Honey for Manufacturing Purposes. 



The following from the N. Y. Journal 

 of Commerce will be read with interest 

 by honey producers: 



New York, Sept. 13, 1878. 

 Editor of the Journal of Commerce: 



The bee-keepers in the United .States 

 are now securing so much honey that it 

 is becoming an important question how 

 we are to find a consuming outlet for it. 

 Heretofore it has been used simply as a 

 delicacy for occasional table use. You 

 will do a good turn to a good class of 

 men by answering the following ques- 

 tions : Can honey be converted into 

 sugar V To what use can honey be put 

 in manufacturing!* What is its relative 

 value as a substitute for malt in the 

 brewing of beer and ale? At what 

 prices could brewers use it ? By answer- 

 ing the above you will oblige the owner 

 of 2,000 colonies of bees. J. S. 



Kefly. — Here, now, is a fine chance 

 for American chemists. A fortune 

 may reward tiie man who discovers 

 some entirely new use for honey. We 

 summon American chemistry to answer 

 the question — " To what use can honey 

 be put in manufacturing V " If our 

 correspondent means by "sugar'' the 

 .crystallized article, we would say that, 

 by no known process, can honey be con- 

 verted into that. Most of its saccharine 

 matter has the properties of grape sugar 

 and cannot be changed into the cane 

 variety by any means yet discovered. 

 And, if this could be done, the operation 

 would not pay, owing to the cheaper 

 materials of the cane fields. Only a 

 series of careful experiments could 

 ascertain the value (if any) of honey as 

 a substitute for malt in brewing ale and 

 beer. In both articles there is a con- 

 stituent of grape sugar, but they differ 

 in other respects, and the best honey 

 miglit make the poorest ale. Repeated 

 trials on a large scale alone could decide 

 the question whether honey at a price 

 far lower than the present could be sub- 

 stituted, with a profit, for malt. The 

 latter is now far the cheaper, pound for 

 pound, and the experience of ages seems 

 to have settled on it as indispensable 

 for good brews. Honey, we would add, 

 long ago found its way into a drink 

 called " rnetheglin." Tliisis a mixture 

 of honey and water, boiled, allowed to 

 ferment and sometimes highly spiced. 

 Mankind has not liked it well enough 

 to accept it in lieu of ale— even the 

 poorest home-brewed. 



But what shall be done with all the 

 honeyV We will tell inquirers how to 

 make a market for honey or any other 



good thing. Put up a pure article in a 

 neat style and advertise it very freely. 

 There is money in that every day in the 

 year. Future customers are all over 

 the world, only waiting to be reached 

 by proper advertising enterprise, and 

 ready to buy honey for that use (the 

 table) to which it is best adapted. 



Honey producers can soon test the 

 value of advertising by getting a few 

 honey pamphlets — with their names as 

 producers printed on them and scatter- 

 ing them over their neighborhood. 

 That we believe is the very best way to 

 create a home demand. 



1^ Novice intimates that honey in 

 his one-pound sections sells readily in 

 Chicago for 4 cents per pound more 

 than in prize boxes ! That is too thin ! 

 We have them in our office, offering 

 them for sale side by side with the prize 

 boxes, at the same price— giving pur- 

 chasers their full choice of packages ; 

 and it is a positive fact that they take 

 ten of the prize boxes to one of the 

 Novice sections ! ! " Facts are stubborn 

 things ! " " Figures will not lie ! ! " 

 These are trite sayings, but sometimes 

 are very forcible! " Beg pardon, Chi- 

 cago is a great city," says Novice. In 

 this, at least, he speaketh truly, — but 

 its greatness is not yet satisfied with 

 honey put up in " penny packages." 



"Life AND Health" is the title of 

 a new eight-page quarto paper, devoted 

 to "physical, mental and moral" de- 

 velopment. The first number is on our 

 desk, and is full of good things. It 

 will be published monthly at 30 cents 

 for 6 months. It is published by Dr. 

 Hicks, Wernersville, Berks Co., Pa. 



1^ The Alabama State Fair takes 

 place in Montgomery, Nov 5 to 9, 1878. 

 We have received a catalogue and invi- 

 tation to be present, but cannot attend. 

 Let some fine specimens of honey be 

 on hand. No opportunity should be 

 lost to exhibit the products of the 

 Apiary. Judicious advertising will al- 

 ways pay— and that could not be inju- 

 dicious. It is high time bee-keepers 

 were awake to their own interests. 



