myl. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALo 



771 



B. S. K. Bennett — I was once troubled with dyspepsia, 

 but it disappeared when I began to eat honey freely. In fjood 

 years Caiifornia produces about 300 carloads of honey, but 

 the producers seeiu to think that they must sell by the car- 

 load, and pay but little attention to the home retail trade. 



J. F. Mclutyre— I have been successful In marketing 

 by storing my honey in a tiro-proof building and holding It 

 until there comes a poor year and high prices. But little 

 comb honey is produced, the trouble is in shipping it so far 

 (fro-n California). I have always gotten 6 cents until this 

 year, when I sold some for 5)-^. We let the honey stand two 

 weeks, when all particles rise, and it becomes clear and spark- 

 ling, when it is drawn off into cans. Our honey does not candy 

 until two or three years old. There is about two cents a 

 pound difference in price between the good and poor years. 



Dr. Miller— You have 600 colonies, Mr. Mclntyre; could 

 you give us some idea as to how far they fly in their work ? 



Mr. Mclntyre — People on the roads say that they see 

 them five or six miles away. Two or three miles away thev 

 are seen much more plentifully. Bees do not fly in a " bee- 

 line." They follow the grades of ,the canyons something as 

 the railroads do. Bees do not work so well immediately after 

 the honey is extracted. They gradually increase, and do the 

 best about three days after the extracting is done, and then 

 taper off. 



Hon. Eugene Secor, the General Manager and Treasurer, 

 not being able to be present on account of. the illness of Mrs. 

 Secor, sent the following suggestions on 



Work that Kccds to be Undertaken bj- the I'ni- 

 tcd States Bee-Keepers' Union. 



The question may present itself to some well-meaning bee- 

 keepers, who never had any trouble with their neighbors and 

 do not anticipate any with commission men, " What is there 

 for this society to do to further the interests of bee-keepers, 

 that will warrant me in .ioining, if I do not expect any immedi- 

 ate personal advantage?" 



Some people never see any merit in any cause that does 

 not accrue to their own profit or ambition. If all the world 

 acted from such motives no reform would go forward and no 

 charily would be organized. Justice would seldom be meted 

 out except by shot-gun methods. 



It is by organized effort and a community of sentiment 

 that laws are made and enforced. They neither make nor en- 

 force themselves. Public sentiment must be created before 

 laws will be enacted ; and, when enacted, public sentiment 

 must support the officers who try to enforce them, or such 

 laws will soon become "dead letter." 



The way to create public sentiment is to organize all who 

 have ideas in common, and concentrate all effort toward ac- 

 complishment of the thing sought after. 



When the National Bee-Keepers Union was organized to 

 defend its members in the right to keep bees. It set about that 

 work In a methodical and effective manner. When a case 

 arose which appealed to its funds, the best talent available 

 was secured, and a court decision obtained which will stand 

 as a precedent for all time. 



You may not all know that the interpretation of law Is 

 largely based on precedent. No matter how hoary with age 

 and musty with disuse, a court decision is venerated by the 

 bench and bar very much as a true believer venerates a "Thus 

 saith the Lord." A decision of any of the higher courts is, 

 therefore, of great value. 



Adulteration is the crying evil of our time. Competition 

 is so close and the profit so small that if any article can be 

 sold a trifle cheaper by using an adulterant, the temptation is 

 to do so. If the buyer asks for coffee he doesn't know whether 

 he gets it or beans and chicory. If he wants butter he is likely 

 to get oleo or butterine. Extracted honey put up In glass 

 tumblers with a bit of boney-comb floating in a liquid that 

 never granulates is liable to savor of the glucose factory. And 

 so on with the whole list of prepared foods. The dairy people 

 have organized, and in most of the States have procured pro- 

 hibitive legislation. 



One of the things on which I believe the officers and direc- 

 tors of this society agree is the importance of pure food laws 

 in all the States where they do not already exist. Any well 

 organized society can do much to hurry the enactment of such 

 laws. This we purpose doing. And when the proper legisla- 

 tion is secured we purpose to see that the law is enforced so far 

 as the adulteration of honey is concerned. The dairy peo- 

 ple look after their interests ; we shall be compelled to pro- 

 tect our own in the same manner. We can not expect the pub- 

 lic officers to take the necessary interest in our specialty wlth- 

 outa little stiffening of the spinal column by some one whose 

 Interests are jeopardized. We are already making arrange- 

 ment to test samples of honey found on the market. If bee- 



keepers will stand together the adulterator will find a hard 

 road to travel. 



Another legitimate and worthy effort will be to drive every 

 dishonest commission man out of the honey-business, or at 

 least to put every member of this society on his guard. A 

 system of espionage In every large city is" practical and need 

 cost but little. Let us put a premium on honesty, and the 

 mark of Cain on every rogue. 



The one thing necessary to make our influence felt is uni- 

 ted action on the part of bee-keepers. 



Let every one of us use his personal Influence in the com- 

 munity and State in which he lives, to bring about the enact- 

 ment of pure food laws ; let him urge the proper authorities to 

 enforce them, and co-operate with this society in every en- 

 deavor to protect and defend the industry which it represents. 

 Eugene Secor. 



Mr. R. C. Aikin, of Colorado, sent this paper, which was 

 read next : 



Improved IVlcthod§ of Extraetcd-llone}' Produe- 



lion. 



This is a knotty problem. That improvement is neces- 

 sary, I believe that most will admit, tho just how to improve is 

 as yet largely an open question. To know what improvement 

 is necessary we must know the faults of present methods. 



Shall extracted honey be a luxury only, or shall it become 

 a staple ? I answer, a staple. Sugar now holds first place as 

 a sweet, is backt by a huge monopolistic trust that scruples at 

 nothing, good or bad, so long as its financial interests are for- 

 warded. 



Competition, it is said, is the life of trade, tho in fact 

 it is the death of it. If competition were only at all times 

 fair, then a thing would stand or fall as it has merit; but, 

 alas, competitive methods are often so devoid of justice that 

 merit loses much of its weight. 



Comb honey is, and will probably remain, a luxury; but 

 extracted has reacht that point that it must become a sta- 

 ple sweet, or else its production be limited. I suppose 

 that in all civilization there is not a place that sugar is not 

 found. It is everywhere as a competitor with other sweets. 

 Two things govern the demand for any sweet, viz.: the con- y 

 sumer's tastes, and his ability to buy. Of two or more sweets 

 offered, the cheaper will be used unless the other appeals to 

 the taste and can be afforded. As a fine article of granulated 

 sugar can be bought at five to six cents, it remains that ex- 

 tracted honey must sell at or nea' that price to all but those 

 who can afford and want it as a luxury. Our market quota- 

 tions show this now. 



We must, then, look to methods that will both improve 

 the quality and cheapen the product. Old methods contem- 

 plated the taking of unripe honey and thus increasing the 

 quantity, which has proved a step backward rather than for- 

 ward. I suspect that many have not yet learned that to thus 

 increase the volume of production is but to sacrifice quality, 

 price and demand. An unripe, poor grade of extracted honey 

 is not the equal of granulated sugar syrup, while a good arti- 

 cle of extracted is superior to sugar. Honey has for ages been 

 a favored sweet, and is so yet, and if at a price to compete 

 with substitutes will hold a place. 



I have just been locking over the market quotations in 

 the Aug. 12th issue of the American Bee Journal. The quo- 

 tations on "fancy comb" range from 9 to 14 cents, the aver- 

 age of the highest quotations being about 12X cents. The 

 average of all grades of comb somewhere near 10 cents with 

 extracted ranging from 3>i to 7 cents, averaging probably 

 near 5 cents. It appears, then, that extracted honey and 

 sugar are about the same price. In order that liquid honey 

 compete with sugar, not only should the price be proportion- 

 ate, but of equal quality and convenient to handle. 



It is commonly claimed that two pounds of extracted honey 

 can be produced to one of comb, which statement is generally 

 accepted to mean that extracted can be produced at J^ the 

 cost of comb. Suppose we can get two pounds of extracted to 

 one of comb ; the increast quantity requires an increast 

 amount, of labor both in producing and marketing, as well as 

 additional cases and investment in combs and such, hence by 

 no means doubling profits. 



For about 13 years in Iowa, and 7 in Colorado, I 

 have produced both comb and extracted side by side. Never 

 did my crop of extracted per colony, double over that of comb. 

 The best that I can claim has been 3 of extracted to 2 of 

 comb ; but some bitterexperience In losing in winter and spring 

 by starvation of the extracted colonies, showed me where I got 

 my extra surplus. Run two colonies, one for comb honey and 

 the other extracted, and when the crop Is off make an accur- 

 ate estimate of the honey In the brood-chambers and see where 



