1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



279 



Mrs. Root retuarked that these strawber- 

 ries, iiulike those preserved in sugar syrup, 

 had almost their naLuial color. This is all 

 ihe more remarkable because the jar has 

 hei-a standing on the desk of the editor, in 

 ih*' full glare of three windows through 

 which the sun often streams in. The tem- 

 perature of the office seldom goes below 70°, 

 and yet this fruit has stood thus for nearly 

 two years. Had it been put in a cool dark 

 cellar the natural color would have been 

 still more pronounced, no doubt. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Frank 

 Mctilade wrote an article on preserving fruit 

 in honey. Referring to these particular 

 strawberries, and how they were put up, he 

 said : 



Our own experience here in our home has be'^n very 

 satisfactory in the use of honey in canninp and for 

 making pr serves. Of course, we do nothing in a 

 commercial way. but every year Mrs. McGlade puts 

 up whatever fruit she desires, in honey— strawber- 

 ries, currants, peaches (canned and preserved), and 

 jellies. Strawberries preserved in honey are about 

 as tine eating as I ever expect to get in this present 

 life. As to the keeping qualities, we have them of 

 various ages — two and tbree years old, and none 

 spoil. The fruit is handled the same as when sugar 

 is used. We have put the honey over the fruit and 

 let it stand all night before cooking ; again, after the 

 fruit is cooked the honey has been put in. Either 

 way proved entirely satisfactory. We use about the 

 same amount of hont y as of sugar. If you can make 

 preserves, jellies and jams with sugar you can with 

 honey. There certainly is an excellent field here for 

 an enterprise in a commercial way which can not 

 help yielding large returns. The people are willing 

 to buy that of which they have the assurance of 

 purity. 



For further particulars the reader is re- 

 ferred to page 1176, Sept. 15, 1906. 



SOME OF THE SILLY ARGUMENTS AGAINST 

 PARCELS POST. 



All sorts of criticisms have been and are 

 being hurled at the parcels-post proposals. 

 The latest is that it pays only in countries 

 having a small area. For example, the Irri- 

 gation Age, which is an excellent paper, com- 

 pares the British Islands with Ohio. Indiana, 

 and Illinois, which latter are 12,000 square 

 miles larger than the Britannic Islands of 

 His Majesty King Edward. 



These critics forget that the British parcels 

 post extends over an area three times as 

 large as the United States. It embraces Can- 

 ada, West ladies, Australia, India, South 

 Africa, Central Africa, and various other col- 

 onies, so that this criticism has no founda- 

 tion on W' hich to rest. 



In the instance of France, the case is not 

 much different. The word "France" in- 

 cludes Algeria, an immense country, the 

 French West Indies, and lodo-China, an 

 area of land as large at l^ast as the United 

 States. But we can go nearer home, for 

 Uni.-le Sam has a parcels- post service with 

 many countries We have every reason to 

 believe this service is done in first-class style 

 and at much lower rates than any express 

 c >mpany would do it; and a curious fact in 

 tiis connection is that the foreign rates for 

 parcels post are lower than the domestic. 

 To make this clear we will instance an hy- 



])otheLical case. If The A. I. Root Company 

 wants to send 4 lbs. of foundation to a cus- 

 tomer in Ohio the charge is 64 cents; but if 

 the customer lives in Central America, or 

 some other far-away country, the charge 

 would not exceed 48 cents. 



We understand that Senator Piatt, who 

 "owns" two express companies, has already 

 boasted that there would be no parcels-post; 

 legislation at this session of Congress. The 

 National Grange is behind this movement, 

 and it is bound to win. It would go through 

 a good deal sooner, however, if the farmers 

 would give their Congressman to understand 

 that they fully expect him to do all in his 

 power to help this reform in our postal laws, 

 for it is only a reform, nothing more We 

 have parcels post already, and have had it 

 for years; but the rate is too high for it to 

 be a success. It was purposely made so to 

 suit the express companies; but the necessity 

 for protecting their business has long since 

 ceased to exist. 



THE COST OF PARCELS POST. 



One of the stock arguments against the 

 parcels post is its cost, and quite a number 

 are being misled into the belief that it will 

 result in a great postal deficit. Now, what 

 are the facts? Great Britain, with an im- 

 mense business at very low rates, has an 

 annual postal surplus now of not less than 

 $20,000,000, and in one instance we believe 

 it was $35,000,000. Germany also has a 

 very liberal parcels post arrangement, and 

 her annual surplus over all expenses is 

 nearly $15,000,000. France usually h.-is a 

 ■postal surj^lus of something like $10,000,000, 

 though she too has liberal parcels-post facil- 

 ities. 



It is the United States which has always a 

 postal deficit which Uncle Sam's treasury 

 has to make good. Parcels post would, to a 

 very |great extent, stop this deficiency, and 

 put the postoffice on a paying basis. Mmy 

 small postoffices would begin to pay or hold 

 their own if we had a true parcels-pos*^^ sys- 

 tem such as a great nation otight to have. 



In any event, bee-keepers have a use for a 

 parcels post ; so have the egg-raisers; and 

 even the butter makers can despatch their 

 goods by parcels post to customers. We are 

 going to have it. 



PARCELS POST IN THE SENATE. 



Senator Burnham, of New Hampshire, 

 on Feb. 10 introduced a bill in the national 

 Senate authorizing a parcels post on ruial 

 routes. The bill has the endorsement of 

 President Roosevelt and Postmaster-General 

 Meyer. It provides for a rate of 5 cents for 

 the first pound, and 2 cents for each addi- 

 tional pound. The limit is 11 lbs. On the 

 Same date Senator Kean, of New Jersey, in- 

 troduced a bill providing for the lowering of 

 the present parcels-post rate from 16 to 12 

 cents, and increasing the maximum weight 

 from 4 to 11 lbs. It seems to us the rate of 

 12 cents is oppressive, and might with great 

 propriety be reduced to 8 cents per lb., and 

 probably a flat rate of 5 cents would pay the 

 best of all. w. k. m. 



