SEPTEMBER 15, 1914 



703 



kinds of Ilclianti. All in all, there was a 

 great variety of honey-plants that Mr. Hal- 

 ter thought would keep the bees busy up to 

 severe frosts. 



All of this increase has been made in the 

 face of eight-cent sugar, scarcely a pound of 

 which we have fed. 



That reminds us that there is one yard 

 where we are feeding Porto Rican honey, 

 because it is cheaper than sugar. As this 

 yard is located where there is no fall or 

 swamp pasturage we decided to try out the 

 proposition of feeding cheap honey, and 

 putting the cost of this against the expense 

 of trucking the other bees back and forth to 

 the swamps. Poi'to Rico has never had foul 

 brood ; and after it came into the possession 

 of the United States a very strict quarantine 

 was established, so we think we are reason- 

 ably safe in the belief that this honey will 

 cause no bee disease. More anon. 



Came Sugar on Accoimt of 

 _ ~'se to 15 



9 



We are told that of the sixteen million 

 tons of cane sugar now produced in the 

 entire world, more than half comes from the 

 nations at war in Europe. These nations 

 will not now be able to harvest their beet 

 crops on account of all the men being en- 

 gaged in war. The United States, including 

 her possessions, produces but little more 

 than half of the sugar consumed in her own 

 borders. If the United States consumes twice 

 as much sugar as she produces, and if 

 Europe under normal conditions produces 

 half the sugar of the entire world, and this 

 half is now cut off, it can be seen that there 

 will necessarily be a great scarcity of cane 

 sugar, and the price is bound to rise accord- 

 ing to the simple law of supply and demand, 

 no matter what the Department of Justice 

 at Washington may say about it. It ha.s 

 been estimated that cane sugar will go up 

 to 15 cts. a pound if the war continues for 

 any length of time; and at this writing, 

 Sept. 4, it does not seem as if it would 

 stop very soon. If sugar goes to 15 cts. a 

 pound, naturally enough honey will have ^o 

 be used as a substitute in many cases; and 

 if that is true the price is sure to rise. 



As we pointed out in our last issue, the 

 South American and West Indian honeys 

 are coming into the United States at any old 

 price. If sugar goes up to the point of 15 

 cents, Europe will substitute honey for it. 

 It will hardly take glucose on account of 

 its low sweetening power as compared wi"h 

 sugar or honey. 



No one knows how long the war will 



continue. No one can accurately predict 

 just how long the high price of sugar will 

 prevail, whether it will advance, nor how 

 much the advance in sugar will tend to stiff- 

 en the price of honey. But the presumption 

 is that both will rise somewhat; and the 

 housewife, if she has not canned all of her 

 peaches, may substitute a cheap honey. If 

 cane sugar should go up to 15 cents, she 

 could well afford to use even the table ex- 

 tracted honey for canning. 



The logic of the situation seems to indi- 

 cate that beekeepers everywhere in the cou)i- 

 try should get busy in pushing the sale of 

 honey for use in the home, such as sweeten- 

 ing coffee and tea, and for cooking and 

 baking. If we can once get honey intro- 

 duced into homes for domestic purposes its 

 use will continue to a gi-eat extent, even 

 when conditions have resumed their normal. 



Later. — The American Grocer, one of the 

 greatest authorities in the United States on 

 foods, gives in its last issue a lengthy dis- 

 cussion on the production of sugar. It con- 

 firms all we have said above, and then adds 

 this paragrajDh in the way of a summary : 



The march of armies over the beet-fields of Rus- 

 sia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France; the with- 

 drawal of millions of men from industries, will, if 

 long continued, so diminish tlie word's supply as to 

 make it possible that refined sugar may advance to 

 prices ruling here after the civil war, when hard 

 sugars sold above 16 cents a pound. 



In the mean time we learn from a candy- 

 man that the wholesale price on candy is 

 advancing on account of the rise in price 

 of sugar. Candy is a luxury ; and if that 

 can advance, honey, a luxury and a real and 

 necessary food, should advance also. If 

 sugar should go to 15 or 16 cents, all other 

 sweets will necessarily rise. 



isee JUiseaseg toy Meat; 

 This is the title of Bulletin No. 92, by 

 Dr. G. F. White, expert engaged in the in- 

 vestigation of bee diseases, of the United 

 States Department of A-^riculture, Bureau 

 of Entomology. This bulletin will have m .re 

 than ordinary interest and value at tne 

 present time in view of the high price of 

 sugar and the possible and probable substi- 

 tution of cheap honey for fall or winter 

 feeding. Of course it is unsafe to feed any 

 honey coming from an unknown source, on 

 account of the danger of transmitting foul 

 brood ; but all such honeys will be rendered 

 safe by boiling for a certain lengih of time. 

 From page 8 of this bulletin we quote the 

 general summary : 



The results of these experiments show t.hat when 

 they are maintained for ten minutes the minimum 



