AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



831 



We have it, on the best of authority, 

 however, that " the patent medicine 

 people have the control of a vast adver- 

 tising patronage, and so have a very 

 strong influence with the press ; and the 

 advertising agents who dispense this 

 patronage, have passed the word to 

 jump on the Pure Food Bill, to all the 

 papers, and many of them are doing so, 

 their pens being sharpened by the patent 

 medicine men withholding their patron- 

 age until the fate of the Bill is decided." 



We quote a portion of the above from 

 an editorial in that most excellent and 

 staunch supporter of the rural inhabi- 

 tants — the American Farmer. 



Now, regarding its relation to the 

 production of extracted honey : That 

 extracted honey is being adulterated, 

 there can be no doubt ; that it is done 

 by the producer to any extent, is very 

 doubtful, indeed. In a somewhat ex- 

 tended acquaintance with the fraternity, 

 we have had no reason to suspect any 

 man or woman in the business of such a 

 contemptable trick ; indeed, no one can, 

 in our opinion, adulterate a number one 

 article of extracted honey, and make it 

 pay ; but that much of the low grade 

 extracted honey on the market Is adul- 

 terated, we firmly believe. 



We shipped extracted honey In large 

 quantities, years ago, to a honey dealer 

 in Chicago, and got more for it than the 

 retail price on the market. This party 

 put much of it up in glass jars with a 

 piece of comb in the jar, and more glu- 

 cose, or something else than honey. All 

 the "old timers" know whom I mean, as 

 he was exposed years ago. 



Now, to returia to the bill : Section 6 

 provides : — 



"First — If any substance or sub- 

 stances has or have been mixed and 

 packed with it (food or drink) so as to 

 reduce or lower, or injuriously affect its 

 quality or strength, so that such product 

 when offered for sale shall be calculated, 

 and shall tend to deceive the purchaser ; 



"Second — If any inferior substance or 

 substances has or have been substituted 

 wholly or in part for the article so that 

 the product where sold shall tend to 

 deceive the purchaser ; 



"Fourth — If it be an Imitation of and 

 sold under the specific name of another 

 article." 



It does seem to us that this is a just 

 Bill and should become a law. Would 

 it not be a wise thing for each and 

 every one of us to "stir up " our Con- 

 gressmen in regard to this measure ? 



Of the author of the Bill, Hon. A. S. 

 Paddock, of Nebraska, too much can 



scarcely be said. He, himself, is a good 

 man, and true to the interests of the 

 farmers, and is, we understand, a most 

 successful farmer himself, and we ought, 

 irrespective of any political feeling, to 

 do our utmost to secure the passage of 

 this Bill. It will at least prove the en- 

 tering wedge to overthrow the adultera- 

 tion of other food products than honey. 



The Pure Food Bill has passed the 

 Senate, and is on the calendar of the 

 House of Representatives. 



Monroe, Iowa. 



Bee-Locations In California. 



One thing is becoming a fixed fact, 

 viz. : bee-keeping in the foot-hill section 

 is a luxury. The bloom starts with the 

 first warm wave from the valleys. This 

 is met by the cold air of the mountains, 

 and the mountain climate holds its own 

 until the warmth of the valleys is suffi- 

 ciently increased to force its way up to 

 the upper ranges of the mountains. In 

 consequence bees, for business, should 

 be located either in the lower foothills, 

 or the higher altitudes ; or, better still, 

 started in the low valleys and then 

 moved to the higher mountains, as is 

 practiced in Switzerland. 



One fact has convinced me more than 

 any other that the higher altitudes are 

 to be preferred — no bee-tree in the foot- 

 hill section contains sufficient honey to 

 pay for the labor of felling the tree; 

 while all bee-trees at an altitude of 

 4,000 feet and upwards have the entire 

 cavity of the tree packed solidly with 

 honey. 



It is a well known fact that the 

 grasses of the higher altitudes are much . 

 richer, and far more nutritious than 

 those of the plains ; also that all grasses 

 and crops grow faster and mature in 

 much shorter time, in the cold climates 

 with the short summers than in the long, 

 hot seasons of the lower lands. And 

 may it not be possible that these plants 

 that give the mountain bloom, secrete a 

 greater and sweeter quality of nectar 

 than the flora of the valleys ? Is it 

 that, or is it all due to the fact that it 

 requires warm days and cold, dewy 

 nights to cause honey to be secreted ? If 

 the latter, the mountains above 3,000 

 feet can be depended upon to furnish the 

 proper temperature, both day and night, 

 for a period of three months each year, 

 which is in excess of the average length 



