Part II.] IIOXEY PRODITTIOX. 71 



American Pomological Society, Buffalo, on the subject of "Bees 

 as Marriage Priests," and I then could plainly see that there 

 was some opposition to the bees on the part of the fruit 

 growers. To-day one can scarcely find an up-to-date grower 

 who does not welcome bees — the more the better. 



Coming back, then, to our original proposition of growing 

 more sweets or more sugar it is plain to be seen that if bees 

 produce something like §50,000,000 worth of honey every year 

 in the United States, they are actually contributing to the 

 wealth of the country by making more and better fruit 

 to the extent of possibly $100,000,000 worth. Taking it all 

 in all, the little bee is no small factor in contributing to the 

 wealth of the country, and, what is more, helping us to win 

 this war. 



Perhaps it may be said, "Why all this furore about sugar?" 

 The facts are, sugar is just as necessary for a balanced ration 

 in the human family as meat, eggs, wheat, or any of the staple 

 grains. Sugar is an energy producer. In our great cities the 

 poor people are suftering for the want of sugar. They have a 

 distinct craving for it. That is the reason why our soldier boys 

 from the trenches are willing to pay at the canteens in France 

 $1.10 a pound for honey. Certainly nothing is more exhaust- 

 ing than trench work, and therefore it becomes the bounden 

 duty — yes, the patriotic duty — of every citizen of the United 

 States to help feed not only the soldiers but a hungry world 

 by supplj-ing one of the necessary food elements — sugar — in 

 the form of honey or fruit juices. If you have ever deprived 

 yourself for just thirty days of sugar, in all forms, such as 

 cake, pies, pastry, candy, etc., you will find that you have a 

 ravenous appetite for it. There is no doubt that in ordinary 

 times we eat too much candy; but during this period of war 

 we cannot get too much sugar in the form of honey or fruit. 



Now I am coming down to the vital question: Ought the 

 farmer or backlotter to keep bees, and, if so, can he? Most 

 emphatically I say yes to both questions. Nay, more, — it is 

 his patriotic duty. It is just as easy to keep a few hives of 

 bees as it is to keep a few chickens. What one farmer has 

 done, others can do. If there is going to be a shortage of 

 sugar this year and next, then it is up to the beekeeper and 



