Dec. 28, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



899 



tain the court etiquette that prevailed under the ancient 

 regime. It was already known that the original symbol or 

 insignia of royalty in France was the bee. This preceded 

 the fleur-de-lys. In fact, many heraldic authorities held the 

 opinion that the fleur-de-lys was only a conventionalized 

 form of the bee with outspread wings. In adopting an 

 imperial emblem. Napoleon went back beyond the fleur-de- 

 lys of the monarchy and restored the bee for the device of 

 the Empire." 



National Legislation to Suppress Bees.— Certain 

 people of a certain Iowa town seem to have had a hard time 

 to get their names in the newspapers, so they hit upon the 

 plan to petition Congress to prohibit the flight of bees in 

 their little burg of Defiance. The Chicago Record-Herald 

 of Dec. 10, contained the following account of the efforts of 

 certain " otherwise " people to wipe out beekeeping : 



The people of Defiance, Iowa, have petitioned their 

 Congressman to draft a Bill, or to use his influence in the 

 promulgating of legislation to rid the country of the com- 

 mon honey-bees running at large. Congressman Smith has 

 been very much amused at the unique request, which came 

 to him in the form of a petition signed by 125 voters, resi- 

 dents and citizens of the village. The petition reads as 

 follows : 



" We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Defi- 

 ance, Iowa, and vicinity, realizing the great damage done 

 each year by reason of the common honey-bee roaming 

 about and running at large in our cities and towns, by their 

 continual biting and sipping of the precious fruits and 

 beautiful flowers, to say nothing of their constant buzzing 

 about one's ears from early morn till late at night, and 

 their frequent stinging, do hereby earnestly and humbly 

 pray you, as our representative, to prepare and introduce, 

 and use your best efforts to have passed, a very stringent 

 law forever prohibiting the running at large and roaming 

 about our public streets, in our cities and towns, and espe- 

 cially the town of Defiance, all honey-bees of whatever 

 variety or species. By so doing you will not only be render- 

 ing a great public service, but will place us under great 

 obligations to you." 



The much-bothered and overworked Congressman re- 

 plied that he knew of no part of the national federal Con- 

 stitution delegating the power upon Congress for the en- 

 actment of such legislation, and assured his constituents 

 that if he ever found any clause of the Constitution of the 

 United States authorizing such a law as that petitioned for, 

 he would first insist upon the power being exercised by pro- 

 hibiting house-flies from running at large on his premises. 

 He also added that in case the State of Iowa first drafted 

 and passed such a law he would rest assured that he would 

 feel safe to visit Shelby County without being stung. 



We wish here to thank several of our readers who kindly 

 sent us clippings of the above item in various forms. Of 

 course, it is all very amusing to beekeepers, and doubtless 

 served its purpose for the Defiance population. 



-V Contrtbuteb *f 

 Special Clrttcles 



Selling Honey Direct to Consumers 



EY J. L. STRONG. 



IN 1869 I took the first honey with the extractor. This 

 I thought would be appreciated by the consumer, but, 

 to my surprise, I could not induce any of my neighbors 

 to try even a pound of it. So I put it in Mason fruit-jars 

 and left it with my grocer, with the same result, until 

 about Christmas, when I took them home. This was very 

 discouraging, as I only had two jars to sell, and from 

 that time to this there has been very little comb-honey 

 used on our table, while the extracted has been in demand 

 nearly every meal. 



I now have a trade that enables me to sell my entire 

 crop to the consumer. I am an economical man, and do 



not sell 10 cents' worth in a 5-cent bottle, to be thrown 

 away as soon as empty; too much work for the producer, 

 and too much waste for the consumer. It is all right for 

 the city trade, as there are a few of the wealthy class who 

 care but little for a few cents cost, if the article pleases 

 the eye. This class of consumers buy but little honey. 



I prefer to put up honey in pails — something that will 

 be of value after the honey is used. These pails are of 

 different sizes, holding from S to 25 pounds, and cost 

 about one cent per pound of their capacity. I give the 

 customer the privilege of returning the pail if he wishes 

 to do so, in case he lives near. If at a distance, and he 

 does not bring anything to put the honey in, then I quote 

 price of pail and honey, and give him first price of pail 

 when returned. 



Now as to how I have worked up a trade from nothing 

 to the entire crop from 200 colonies: 



I often meet one who asks, "How are the bees doing?" 

 I tell him in as few words as possible. I also tell him 

 what I have to sell, and quote prices, and if I have time I 

 give a short talk on the values of honey as a food and a 

 medicine. Tn this way I often interest several and take 

 orders for several dollars' worth of honey from different 

 ones. . , , 



I also have a "honey list ; this consists of the names 

 and addresses of those who have bought honey, or will 

 be likely to do so in the future. Then when I have honey 

 to sell I quote prices on a postal card to each name on 

 the list, and tell how it is put up. For this trade I use 

 60-pound square cans, screw top, while the honey is 

 liquid; and after it has candied, lard cans, with loose top, 

 do better, because it can be easily crated for shipment, and 

 when received the cover can be taken oflf and the honey 

 dug out without cutting the can or melting the honey. 

 The second-hand lard can costs 16 2-3 cents each, and 

 holds 75 pounds net of honey. 



The prices at which I have sold extracted honey have 

 been from 7 to 15 cents a pound; the latter when we have 

 had a short crop, to save some for medicine, as they 

 expect me to have honey at all times, and they have not 

 been disappointed. 



The past season I have sold at 81-3 cents, while I 

 was extracting, but now at 10 cents; and as I have but 200 

 pounds left, I will sell the balance at 12;4 cents. 



There is but little sale for chunk honey in our market, 

 as the broken comb is objectionable. We can sell section 

 honey if nice, but only in small quantities, and not at 

 enough higher than extracted to pay the difference in cost 

 of production. 



I have sold six 60-pound cans in one order this sea- 

 son, probably to be divided among his neighbors. 



My crop this season was 2,000 pounds of extracted, 

 and 350 pounds of comb honey — all gathered in the month 

 of June from white clover, and it was fine. 



Clarinda, Iowa. 



A Consideration of Nectar and Honey 



BY .\DRIAN GETAZ. 



THE nectar gathered by the bees on the flowers, and 

 the fully ripe honey, are really two different things. 

 The nectar contains about three-fourths of its weight 

 of water, the remainder being sugars. Of these, the 

 largest part is cane-sugar — the same kind as constitutes 

 the white granulated sugar bought in the stores. The 

 others are like those found in the fruits and the corn 

 syrup — they are usually called inverted sugars. There is 

 also an excessively minute quantity of essential oils which 

 give the different kinds of honey their peculiar taste, 

 color, and, perhaps to a slight extent, odor. 



On the other hand, the ripe honey contains only one- 

 fourth water, or about that proportion. And nearly all the 

 sugar is now inverted. A small proportion of mineral 

 matter, probably due to the pollen, is also found. Some 

 formic acid has also been added by the bees. To that 

 acid is due the peculiar taste common to all honeys, and 

 also its keeping qualities. 



During the transformation a considerable change of 

 taste or flavor has taken place. The nectar has only an 

 insipid, indifferent taste. An eminent writer calls it a 

 "silly taste." The taste of the honey need not to be 

 described here, as all the readers of this paper know it. 



