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Published by The A. I. Root Co., Medina, 0. 



A. I. ROOT, Editor Home Department. J. T. Calveet, Business Manager. 



Entered at the Postofifice, Medina, O., as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XVI. 



SEPTEMBER 15, 1913. 



NO. 18. 



Editorial 



SUGAR TO BE ON THE FREE LIST IN THREE 

 YEARS. 



Just as we go to press, the Senate has 

 passed the tariff bill under wliich there will 

 be a reduction of 50 per cent in the duty on 

 sugar, with the further pro\'ision that it 

 will be placed on the free list in three years. 

 The bill is j'et to go to a conference be- 

 tween the two Plouses, but it is not expect- 

 ed that any gi-eat change will be made. As 

 we said before, we do not believe that free 

 sugar is going to make cheaper honey. 

 Honey has a flavor peculiar to itself; is 

 easily digested, and belongs to a class by 

 itself. It will, therefore, command its own 

 price, just as it has always done, in the 

 face of the fact that glucose syrups are sold 

 from one-half to one-third the price of 

 good extracted honey. 



HONEY A CONCENTRATED FOOD. 



The following item from the Farm Jour- 

 nal appears to contain considerable truth : 



POINTS ON HONEY AS FOOD. 



Honey is one of the driest of human foods as it 

 usually has less than 20 per cent of water. Beef- 

 steak, of the most expensive kind, contains 65 per 

 cent, and then there is some bone to be reckoned 

 with. Some of our most expensive fruits and veg- 

 etables are nearly all water, 95 per cent, and some 

 even more. This is a point that beekeepers can harp 

 on a good deal. Anybody can easily see that between 

 a pound of steak and a pound of honey at the same 

 money, the advantage lies with the honey. More- 

 over, honey will keep indefinitely, whereas beefsteak 

 deteriorates in a few hours. Actually, honey im- 

 proves with age. Add to this the fact that honey is 

 one of the very few predigested foods. — The Farm 

 Journal. 



Honey is a concentrated food. It is a 

 predigested sweet, and, unlike cane sugars, 

 it is easily assimilated. We have been in- 

 formed that the British army furnish their 

 soldiers with a considerable amount of cane 

 sugar, because it has been ascertained that 

 sugar in the right quantities is a builder of 

 fl«sh and muscle. If that is true of sugar it 

 certainly must be true of honey. 



HONEY - CROP conditions ; THE SEVERE 



DROUTH, AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECT ON 



CLOVER FOR NEXT YEAR. 



As the season goes on it is increasingly 

 apparent that there was a big crop of clo- 

 ver honey in the north-middle Atlantic 



States and in south-central Ontario. There 

 has been, probably, a larger crop of clover 

 honey produced this year than for many 

 years back. The croj? in the West, if we 

 exclude California, has been about normal; 

 but the severe drouth that has prevailed in 

 some of the eastern States, and latterly 

 through the central-middle States east of 

 the Mississippi, has had a tendency to check 

 the gi'owth for next year. Some report that 

 clover has been all killed out — so much so 

 that they fear no amount of rain from now 

 on will start the plants going. This is par- 

 ticularly so in New York where the season 

 has been a failure and drouth most severe. 



If the di'outh has been general, it wiU 

 have a tendency, of course, to stiffen prices 

 on the 1913 product, as there will be some 

 beekeepers who, rather than sell at low 

 prices, will hold for another year. Of 

 course comb honey will have to be sold this 

 year; but as there is only a comparatively 

 small amount of it, thei-e wnll be no trouble 

 in disposing of it at good prices. 



Later. — The drouth has been broken in 

 Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Refresh- 

 ing rains have come in the East to some ex- 

 tent. Clover has a wonderful recuperative 

 power, and it is surprising what a few 

 rains will do. 



A VISIT FROM A KENTUCKY BEEKEEPER. 



Gleanings has recently been favored by 

 a visit from Mr. Wallace K. Rheese, of 

 Winchester, Ky. Mr. Rheese is the son of 

 John R. Rheese, who invented the LaRheese 

 bee-escape, which was sold quite extensively 

 for a few years. 



Mr. Rheese is a young man full of en- 

 thusiasm, who intends to make beekeeping 

 his profession. He sold over $1100 worth 

 of honey this year from 55 colonies, spring 

 count, and inci-eased to 100 colonies, rear- 

 ing his own queens from choice stock. In 

 this connection we wish to refer to a state- 

 ment that has been made, that the extensive 

 producers of honey are nearly all men well 

 along in years, the young men (the sons 

 of these producers) going into other busi- 

 ness. If this were true, it would look as 

 though beekeeping were not very inviting 



