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^ERICA^ 



Entered at the Post-OfBce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter 

 Published ^Veekly at 81.00 a Tear by Oeorge YT. York &■ Co., 334 Uearborn St. 



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QBORaB W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MAY 4, 1905 



VoLXLV.— No,18 



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The Honey -Producers' League 



Many of those who have become members of this new organiza- 

 tion of bee-l<eepers have added encouraging words when sending in 

 Iheir dues. Some of them read as follows : 



I thiol; this scheme of adTertising honey is a grand step.— R. S. 

 Chapin, of .Michigan. 



I believe the League is the proper thing, and is going at it in the 

 right way.— E. A. Donet, of Iowa. 



The Honey- Producers' League meets with my hearty approval. I 

 will do what I can to help it along.— J. A. Greek, of Colorado. 



I think the League, if conducted rightly, will be of more benefit 

 to bee-keepers than any other organization yet started.— Geo. E. 

 Goodwin, of Michigan. 



I welcome The Honey-Producers' League with pleasure. I think 

 it. is one of the best movements ever made for the apiarists of the 

 United States, as advertising is an absolute necessity it we expect to 

 keep abreast of the times.— C. H. Harlan, of Minnesota. 



It seems to me every person that produces honey to sell should 

 become a member of the League. If the League should raise the price 

 of honey only one cent a pound, or even a halt cent, I shall think 1 

 made a first-class investment when I became a member of the League. 

 — D. I. Wagar, of Michigan. 



If those interested will fall in line so as to secure enough money 

 to push the advertising, there is no doubt but what great good will 

 result. We know it to be a fact that the masses do not buy honey, 

 because it is not brought to their attention. Other things are pushed 

 so hard— brought to their attention continuously by the various 

 methods of advertising — that honey is crowded to the background and 

 forgotten. Even if the groceryman has a nice line of honey in a very 

 prominent position in his store, sales are not what they should be on 

 account of his customers calling at the store so seldom (where they 

 could see the honey), the majority of orders from groceries being 

 either taken by 'phone or the grocery solicitor, who probably seldom 

 mentions honey. This is especially so in the larger towns and citit;,.— 

 A. G. Woodman, of Michigan. 



With such hopeful expressions, it seems that there should he no 

 delay in lengthening the League's membership list. It will take a 

 good deal of money to advertise honey efficiently. If it can not be 

 done on a large enough scale of course the results will not be what 

 they might be if it were done in proportion to the real need tu the 

 large number of bee-keepers, and to the enormous quantities of houey 

 to be sold annually in the United States. 



But if the selling price of honey could be raised even a half cent 

 per pound, as one member suggests, or it the price can even be kept 

 from declining still lower, the value of the League to bee-keepers, aud 

 the wisdom of its creation, will be fully justified. But even if ihe 

 largest success is not attained, the attempt is worth the making. 



The Right Name for Honey 



A friend in an eastern city offers me some very good suggestions 

 in regard to the general belief that comb honey is adulterates Ue 

 says, in substance, that the general public mem one thing by c:ub 



honey while we mean another. The common conception of comb 

 honey is what bee-keepers would term chunk or broken honey, gen- 

 erally kept in pans, the honey running loose among the combs. It is 

 hard to see why this could not be mixed with glucose as well as if the 

 comb were absent. But bee-keepers restrict their idea of comb honey 

 to that in sections. Newspapers are rapidly admitting that honey in 

 unbroken combs is necessarily genuine. Instead of calling the mashed- 

 up stuff " honey in the comb," he would call it " comb in the honey." 

 This is well worth thinking about.—" Stenog," in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture. 



There is some weight in the argument, it the premises are correct. 

 But is it true that the public generally considers the term " comb 

 honey "to mean "chunk or broken honey, generally kept in pans, 

 the honey running loose among the combs?" Possibly, in special 

 localities, hardly in general. Take Chicago, for instance. For every 

 pound of such honey found on the market there will be found thou- 

 sands of pounds of section honey, and the probability is that to the 

 average Chicagoan the term " comb honey " suggests honey in sec- 

 tions. In the broken mixture spoken of, the part that is comb honey 

 is genuine honey, whatever the surrounding liquid may be, and if any 

 special name should be given to the stuff, it should be called " comb 

 honey in liquid honey " rather than " comb in the honey," which 

 would suggest empty comb submerged in honey. In any case, what is 

 needed is to have the truth known. 



The Honey-Producers' League and Canada 



The following letter from Mr. R. F. Holtermann, of Canada, con- 

 tains his estimate of the League, and also involves a question : 



Friend York:— I have been much interested in The Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' League. It will undertake a line of work for which I have 

 seen much need, and along which I have been trying to do some work. 

 If you can give me the assurance that the organization will work on 

 this side of the line as well as in the United States, you can have my 

 membership fee any time. I hope the bee-keepers will rush in their 

 fees. I have carefully read over the Constitution, and it appears to 

 me it is well thought out, and I can see no place for improvement. 

 Yours truly, R. F. Holtermann. 



In reply, we may say that the organizers of The Honey-Producers' 

 League thought best not to include Canada, believing it would be bet- 

 ter for our esteemed northern neighbors to form such a league them- 

 selves, if they so desire. If United States bee-keepers succeed in rais- 

 ing all the funds necessary for the honey advertising that should be 

 on this side of the line, they will do well. Then, we believe, there is 

 very little honey passing back and forth between the two countries, 

 on account of the duty imposed upon it. So we United Statesers would 

 hardly care to pay for advertising honey in Canada, and no doubt few 

 ol the Canadians would feel like helping to pay advertising bills over 

 here. 



We see no good reason why Canadian bee-keepers should not 

 organize similarly to our League, and make it a great success. 



Certificate for Inspectors of Apiaries 



N. E. France, the Wisconsin Slate inspector of apiaries, has kindly 

 sent us a copy ot a blank which he furnishes to every bee-keeper 

 whose apiary he inspects, also a carbon copy to the Governor with his 

 monthly report. Bees for sale often require such certificate also. 



On the back of the certificate, which is about 3%xb% inches in 

 size, are printed the laws of Wisconsin on the appointment of a State 

 inspector of apiaries and his duties, also as to the sale of a diseased 

 apiary, etc. The blank portion reads as follows, excepting the name 



