THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



163 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 





iiijmiiNi^ 



PUBLISHED BY 



THOMAS Q. NEWMAN, 



EDITOR AND PKOPIUETOU, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, CHiCAGO, ILL. 



Weekly, SS a year ; Monthly. 50 ceuts. 



Vol. XXI. March 18, 1885. No. II. 



The Honey Crop of California. 



As promised last week, we give 

 the following particulars concerning 

 the honey crop of California for 1884, 

 from the pamphlet of Geo. W. Meade 

 & Co., of San Francisco. They re- 

 mark as follows : 



The total output of California 

 honey, comb and extracted, for 1884, 

 aggregating nearly the enormous total 

 of 9,OOQ,000 pounds, is enough to stag- 

 ger tlie " oldest inhabitant," and has 

 no parallel in any portion of the world. 

 In 1878 (considered our greatest honey 

 year) the production amounted to 

 about 3,000,000 pounds, which was at 

 that time looked upon as phenomenal; 

 yet, in the year of grace, 1884, even 

 this vast product lias been almost 

 trebled in quantity. 



The total product of comb and ex- 

 tracted honey of the United States, 

 exclusive of California, for 1884, is 

 estimated at 60.000,000 of pounds, so 

 that the single State of California has 

 produced nearly one sixth of the en- 

 tire product of the Union. San Diego 

 is the banner county, as to quantity — 

 with Ventura, San Bernardino, and 

 Los Angeles following as good seconds. 



It may be of some interest to make 

 a few figures as to what such an 

 enormous body of honey represents. 

 For instance, if this honey was all put 

 into a certain style of bottles which are 

 largely used here, and these bottles 

 were placed 8 feet apart, tliey would 

 reach from San Francisco around the 

 globe and meet again at tlie Golden 

 Gate. In the United States, with its 

 .5.5,000.000 of people, every man, woman 

 and child could, at one sitting, have 

 all the California honey they would 

 be likely to require, and yet not ex- 

 haust the product of 1884. It would 

 require a freight train of nearly (iOO 

 solidly loaded cars to transport this 

 product out of the State, and, if we 

 allow the usual distance between 

 cars, this train would be nearly .5 

 miles in length. Truly is tliis a State 

 " flowing with milk and honey.'' 



From tlie outset, dealers, home and 

 foreign, anticipated a large yield, and 

 steadily refused to operate in any ex- 



cept a " hand-to-mouth " sort of way. 

 The result was that prices for ex- 

 tracted honey, which opened at to 

 fi}^ cents per pound, declined to 4 to 

 4H cents, at which figures large ex- 

 port orders were sent here, and heavy 

 shipments were made on English and 

 Continental account. These clear- 

 ances soon made heavy inroads into 

 our stocks, and, while, there are still 

 considerable parcels held here and 

 there throughout the State, waiting 

 for better prices, it may be said that 

 the bulk of the crop has now been 

 marketed. 



Some outcry has been raised in 

 England about "glucose California 

 honey,'' which is not only baseless, 

 but senseless. The proof of this is 

 that the article of glucose laid down 

 in California is worth quite as much 

 as the honey itself. Therefore, add 

 to this cost the additional expense of 

 funking, mixing, the cost of new 

 packages which would be required, 

 all told, say 2J;2 cents per pound, it 

 makes a total cost of, say &14 cents, 

 when the pure honey itself can be 

 bought at 41^ cents. 



Do our English friends for an in- 

 stant suppose thatany one here would 

 undertake an operation of that kind V 

 The real fact of the case is that some 

 investigation of this charge has been 

 made from this side, and, so far as it 

 has been possible to trace the matter, 

 the adulteration has been performed 

 entirely on English soil. We advise 

 our English cousins, therefore. " to 

 cast out the beam from their own eye, 

 before they discover the mote in the 

 eye of their neighbor." 



In this connection, we may add that 

 tite London Grocers'' Gazette, in its 

 issue of Dec. 20, 1884, just at hand, 

 dwelling on this same subject, does 

 our California honey the justice to 

 practically admit that the adultera- 

 tion complained of, in all probability, 

 was performed after the goods had left 

 California. If English dealers will 

 take the Grocers' advice, and pur- 

 chase California honey in California, 

 and of well known dealers, we do not 

 think that they will have any cause 

 to ever complain of adulteration. 



Our comb honey, in sympathy with 

 extracted, opened dull at 12 to 1.3 

 cents per pound, from which figure it 

 declined to to 8 cents. At this low 

 price, large slnpments have been 

 made during the fall, to all of the 

 principal Eastern markets, and, like 

 extracted, the bulk of the comb honey 

 crop has now been marketed. 



The trade in our comb honey, we 

 believe, could be largely increased, if 

 a one-pound section were adopted, 

 instead of the two-pound, now so gen- 

 erally used. This latter size is too 

 large for the average retailer, and the 

 size of the case, instead of being 60 

 pounds, as at present, should be re- 

 duced to 20 or 25 pounds. 



The consumption of comb honey, as 

 yet, is confined almost entirely to the 

 Ujiited States, but with the exercise 

 of proper care in handling, by the 

 various transportation companies, 

 there is no reason why this delicious 

 article of food should not be as com- 

 mon in England, and on the Conti- 

 nent, as it is now getting to be in this 



country. We think this time will 

 come. The quality of both our coml) 

 and extractcci honey produced the 

 past year has been superb ; but the 

 prices realized have notlirought uiucli 

 profit to the producer. We look, how- 

 ever, for better things in 1885. 



i®° The Lexington, Ky., Transcript 

 gives the following particuilars con- 

 cerning Mr. AVilliam Williamson, 

 whose death we have before noted. 

 He was conhned to his room for four 

 weeks, and died in the 40th year of 

 his age. lie came from Scotland in 

 1861, and located in Lexington in 1867. 

 In 1869, in connection with his brother, 

 -John 1?. Williamson, they started in 

 business as contractors and builders, 

 which will still be continued, the re- 

 maining brother conducting it for the 

 benefit of the widow and orphans, 

 " just the same as if William had 

 lived." The Transcript adds : 



This is an expression of brotherly 

 devotion that will receive the com- 

 mendation of all, and all who know 

 John Williamson are as sure that the 

 widow and fatherless will receive 

 every dollar of the share earned for 

 the tirm. God never created truer 

 men than the Williamsons. 



Surely prosperity must attend that 

 business, for " a good name is Ijetter 

 than riches." 



1^ We have received a copy of the 

 fifth edition of "The British Bee- 

 Keepers' Guide Bonk, by Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan, F. G. S., F. R. M. S., etc." It 

 is a pamphlet of 64 pages, nicely 

 printed and illustrated. Mr. Cowan 

 is Chairman of the British Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, and is good author- 

 ity on apicultural subjects generally. 

 It has had a rapid sale in England. 

 The first edition of 2,000 copies was 

 sold in 2 months. The author keeps 

 it "up to the times" by re-writing 

 much of the matter for each edition. 

 We can send it post-paid for 50 cents. 



W Burrell & Whitman, Little Falls, 

 2Sr. Y., have sent us their new hook of 

 illustrations of Cheese Factory and 

 Creamery Apparatus. It is elegantly 

 gotten up, and will, we think, meet 

 the needs of the dairy public. It will 

 be sent free upon application. 



Catalogues for 1885.— AVe have re- 

 ceived the following : 



E. IvreU-hmcr, Coburg-, Iowa. 



M. .7. Dicliason, Hiawatha. Kans. 



James M. Hyne, Stcwartsvillp, Iiul. 



John Herr & Co., Beaver Dam, Wig. 



A. H. I>iit1', Cifitrhton, Ohio. 



J. C. MishliT. I.ipouior, Ind. 



Johns. Collins, Moorestown, N.J. —Nnrsprv 

 Stools. 



W. H. Spangler, Jr., Mount Delight. N. H.— 

 Plants. 



