nessof producing it, and from the fac t that 

 cane sugar being produced in such quanti- 

 ties that ma le it cheaper, and of course sup- 

 plied the demand for sweets among those 



whose tastes were only too easily satisfied 

 by something, no matter what, as long as it 

 was sweet and cheap. Among the ancients 

 cane sugar was unknown, and no doubt 

 honey was the common and only known 

 sweet used by all. We presume the secret 

 of our people neglecting to produce honey 

 is, that the majority of them are afraid of 

 the "business-end" of the bee, or sting ; 

 another fact is that too many have made the 

 producing of honey merely a side-issue, and 

 have not used the modern appliances and 

 improvements which would enable them to 

 produce it in much larger quantities and in 

 a very much more convenient and handsome 

 shape, for we presume there has been no 

 time in the history of the world when honey 

 was stored in such a convenient and hand- 

 some style as at present. We have not only 

 the small convenient box of comb honey 

 finished and complete, a thing of beauty in 

 itself, but we have the pure honey in a 

 liquid form, extracted from the combs by 

 the modern machine known as the mel ex- 

 tractor or hone.y-slinger, giving us the pure 

 virgin honey free from all the impurities of 

 wax. bee-bread and dead bees. Honey in 

 this form is certainly one of the healthiest 

 and purest syrups we can place upon our 

 table, enjoyed by our children who naturally 

 love it, and ourselves, because we know it 

 is free from the adulterations which form a 

 very prominent ingredient of the many 

 forms of syrups of the present day. 



Our modern improvements and appliances 

 have brought honey into this desirable posi- 

 tion, ami also to the meat reduction in the 

 price of it now, compared to the past. We 

 now come to consider our third division of 

 our subject: "Honey in the future." 



As we remarked in th ' outset, our subject 

 is a vast one. and our paper does but touch 

 upon the outskirts of its vastness : we 

 would weary our hearers should we attempt 

 to dig into the cells or go even beyond the 

 cappings of this subject. What we can say 

 about our third division of the subject is 

 only of course conjecture on our part, al- 

 though judging from the rapid strides of 

 the past few years, and from the fact that 

 apiculture is growing in interest, and the 

 production of honey becoming one of the 

 great industries of this country (mostly 

 brought about by the dissemination of 

 knowledge ami experience through the bee 

 papers), we predict for honey a place second 

 to none among the products of the land. 



We have about reached the acme of suc- 

 cess, as far as the package of comb honey is 

 concerned, although we may make an im- 

 provement if we can reach a uniformity of 

 the package. To do this would in a large 

 measure necessitate a uniformity of hive or 

 brood frame, which would be a grand thing 

 if it could be brought about; but we can 

 hardly hope to ilo this as long as the old 

 adage holds good : •• Many men of many 

 minds." But to come hack to our subject, 

 honey in the future is destined to take its 

 appropriate place. This will he brought 

 about through an increase of production and 

 a corresponding decrease in price ; also, 



through the villainous adulterations of cane 

 sugar and syrups, and the honesty of bee- 

 keepers in producing a pure article of 

 honey. There will he temptations to resist. 

 In fact, they are being resisted now (and we 

 hope successfully by every bee-keeper in 

 this countrv ), in refusing to countenance the 

 use of grape sugar and glucose as an adul- 

 teration of honey. We are to take pride in 

 the fact that our honey is a pure article ; we 

 are to endorse it by placing our name and 

 address upon each package, thus showing 

 that we are willing to vouch for its purity. 

 If we do this, we need not fear to keep step 

 with advanced apiculture. We need not 

 fear to run our bees for extracted honey, if 

 by so doing we can secure double the 

 quantity, and then feed it back when the 

 flowers fail, and have it stored iuto beauti- 

 ful comb honey. 



Should we retrain from using our ingen- 

 uity and brains because some unprincipled 

 fellow may learn a way to cheat? Should 

 we not teach our children to write, because 

 some fellow may learn to write and commit 

 a forgery? Out upon such a principle! 

 What are our bee papers for, but to dissemi- 

 nate knowledge and exchange thought and 

 experience, and thereby advance our in- 

 dustry to where it belongs among the 

 industries of the world? It has been said 

 " he is a public oenefactor who has been the 

 means of causing two spears of grass to 

 grow where one grew before," does not this 

 hold good in our business? Certainly it 

 does, and we mean to continue. G >d helping 

 us, to be an expert and to teach others so to 

 be. 



But are we not digressing ? The last 

 division of our subject is one that we all are 

 intensely interested in, and to sum it up in a 

 few words, for I fear I have already wearied 

 you, let us do our best to get all the honey 

 we can ; use all the means that are legiti- 

 mate and best in doing so; have it in the 

 most approved and salable shape, and sell 

 it to responsible dealers who will pay us the 

 best price for it. Let us not be satisfied 

 with the past, nor content with the present, 

 but reach forward to a glorious future. 



Canajoharie, X. Y. .1. II. Nellis. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown. Georgia, chair- 

 man of committee to draft resolutions 

 condemnatory of adulterations, reported 

 the following resolutions, which were 

 unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, bythe North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, in Convention, Tint 

 we most sineerly deplore the almost 

 universal system of adulterations in 

 articles of food, and particularly all 

 attempts at adulterating honey, or the 

 use of glucose in any manner whereby 

 it may by any possibility become in- 

 corporated with honey. 



2. That the practice of adulterating 

 lnuiev heretofore placed upon the mar- 

 ket as ■• strained "" honey, has worked to 

 the detriment of all honest honey pro- 

 ducers, and thrown great discredit upon 

 our product. 



3. That we demand a stringent law 

 be passed by the general Congress of 



