16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



the United States. I found bee paradises 

 all along the route — some of them overstock- 

 ed and others fine bee-ranges, but in which 

 there were only a very few bees. 



Much of the country traversed was new, 

 and just opening. Some places were veri- 

 table deserts covered with sand and sage 

 brush. In most of these State and govern- 

 ment aid has been or soon will be secured, 

 by which these waste lands are soon to be 

 converted into luxuriant gardens and fruit- 

 ranches. 



COMB-HONEY slanders; the department 



OF AGRICULTURE TO OUR RESCUE. 



These whopping big lies (I don't know 

 what else to call them) keep on going the 

 rounds of the press, hashed and rehashed 

 over and over in a way that is perfectly 

 disgusting; and the worst of it is that some 

 of the apparently reliable agriciiUiiral pa- 

 pers are taking up the refrain — papers that 

 ought to know better. The publisher of 

 any sheet printing such stuff, without tak- 

 ing pains to use a little common sense, or 

 at least to investigate, ought to be bom- 

 barded by bee-keepers everywhere with re- 

 plies. 



As fast as these clippings have been sent 

 in I have been answering them, using re- 

 spectful and courteous language, stating 

 the facts, but in such a way thiit it will be 

 easy for the editors to put in a retraction. 

 The following is substantially the repl}- I 

 have sent to many of the leading papers: 



Getitleinen:—\n your issue for there appears 



an item to the effect that comb honey is manufactured. 

 and that the combs were molded liy niachinerj- and 

 filled with glucose. We assume, of couese, that you 

 are honest in making the statement, and all we need 

 to do is to give you facts on the other side. We en- 

 close for your consideration an offer that we have had 

 out for twenl}' years. The terms of it liave been pub- 

 lished in some of the large daily papers of the country, 

 and we are sending out hundreds and thousands of 

 them now. You can readily see that, if there were 

 any truth in the canards now afloat in (he press, there 

 would be a chance for some one to make some money. 



We would call your attention to another fact; name- 

 ly, if combs were molded on dies they would all look 

 alike. If you will take the pains to look at the comb 

 honey for sale on the market you will see that they 

 are very dissimilar in appearance. 



Helping that you will give this matter your kind at- 

 tention, and help us to rectify the great wrong that is 

 now being perpetrated upon thousands and thousands 

 of honest bee-keepers, whose product is now placed 

 under the ban of suspicion, we remain 



Very resp'y yours, 



P. S.— Kindly send us a marked copy of your cor- 

 rected repl}', if you can .see your way clear to make 

 such correction. 



But as one always has more influence in 

 his own locality, I suggest, yes, urge, that 

 every bee-keeper finding his business slan- 

 dered, and his reputation assailed, send to 

 the papers publishing such matter a re- 

 spectful and gentlemanly reply, something 

 in the nature of what I have given above. 

 Or, better still, write out your answer, get 

 some one to cop3^ it on a typewriter i be- 

 cause editors take more kindly to t3'pe-writ- 

 ten matter), and take it personally to the 

 publisher, explaining that your btisiness 

 has been damaged, and as a personal favor 

 you hope he will publish the correction. 



Nov. 28 the Chicago Chronicle published 

 one of the worst slanders on the honej' bus- 

 iness I have seen. It was to the effect that 

 bee-keepers themselves were implicated in 

 this manufacturing business, and therefore 

 did not like to have the matter exposed. I 

 sat down and wrote as nice a reply to that 

 paper as I knew how, and a few days later 

 I had the gratification of reading in their 

 columns my letter iti full. The Chicago 

 Chionicle is a paper of great influence, and 

 it is to be hoped that the correction will be 

 seen by as many as saw the slanderous 

 statement. 



The Ottumwa Courier, ptiblished at Ot- 

 tumwa, Iowa, published the usual Jones 

 comb -honey canard. The clipping was 

 sent me, and I replied, substantially as I 

 have given it above in the dummy letter, 

 and later on I had the satisfaction of seeing 

 in that paper a half-column retraction. It 

 seems the editor of that paper, after receiv- 

 ing my letter, wrote to headquarters, the 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 asking if it were possible to manufacture 

 comb honey, etc. The Department very 

 promptly' replied in a long letter, over the 

 signature of Prof. Frank Benton. In this 

 letter the entomologist showed liow impossi- 

 ble it was to manufacture the comb and fill 

 it with glucose, and then stated that $1000 

 had been offered for a single sample of 

 advilterated comb honey for a period of 

 many years, without a taker. 



This coming as it does from the Govern- 

 ment of the United States bearing the De- 

 partment seal will have great weight, and 

 I suggest that those who answer these ca- 

 nards about honey always incorporate in 

 their replies the statement that the Depart- 

 ment has denied in toto the foolish stuff 

 that has been going the rounds of the papers. 



Now, then, all this talk about adultera- 

 tion will do no good unless our friends — 

 that is, our subscribers — take the pains to 

 answer these canards lhe})iselves. Those 

 who write for farm papers on bee topics 

 are especially requested to help turn the 

 tide the other way. 



Editor Abbott, of the Modern Farm and 

 Busy Bee, and Editor York, of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, are doing soine splendid 

 work; but don't, don^l expect the editors of 

 the bee-papers to do the whole of it. Roll 

 up your sleeves and dip down deep into 

 your ink-wells. And while you are writ- 

 ing, use the most respectful language you 

 know how to command. If, for instance, 

 you call them silly, fools, liars, etc., you 

 will accomplish nothing. 



A SUIT FOR criminal LIBEL. 



Z,a/6'r. — Since writing the foregoing we 

 have received a copy of a daily paper, the 

 name of which we will not mention for the 

 present, that actually goes so far as to say 

 the Root people, and E. R. Root in particu- 

 lar, are engaged in the business of putting 

 out bogus comb hone3^ filled with gkicose, 

 and that we ought to be brought before the 

 Grand Jurj' for violation of the pure-food 

 law. 



