(Entered ut the ro^toiii, ,■ ;ii ( tuca^ro a3 Becond-Claes Mall-Matter.) 

 I'uMished Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 33i Dearborn Street 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 3, 1907 



Vol, XLVII-No. 1 



d i€orial ^otbs 

 and Comnients 



Effect of the Pure Food Law 



When we were in the honey bottling busi- 

 ness, a few years ago, we sold to a number of 

 the wholesale grocers. Recently we received 

 the following letter from one of them : 



George W. York & Co.— 



Oe?itle>ne?i :—Tbe Pure Food Law enacted 

 by Congress, taking etfect Jan. 1, 190", pro- 

 vides severe penalties tor dealers who handle 

 articles of food or drugs adulterated or mis- 

 branded. 



In accordance with the provisions of the 

 law, which exempts from prosecution those 

 who procure a proper guaranty, we are re- 

 quiring all from whom we purchase articles 

 of food or drugs to execute a proper guaranty, 

 and enclose herewith our regular form. It is 

 essential that all blank spaces be properly 

 tilled in, and that the signature be in accord- 

 ance with the directions on the form. 



Please duly execute and return promptly 

 to us. Very truly yours, 



RocKwooD Bros. Co. 



The " form " referred to in the above reads 

 aa follows : 



FOOD GUARANTY. 



The undersigned, , 



of , State of , 



United States of America, does hereby war- 

 rant and guarantee unto 



RocKwooi) Bros. Co., 



having principal office at Chicago, 111., that 

 any and all articles of food or drugs, as de- 

 fined by the Act of Congress approved June 

 30, 1906, entitled 



" Ab Act for preventing the manufacture, sale or 

 transportation of adulterated or misbranded or 

 poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines 

 and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and 

 for other purposes." 



which the undersigned has sold since Oat. 1, 

 1906, or shall at any time hereafter prepare, 

 manufacture for, sell or deliver to said 



RocKwooD Bros. Co., 



will comply with all the provisions of said 

 Act of Congress, and are not and shall not be 



in any manner adulterated or misbranded 

 within the meaning of said Act. 



It is expressly understood that this shall be 

 a continuing guaranty until notice of revoca- 

 tion be given in writing, and notice of accept- 

 ance of the guaranty is hereby waived. 



Dited at this day of 19 



SEil^. 



SEiL. 



1. MuBt be signed with full name of individual. 



2. If a tlrm, sign the tirm name followed by name 

 of partner executing document. 



If a corporation, must be signed by proper oflQcer. 

 and corporation seal attached. 



It seems that wholesale grocers do not 

 mean to take any chances in the matter of 

 handling any adulterated or misbranded 

 goods hereafter. They know the Pure Food 

 Law has teeth in it that are sharp, and that 

 the Law will be enforced to the letter. 



A new day for pure honey is apparently 

 dawning. We look for a greatly increased 

 demand for it hereafter, and believe that the 

 prices will soon be advancing. What bee- 

 keepers should do now is to let the people 

 know the special food values of honey 

 through the newspapers and magazines. To 

 many, such information would be " news," 

 indeed. 



We are expecting, in the very near future — 

 say 2 or 3 years— to see such a demand for 

 honey that it will take every pound produced, 

 within 6 months after the close of the honey 

 harvest each year. Bee-keeping is not over- 

 done. But general consumption of pure 

 honey has been "underdone'' for years, on 

 account of adulteration and misbranding. 



Let the National Pure Food Law have its 

 chance, and then the producers of pure honey 

 will have their chance, for which they have 

 been waiting so long. 



liove in the heart is better than honey in 

 the mouth. — Proverb. 



Irish Bee Journal and Age of Queens 



E.xception was taken in these columns to 

 the leaching of the Irish Bee Journal in favor 

 of "having every season, a young queen of 

 the previous year's rearing, to head each col- 

 ony," as that was understood to mean that 

 the right thing' would be to replace every 

 queen when a year old ; and it seemed an un- 

 solvable puzzle to understand why the Irish 

 Bee Journal should attempt to fortify its 

 position by quoting authorities which plainly 

 advocated that a 'queen was good for 2 years' 

 work. Tbe solution of the puzzle is now at 

 hand. Our Irish contemporary says in the 

 December number: 



The question between us is, What is meant 

 by " a queen of the previous year's rearing?" 



Let us see. Take the case of a queen born 

 on May 1, 1906. On April .30, 190?, she will be 

 a year old. Does Mr. Maguire teach that she 

 must then be killed* By no means. Let us 

 go farther. On Sept. 30, 1907, she will be 1 

 year and 5 months old. Must she then be 

 killed! No. She is still "a queen of the 

 previous year's rearing." On April 30, 190S, 

 she will be 2 years old, but still "a queen 

 of the previous year's rearing.'' Her year 

 began not on Jan. 1, 1906, but on May 1, 1906. 

 She is safe from the headsman, so far. Even 

 if we allow that her year began on Jan. 1, 

 1906, 4 months before her birth, "she will an- 

 swer Mr. Magu ire's requirements up to Dec. 

 31, 1907, when she will be 1 year and S months 

 old. We, therefore, claim for our contribu- 

 tor that, at the very least, he is free of the 

 charge of having taught that "each queen 

 when it becomes a year old should be de- 

 stroyed," and is. thus far, in strict agreement 

 with the authorities. 



It makes one the least bit dizzy to under- 

 stand how a queen 2 years old can be a 

 "queen of the previous year's rearing," for in 

 this locality the phrase " a queen of the pre- 

 vious year's rearing " is generally equivalent 

 to " a last year's queen ;" and until the fore- 

 going quotation appeared it never occurred to 

 us that there was any question between us as 

 to the meaning of the phrase. 



This, however, is a very small matter, and 

 it is a real pleasure to know that there is no 

 greater difference between us than a different 

 understanding of the meaning of a few words. 

 Not knowing before this that there was any 

 different understanding as to the meaning of 

 words, of course no exception was taken in 

 that direction. The Irish Bee Journal may 

 charge us with thick-headedness in not un- 

 derstanding correctly the English language 



