December, 1915. 



406 



American ^ee Journal 



FIG. 2.— SEVEN OUNCES OF HONEY IS EQUAL IN FOOD VALUE TO THE 

 OTHER ARTICLES SHOWN 



worth of cream cheese is equal to 7 

 ounces of honey, yet even this costs 

 more than the product of the hive. 

 Thirteen cents vt-orth of walnuts are 

 necessary to equal the small jar of 

 honey. Since extracted honey usually 

 sells at less than 16 cents per pound at 

 retail, 7 cents will not be far from the 

 cost. 



Figure 3 shows that 8 oranges, which 

 cost 20 cents, supply an amount of food 

 equal to 7 ounces of honey, and 5 

 bananas, at 25 cents per dozen, cost 10 

 cents. 



The following table shows the 

 amount of the various items required 

 to supply food value equal to 7 ounces 

 cf honey, according to the above men- 

 tioned authority. The retail prices 

 that prevail at this time are also given: 



Honey, 7 ounces - - 7 cents 

 Cream cheese, 5.6 ounces - 9 " 



Eggs, 10 - - - 15 " 



Round beefsteak, 12 ounces 15 " 



Boneless codfish, 15 ounces 20 " 



Oranges, 8 - - - 20 " 



Bananas, 5 - - - 10 " 



Walnuts, S}i ounces - 13 " 



The above items are in general use, 

 and few if any of them are regarded as 



lu.xuries. By reference to the above 

 table it will be seen that as far as 

 actual value is concerned, honey is one 

 of the cheapest of the ready-prepared 

 foods. Only such raw products as 

 potatoes, cornmeal, beans, etc., which 



must be prepared for the table after 

 purchase, are cheaper in food value, at 

 current prices than is honey. 



Since honey is a concentrated food 

 product and contains little waste, it 

 can very fairly be compared with other 

 concentrated products like butter. If 

 butter is worth the prices at which it 

 sells, honey could be sold at much 

 higher prices, without injustice to the 

 consumer. 



According to a recent number of the 

 South African Farmer's Weekly, honey 

 sells in many South African towns at 

 from 3(i to hi cents per pound, notwith- 

 standing the fact that good crops are 

 readily produced there. Butter often 

 sells at such prices in this country, but 

 never honey. 



Since honey contains but little waste, 

 it can be eaten in moderate quantities 

 with much less tax on the eliminating 

 organs than most other foods. Dr. 

 Imfeld, of Geneva, Switzerland, has 

 been quoted as saying: "If people 

 would eat more honey, we doctors 

 would starve." It is up to the beekeep- 

 ers to inform the public as to the true 

 value of honey as food. 



FIG. 3— HONEY IS ONE OF THE CHEAPEST FOODS IN THE MARKET FOR 

 ACTUAL NUTRITIVE VALUE 



Editorial 



Comments 



Sbippiug Bees by the Pound 



While visiting in the province of 

 Ontario, in the spring of 1014, the Edi- 

 tor ascertained that bees by the pound 

 were imported into Canada on a large 

 scale from the southern States. Mr. 

 Chas. E. Hopper, of Toronto, was then 

 receiving, for himself as well as for 

 others, hundreds of packages. Evi- 

 dently his experience as consignee and 

 shipper of live bees at such long range 

 must be of value, so we asked him to 

 give us information. But he preferred 

 to wait until he had a more extensive 

 experience. He has now sent us a 

 contribution upon this subject which 



will be found in another part of the 

 Journal. It deserves attention from 

 both shippers and purchasers of bees. 

 A thing worthy of note is the asser- 

 tion that water is not needed in ship- 

 ping bees that have no brood to nurse. 

 This does not astonish us, for we de- 

 termined years ago, while trying differ- 

 ent methods in importing from Italy, 

 that bees and queens, without water, 

 arrived in better condition than those 

 that were provided with water. There 

 might be, however, conditions under 

 which water would prove useful, cases 

 of exposure to excessive heat with 

 scanty ventilation. 



But when colonies of bees are trans- 

 ported which have brood to nurse, 

 water becomes indispensable. The 

 more brood the hive contains the 

 greater the requirements. 



The shipping of bees, with queens, 

 but without brood or combs, greatly 

 lessens the danger of transmission of 

 diseases. 



Bee.s and Clover Fertilization 



Bulletin No. 289 of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture is before U8. 

 It is entitled " Red Clover Seed Pro- 

 duction," by J. M. Westgate and H. S. 

 Coe, and details the experiments made 

 upon the fertilization of red-clover 

 blossoms by Messrs. Wianco and Rob- 

 bins of the Indiana Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, and Messrs. Hughes, 

 Pammel, and Martin of the Iowa Agri- 

 cultural l^xperiment Station. It is out 

 of the scope of our Journal to give a 



