80 



(JLEANIXG8 IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



mysteries of the hive, and, "having in a large 

 degree mastered these, there is little need in 

 practical bee-koeping to handle combs." Now, 

 J"d like to handle frames less, but I don't want 

 to handle hives " more." If W. Z. is right, we 

 can learn the mysteries from books, and keep 

 box hives. 



That m't of Mrs. NiilFs on page 2.5. Struck 

 it wrong, and hit your finger instead of the nut, 

 sister Null. Why. bless your heart, the nut's 

 all right, and there's a good meat in it. So far 

 as I know, Missouii has beaten all other States 

 in getting up a large State society at the start, 

 and it's onlv because I'm not handy in the use 

 of the English language that I didn't i)roperly 

 express the admii'ation that I really felt. I 

 think the start made is " pretty good " for any 

 State, even such a central State as Missouri. 

 Now we're friends again, aren't we, Mrs. Null ? 



BOUNTY ON HONEY. 



IS IT DESIRABLE OR FEASIBLE ? DO SUGAK AND 

 CANNED FRUIT COMPETE WITH HONEY? 



The matter of making an effort to secure a 

 bounty ou honey was lightly discussed at Chi- 

 cago, and it also came up at Albany. The 

 editor, on page 13, seems anxious for light as to 

 its desirability and feasibility. Perhaps it 

 might be better to discuss its justice and feasi- 

 bility, although, in the highest sense, if it is not 

 right it is not desirable. Unless there is both 

 justice and feasibility, it is not worth while 

 spending lime talking about it. If there is 

 justice in the case. I have no great doubt as to 

 feasibility. The simple fact that justice de- 

 mands a bounty, ought to be enough to secure 

 it. Still, it is not always enough. But I think 

 a sufificient amount of united effort would be 

 effectual. 



Therefore, before discussing how we are to 

 obtain a bounty let us first settle conclusively 

 that we ought to have it. To say that I should 

 like it is one thing: to say that of i-ight I am 

 entitled to it is quite another. As a premise in 

 the case, we may start out with the fact that a 

 bounty of two cents per pound has been granted 

 to sugar-makers. The truth of its accomplish- 

 ment is a strong argument as to its being a 

 righteous act, and indeed I do not know that its 

 righteousness hats been called in question, al- 

 though I am not politician enough to know. 



Granted, then, that sugar has a right to the 

 bounty, can honey make the same claim? I 

 believe the argument in favor of sugar is. that, 

 when the tariff' on sugar was lowered, it let in 

 foreign sugar at a so much lowei' rate that the 

 home product could not successfully compete 

 with it. and for the sake of encouraging the 

 latter the bounty was allowed. Whether that 

 argument will bear the clo.sest scrutiny I am 

 not prepared to say: but. admitting its correct- 

 ness, will it, or will it not, apply with equal 

 force to honey ? If it can be established that, 

 there is competition between sugar and honey, 

 then I can see no reason why the same argu- 

 ment that applies to domestic sugar will not 

 apply to honey. Indeed, if there is any differ- 

 ence, the argument for honey is a little stronger 

 than for sugar, always provided that sugar 

 competes with honey. P'or, by a direct act of 

 government, sugar has a bounty of two cents 

 per pound, thus giving it an advantage of two 

 cents per pound over honey, whenever the two 

 come in comix'tition. Therefore; justice de- 

 mands that the injury done to the honey mar- 

 ket, by putting it in competition with the 

 bountied sugar, be righted by a compensating 

 bounty on honey. The only question in that 



case is whether the bounty should be two cents 

 per pound, or proportionally greater according 

 to the relative values of the two products. Pos- 

 sibly it should be somewhat according to value. 

 That is. if honey is .50 pei- cent more than sugar 

 in price, then the bounty on honey should he 

 .50 per cent more on honry, or three cents jier 

 pound. But that can. perhaps, not be claimed, 

 for it would be replied that a dollar's worth of 

 honey does not compete with a dollar's worth 

 of sugar, but that a pound of honey competes 

 with a pound of sugar. 



Now. let us see how far we have got. If thej'e 

 is no leak in my logic, we have about settled 

 that, if sugar is entitled to a bounty, and if su- 

 gar competes with honey, then honey is entitled 

 to a bounty. Now let us ccmsider the question 

 as to whether the price of sugar has any effect 

 on the price of honey: in olher woi'ds. whether 

 the two are really compi'titors. Before having 

 written thus far, I spent some time thinking 

 over the problem, and it occurred to me that 

 one who used considerable quantities of both 

 would be a proper person to help decide how far 

 they can be considered competitors. So I w«nt 

 down to the sitting-room, where my wife sat 

 sewing, and, after telling her that bee-keepers 

 were agitating the question of a bounty on hon- 

 ey, I said, '" I hardly know which sid(» of the 

 question I am on."' "But." said she. •"the 

 chance for rascality in claiming a bounty on 

 more honey than has been raised, just like" the 

 dishonesty in the pension business I" 



"Ohl that has nothing to do with the ques- 

 tion in hand," said I, a little nettled at the insin- 

 uation that there were dishonest men among 

 bee-keepers. Then, aftei' sitting foi' a little 

 time looking at the glowing anthracite in the 

 Howe ventilator. I said. " Does the price of su- 

 gar have any thing to do with the amount of 

 fruit that is put up. or used for sauce?" 



•■ Oh. certainly! a great deal to do with it." 



■■ What has it to do with it?" 



■'Why. if sugar were, say, a half higher than 

 it was this year, I wouldn't have put up nearly 

 as much. Get along witli less — that's all." 



After studying the coal tii'e a little longer. I 

 asked. "' Does the amount of fruit sauce or can- 

 ned fruit make any difference as to the amount 

 of honey used in a faiuily ?" 



She answered, somewhat slowly and hesitat- 

 ingly. " Why. I should think it would." Then 

 in a more decided mann(T. "Yes. certainly it 

 would.'" Then. ;ifier sewing a few moments in 

 silence, she added, " Because, when you have 

 those things you don't caieso much for honey." 

 After sitting a minute. I said, '" As it looks to 

 me now. I'm in favor of the bounty," and then 

 went back \ij) stairs. 



My wife's view of the case looks reasonable, 

 and she speaks from expei'ience. Grocers have 

 also told me that, when fruit was scarce, honey 

 sold more readily, and vice versa, showing that 

 a diminnti(m in the amountof fruit sauce used 

 helps the sale of honey. Of course, if the high 

 price of fruit helps the sale of honey, so would 

 the high price of sugar, for either one would 

 make the sauce more expensive. 

 . I think it is a very clear case that molasses 

 and syrups are in competition with honey, but 

 I'm not so sure that the prices of these are 

 directly affected by the price of sugar. But 

 where the syrup is home-made, simply melted 

 sugar, as it is often used on hot cakes, then the 

 competition is evident. 



Supposing that it may iie clearly shown that 

 the allowance of a bounty is the correct thing, 

 it is just possible that another question may 

 arise in something like this form: "Will a 

 bounty, in the long run. be a benefit to the pro- 

 ducer, or will it be only to the consumer?" 



Marengo. 111.. .Ian. S. C. C. Miller. 



