sume more honey, whether they use it 

 as a medicine or a food. If every bee- 

 keeper would do his part in distributing 

 liberally such leaflets as " Honey as a 

 Health-Food" among his neighbors, 

 we think he would be surprised at the 

 increase in the demand for good tab'" 

 honey, especially if there are children 

 in the families. 



Most bee-keepers are able to produce 

 a good honey crop when conditions 

 are favorable, but most of them do not 

 know how to dispose of their honey 

 profitably afterward. Not every pro- 

 ducer is a good salesman. But there 

 is no doubt that more can be sold in 

 the home market if every producer 

 would do what he could to educate his 

 neighbors concerning the vali'e "f 

 honey as a food. 



Ferguson Uucappiug Machine 



Gleanings thinks this machine gives 

 promise of being more of a success 

 than anything it has seen, and among 

 other things says : 



In the hands of a person without experi- 

 ence, the Perguson (if the combs are right) 

 will do twice or three times as much work, 

 and much better than that same person 

 could do with an uncapping-knife; but in 

 the case of an old. experienced extracted- 

 honey producer, familiar with the art of un- 

 capping with a Bingham knife, the differ- 

 nnce in speed, says Mr. Townsend, will not 

 be so noticeable. Indeed, ne was of the 

 opinion that he could work almost as fast 

 with a knife as with the machine. But even 

 if no faster, he likes it because its work is 

 so perfect. 



Uee-Stings anti Kheuinati.sni 



L. S. Crawshaw says in the British 

 Bee Journal : 



Most of the reported cases of cure seem to 

 be those of slightly-affected patients. To 

 test the matter thoroughly. I have obtained 

 the " CO operation " of a local sufferer and 

 his doctor. The victim is suffering from 

 chronic rheumatism. I believe, and is so bad 

 that he can only hobble A'ith the aid of two 

 sticks, several of his joints having no move- 

 ment whatever. Since the spring I have ap- 

 plied twice a week from 20 to 10 stings in 

 various parts of his anatomy, and there cer- 

 tainly seems to be a slight improvement. I 

 hope to report more fully later on. for, as 

 the patient himself says, if it will cure him 

 " it'll cure anybody." 



A report from such a man as Mr- 

 Crawshaw ought to count for some- 

 thing. 



^ 



"Flakes" (Corn or Rice) and 

 Honey 



Have you ever tried eating rice or 

 corn flakes with honey and milk or 

 cream ? If not, just try a bowl full 

 some cool morning and see how fine it 

 is. Fill the bowl (say a pint or a half- 

 pint) with the nice brown flakes, then 

 pour on the milk or cream, and after- 

 ward stream on several spoonfuls of 

 good extracted honey. We prefer to 

 mi.x it all together with a spoon, and 

 then eat it. There may be a more de- 

 licious breakfast - food combination 

 than this, but we have not yet found it. 



We have often been surprised that 

 more bee-keepers do not use more 

 honey on their tables. Why spend (5 

 cents for a pound of sugar, and whole- 

 sale honey at 8 or 10 cents per pound, 

 when the honey will sweeten twice as 

 far as sugar, and is so much better and 

 more healthful, anvwav ? 



Modification of the Jones Swarm 

 Prevention 



The Jones method of preventing 

 swarming received considerable pub- 

 licity last year. I don't know to what 

 extent it was tried. Some objected to 

 the disagreeable work of uncapping 

 the brood; but a Florida subscriber 

 says this may be avoided by sprink- 

 ling dry sulphur over the combs. This 

 will kill all iDisealrd brood, but not in- 

 jure the sealed brood, which would be 

 more desirable than uncapping sealed 

 brood, and accomplish the same result. 

 — Bee-Keepers Kezu'ezv. 



A Little Queen Experience 



An Iowa bee-keeper received a queen 

 during the past season which he 

 thought was a drone-layer, as the col- 

 ony to which he introduced her had 2 

 frames of all drone-brood soon after 

 introducing her. This he reported to 

 the queen-breeder, who at once sent 

 him another queen without charge. 



On receipt of the second queen the 

 bee-keeper opened the hive to kill the 

 first queen and introduce the second, 

 when he found the hive was full of 



worker-brood, and that the first queen 

 was all right. He then took (i frames 

 of brood and 2 frames of honey from 

 other colonies, tlius making a new 

 colony, to which he introduced the 

 second queen, which did well. The 

 bee-keeper, being an honest man, sent 

 the price of the second queen to the 

 queen-dealer, and reported the particu- 

 lars of the case. 



We inention this instance as no 

 doubt there are many others just like 

 it, in which queen-dealers do not 

 always get a square deal. It won't do 

 to judge hastily on receipt of a queen. 

 Sometimes a young queen in beginning 

 to lay does not lay regularly, but be- 

 comes all right in a few days. It is 

 very likely such queens are frequently 

 killed and replaced ; but if given time 

 enough would have proven themselves 

 all right. 



• 



The Great Willow-Herb 



Editor Hutchinson says he knows of 

 no plant that yields more honey in a 

 season than the great willow-herb, or 

 efilobium, the plant which is found in 

 such abundance in Northern Michigan 

 in places where forest fires have been. 

 Hence its common name, " fireweed." 

 It yields honey in such weather as 

 would stop all flow from basswood or 

 clover, say with a cold wind blowing 

 from the north. But it can not be re- 

 lied upon as permanent pasturage. 

 Usually it lasts only 3 years, when 

 other plants crowd it out, not to ap- 

 pear again until after another fire. The 

 honey is of the whitest, and of pleasant 

 flavor. 



^ 



Advertising the Use of Honey 



The extent to which the use of honey 

 might be encouraged is practically un- 

 known to the producer of this most 

 delicious sweet. The manufacturers of 

 corn syrup are good advertisers, else 

 they could not begin to induce the peo- 

 ple to use the quantity of their " stuff " 

 that they put upon the market. We 

 believe the day is coming when organi- 

 zations of bee-keepers throughout the 

 country will advertise honey in a way 

 that will force it upon the attention of 

 the public, just as the corn-syrup 

 makers are doing now. The fact is, 

 there is no comparison between honey 

 and corn syrup as a food. Honey is 

 so far ahead of corn syrup as a food, 

 that when once the former is properly 

 advertised the latter will be forgotten 

 entirely. 



A sincere effort was made a few 

 years ago to get the producers of 

 honey together into an organization 

 whose main purpose was to advertise 

 the use of honey. It seems, however, 

 that the time was not then ripe for 

 such effort to be successful. Its ob- 

 ject was misunderstood, and the motive 

 of its projectors unfairly questioned. 

 Some of these days, and not in the far 

 distant future, we believe bee-keepers 

 will get together in their own interest, 

 and develop a plan of letting the pub- 

 lic know the true value of honey as a 

 daily food, that will result in the crea- 

 tion of such an increased demand for 

 honey that it will take every pound of 

 it at a profitable price. 



In view of the advanced cost of 

 nearly every food product today, not a 



