GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



tant one, " Is the supply of honey likely 

 to become gi-eater than the demand?" A 

 search for the answer involves two other 

 questions. 



1. Is the supply of honey likely to become 

 greater than the amount that can and ought 

 to be consumed for the best interests of the 

 public in general? The annual consump- 

 tion of sugar in the United States is some- 

 thing more than 80 pounds for every man, 

 woman, and child. I think the general con- 

 sensus of opinion among the medical pro- 

 fession is that this is detrimental to the 

 general health. There is probably little 

 doubt that it would be greatly for the 

 public good if three-fourths of this amount 

 should be replaced by honey. Let us, how- 

 ever, be modest in our demands, and say 

 that one-fourth of that amount should be 

 replaced by honey. Let us be even more 

 modest than that, and say that enough 

 should be added to the amount of honey 

 now used to total one-fourth of the number 

 of pounds of sugar now used. That would 

 make 20 pounds per capita. To supply 

 such a demand would require a vastly in- 

 creased production, such as is very unlikely 

 to be reached in your lifetime. So we are 

 pretty safe in replying to our first question 

 that theie is little danger that more honey 

 will be produced than can be consumed, and 

 that ought to be consumed for the best good 

 of the nation. 



We now come to our second question : Is 

 it likely that the people will — not can, but 

 linll- — be so awakened to their own interests 

 as to demand and consume the amount of 

 honey that they should consume for their 

 best good? Replying to this question, I 

 must frankly say I don't know. It lies in 

 the hands of two parties. It lies in the 

 hands of those public ofificials who are look- 



ing out for the public health, as the first 

 party. The tendency is now in the direction 

 of increased care for the health of the peo- 

 ple ; and if that tendency continues we may 

 yet find government doing as much for the 

 health of folks as it has been doing for the 

 health of hogs. When that time comes, one 

 of the things it may do is to urge the eon- 

 sumption of less sugar and more honey. 



The other party to whom we must look to 

 make known the virtues of honey is the 

 brotherhood of beekeepers themselves. If 

 they were all as wideawake to the necessi- 

 ties of the case as Wesley Foster, the ease 

 would be hopeful. Alas that they are not I 

 Whether they ever will be to the extent of 

 taking concerted action is one of the things 

 ill the realms of the unknown. 



There remains, however, the possibility 

 of individual action. There are individual 

 beekeepers who have done much to educate 

 the public in their immediate vicinity, and 

 this offers an inviting field to any young 

 man who contemplates adopting beekeeping 

 as a permanent calling. 



Suppose you are located in or near a city 

 of 2000, or in a rural community of that 

 ':ize. and that you have the field to yourself 

 It ought not to be an impossibility for you, 

 by a continuous persistent effort, to educate 

 your clientele so that they would consume 

 the 20 pounds per capita already mention- 

 ed. That would call for 2000 times 20 

 pounds, or 40,000 pounds of honey. That 

 looks as if there would be no trouble about 

 the demand, but that you might have trou- 

 ble about securing the supply. 



I am not a prophet ; but if I might be 

 allowed to make a guess, I should say that 

 the prospect for the right man is just as 

 good now as it ever was, if not better. 



Marengo, 111. 



^§ OF A 



Bee=tree ; the Meeiarkable Career of a Beekeeper, Mis- 

 sionary, and Explorer in Africa 



BY EEV. J. M. LEWIS 



I have read with unsual interest the writ- 

 ings of A. I. Root, especially those on 

 health and how to live long, and his fre- 

 quent references to Terrj'. In looking at 

 their pictures, which have at various times 

 appeared in Gleanings, and having noted 

 their gray hair and other marks of ad- 

 vanced age, I have wondered if. with their 

 careful diet and rigid mode of living, they 

 were more robust and energetic than the 

 average, or had retained their youthful ap- 

 ]^earance above the average mau of seventy, 



I am sending you a photograph taken on 

 my 70th birthday. I think I can claim the 

 honor of being a veteran beekeeper, having 

 been born among the bees and keeping them 

 at various times all my life. At the present 

 time I have twelve colonies, and am doing 

 nearly all the work on a small farm where 

 I have three cows, a horse, and a hundred 

 fowls. I have scarcely a gray hair ; my teeth 

 are exceptionally good, so that I crack nuts 

 and bite off a twdne string witli the greatest 

 ease, I have lived a very active life, and 



