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(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 25, 1906 



Vol. XLVI-No. 43 



'diforial ^Nofes 

 and Comments 



Honey-Prices Stiffening Up 



Naturally, after a season of short honey 

 crop prices of honey would be expected to 

 rise 6omewhat. Such is the case this fall. 

 We understand that it is not at all difficult to 

 sell honey of first-class flavor this year, espe- 

 cially if it is comb honey. 



We have heard of some fine comb honey 

 being sold at very low prices: This, it seems 

 to us, can only be accounted for through 

 ignorance on the part of the producer. Any 

 one who reads the bee-papers can easily see 

 the upward tendency of prices as a result of 

 a limited honey crop. 



Doubtless long before another year's honey 

 crop will be ready for delivery, the market 

 will be entirely bare of honey. So those who 

 are sure they can keep their finest comb 

 honey so it will not granulate, will likely 

 6ecure a higher price later on. But ordi- 

 narily it is financially more satisfactory to the 

 producer to sell honey before Jan. 1. 



We hesitate to advise bee-keepers as to the 

 best time to sell their honey. Our predeces- 

 sor advised selling honey early one year, and 

 a certain Vermont bee-keeper followed the 

 advice. He told us some years afterward that 

 thereby he lost $500, as later on honey ad- 

 vanced in price. He foolishly blamed the 

 American Bee Journal for his loss, and since 

 then has not been one of its subscribers. 



So we do not advise producers when to sell 

 honey — except it be whenever they can get a 

 price satisfactory to them. 



quite anxious lest it be 6ome very serious dis 

 ease. It happens to be nothing worse than 

 the trouble that comes from bees working on 

 milkweed, which has been described in the 

 bee-books and mentioned repeatedly in the 

 papers. The probability is that he has 6een 

 it mentioned more than once, but not being 

 specially interested, he has let it go with a 

 passing glance. If he had given it reasonable 

 attention it would have saved him needless 

 worry. 



The same thing is no doubt true with many 

 a bee-keeper. He uses his book or his bee- 

 paper too much like a dictionary — merely 

 giving attention to those things that happen 

 directly to meet his case. The wise bee- 

 keeper informs himself in general on all 

 topics pertaining to bees, and when the occa- 

 sion arises he is ready for it. Especially is 

 this true with regard to foul brood. The 

 average bee-keeper has no interest in the 

 subject, because his bees are not suffering 

 from the disease. But when something arises 

 that he suspects may be foul brood, he is in a 

 panic. If he had taken pains to read up' he 

 might have been saved anxiety by knowing 

 that no disease was present. Or if present, he 

 would have known fairly well just what to 

 do. If you are wise, you will inform yourself 

 in general on all topics pertaining to bees and 

 bee-keeping. No telling when the informa- 

 tion may come in handy. 



Inform Yourself in Advance About 

 Bees 



A subscriber writes about a certain trouble 

 with his bees concerning which he has read 

 nothing in the bee books or papers, and is 



"Better Than Honey for Less Money" 



In an issue of Printer's Ink— a splendid ad- 

 vertisers' publication— appeared these words 

 some time ago : 



"One of the most disastrous campaigns in 

 the history of advertising, it is said, was that 

 of Corn Products, with Karo Corn Syrup." 



At least every bee-keeper will be glad to 



know that Karo Corn Syrup was a failure, as 

 it deserved to be. That was the food fraud 

 that was being worked off on the consuming 

 public as " The rival of the bee," " The great 

 spread for daily bread," and " Better than 

 honey for less money "—all of which state- 

 ments were absolute falsehoods, whether they 

 were perpetrated knowingly or not. 



In the American Bee Journal for Jan. 7, 

 1904, we first paid our respects to " Karo," in 

 this editorial : 



"The Rival of the Bee." 



This, in large type, is the heading of a full- 

 page 3-column advertisement we saw in one 

 of our exchanges recently. To make it more 

 deceptive, at each end of the head-line is the 

 picture of a straw-skep. The first column of 

 the wonderful, rivalling stuff started off like 

 this: 



" Words sweet as honey from Jus lips dMiWd." 

 — Iliad of Homer. 



Long has the honey of the bee reigned as sweet of 

 sweets. Homer. Milton, Shakespeare. Tennyson 

 and others of the poets made tribute to its sover- 

 eignty, using its name as tbe superlative of sweet- 

 NY hen these men wrote, and, until a recent day. 

 the industrious bee toiled on without a rival. 



But :20th century Bkill and science came upon the 

 field to wrest from tbe bee his laurels. Man went 

 to Nature, even as tbe bee does, but with better 

 equipment. Only tbe blossoms, with their mite* of 

 sweet, are open to the bee for his sources of supply. 

 Man may go where tbe store is richer though more 

 strongly guarded. ' 



So he drew upon the King of Nature s cereals, 

 corn, and made therefrom a syrup clear and golden 

 as tne honey of the bee: richer in nutriment, 

 sweeter in flavor, less in cost. 



And when this syrup is placed where the bee may 

 have access to it, he forsakes tbe roses and the 

 clover, mutely acknowledging his vanquishment, 

 and making tbe triumph ot man complete. 



This wonderful syrup, extracted from the golden 

 grains, Karo Corn Syrup, Is meeting with a warm 

 welcome from the housewives of America, won by 

 its purity, flavor, nutriment, and low cost. 



It is being used in place of honey and other syrups 

 on griddle cakeB and as a spread— because it is " bet- 

 ter than honey for less money." It is being used 

 Instead of molasses in baking and candy making, 

 because it is purer, more nutritious, and more 

 digestible. 



How eloquently beautiful that is! Then 

 think how goes "the bee for his sources of 

 supply "—the blossoms. But when he (the 

 bee) finds his great "rival," " he forsakes the 

 roast," etc. 



It is safe to say that the chap who wrote 

 the nonsense quoted doesn't know any more 

 about the genuine honey produced by honey- 

 bees than he does concerning the flowers 

 from which it is gathered; and, also, he 

 seems not to know that the he bees do not 

 gather nectar at all. 



But just for our own satisfaction we asked 

 Mrs. York to buy a 10-eent can of this great 

 " rival of the [he] bee," so that we might 

 personally know about what is " better than 

 honey for less money." We pride ourselves 

 on having a fair taster for sweet things. But 

 the stuff we got (a mixture of corn-syrup and 



