360 



The Foreign Market for Honey. 



The following letter from an exten- 

 sive honey-producer gives his views and 

 fears : 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Friend Newman: Your trip to 

 Europe has done the supply dealers and 

 bee papers as well as honey producers 

 in Europe a great and lasting good ; the 

 latter you have educated to get more 

 honey in better shape. To us, the pro- 

 ducers of America, you have done much 

 harm ; for you have made many more 

 producers in Europe, and educated 

 them to get it in better shape, to glut or 

 fill a market that we were relying upon. 

 We had better paid you and kept you at 

 home. D. D. Palmer." 



Upon seeing the misrepresentations 

 of our motives and mission to Europe, 

 by a few jealous men, and hearing their 

 fierce denunciations of us for a mission 

 which cost us 4 months' time and over 

 $1,000 in money — while writing a 

 friendly letter to Mr. Hoge, we said to 

 him that we were almost sorry that we 

 went to Europe. This is his reply : 

 " London, England, July 5, 1880. 



" Friend Newman : Do you remem- 

 ber what a pleasant time we had to- 

 gether here in London one year ago 

 yesterday, celebrating the 'glorious 

 fourth ? ' I am a little surprised now to 

 have you write and say you are almost 

 sorry you came. 



" There are certain cannibalistic peo- 

 ple in the world who devour with relish 

 a missionary. Foreign bee-keepers 

 might find justification in this practice 

 for rudely treating the President of the 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association, if 

 they had desired, who came among 

 them as a missionary, as it were, but I 

 must say it is wholly unprecedented for 

 a few American bee-keepers to desire 

 to l skin alive ' the founder and friend 

 of a mission who so loved the cause 

 that he paid his expenses even to the 

 last cent, out of his own pocket. 



"It seems to intelligent bee-keepers 

 here that to belittle the President of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, is to belittle the body of bee- 

 keepers generally. Of course, you are 

 too much in earnest to be deterred by 

 such treatment, and will keep straight 

 along in the useful and progressive line 

 you have marked out for the Journal ; 

 remembering the reddest apples receive 

 the most knocks, and it is no use to bite 

 a snake because a snake bites you. 



" Once, while passing a marble statue 



I saw a lot of little boys throwing mud 

 at it ; soon a shower came and the statue 

 seemed whiter and cleaner than ever, 

 while the boys were spanked for dirty- 

 ing themselves. So will it be with the 

 Bee Journal and these little men. 



" You might cover Europe with the 

 most approved modern bee-keeping ap- 

 pliances, but you could not prolong our 

 honey seasons. Bee-keeping here can 

 never be pursued as a business, because 

 our honey seasons are of no conse- 

 quence : so all fears of our competition 

 can be discarded as absurd and ridicu- 

 lous ! 



" You here rendered me great assist- 

 ance in abolishing the unfair prejudice 

 existing about that time in the minds 

 of English consumers against Ameri- 

 can honey ; in fact, it was remarked by 

 many that the whole of your valuable 

 time was devoted to this most impor- 

 ant desideratum. Time which almost 

 all visitors to this country would have 

 spent in sight seeing, you occupied in 

 counteracting the absurd stories about 

 "stuffed honeycombs" launched into 

 this country from America. You de- 

 serve and will have great credit for 

 your tireless efforts in this direction. 

 W. M. Hoge." 



AVe fear both of these letters give us 

 more credit than we deserve. It is true 

 that we found great prejudice existing 

 in Europe against American honey ; 

 and in public lectures and in private 

 talk we did all we could to put the mat- 

 ter in its true light. We are thankful 

 to know that such foolish prejudices 

 have died out, and that Europe now de- 

 sires to obtain hundreds of tons of 

 honey from America, which, alas, we 

 fear we shall not be able this year to 

 send them on account of the unpropi- 

 tiousness of the season. Still the greater 

 the demand, the higher the price will 

 be ; that affords some comfort to pro- 

 ducers, who would otherwise mourn the 

 shortness of the crop. 



HP 01 By the Italian bee-paper L'Api- 

 coltore we notice that the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal has been ap- 

 pointed the Society's American corre- 

 spondent, as well as Honorary Member. 



gg° On July 17 a fire occurred in the 

 grocery establishment of H. K. & T. B. 

 Thurber & Co., New York. Loss, $25,- 

 000 ; fully insured. 



