March, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



147 





LFROM THE'-FIELD'OF EXPERIE 



PROTEST AGAINST ELIMINATION 



Why Honey Labels Should Retain the Words 

 "Pure Honey." 



In December Gleanings, page 797, C. M. 

 Elfer makes some radical statements in re- 

 gard to using the words "pure honey" on 

 labels and advertising. While we agree 

 with him that it is not necessary, so far as 

 proving the purity of the honey, or so far as 

 the pure food law is concerned, we do not 

 agree with him that all labels bearing the 

 words "pure honey" should be destroyed, 

 and that these words should be "eliminat- 

 ed," if some beekeepers have good reasons 

 for using them, and choose to do so. 



While we do not know how Mr. Elfer sells 

 his honey, we can make a close guess that 

 he does not sell it to a mail-order trade 

 scattered over a good many States, or else 

 he would not make some of the statements 

 he does. We have scattered 23,000 pounds 

 of honey this season to this kind of trade, 

 and have been shipping our honey to this 

 trade for the past 8 or 10 years, dealing 

 with all kinds of people. Many of them 

 know little about honey, and much less 

 about the pure food law and what it re- 

 quires. We have been trying in all these 

 years to educate our customers along these 

 lines as best we could, and believe we have 

 done considerable good; but I am afraid we 

 shall not live long enough to have the coast 

 clear for the next generation. 



When we do not put the words "pure 

 honey" in our advertisements, this is a 

 sample of what we get: "Is your honey 

 pure? Does it have any peculiar flavors 

 other than honey? We want to buy some 

 honey, but want it pure with no peculiar 

 flavors other than honey." Another from 

 an old customer: "Is your honey pure? I 

 liave been under the impression that it was, 

 but wanted it straight from you. Some here 

 have wanted to know." These two letters 

 are a sample of many we get when these 

 two ' ' hackneyed ' ' expressions are left out 

 of the advertising, and off the label. 



In selling honey to the mail-order trade 

 there is a great amount of correspondence 

 to be taken care of at best, and having had 

 quite a little experience with this trade, we 

 have become pretty well acquainted with 

 the usual questions asked, and endeavor to 

 cover the ground as much as possible in our 

 advertising and price lists in order to cut 

 out all unnecessary letter-writing, and these 

 two words "pure honey" would be about 

 the last to be eliminated from our adver- 

 tising, etc. They have saved us many dol- 

 lars in postage, stationery, and time. While 

 they may not be necessary to prove the 

 purity of our honey, they are essential in 



our business to save time and money. Very 

 much depends on the trade one sells to as 

 to what is required on labels, and in ad- 

 vertising. If one is selling honey to cus- 

 tomers whom he can meet face to face, 

 many of these little things can be explain- 

 ed, and soon one has them educated along 

 lines that would take far too much time 

 and expense by correspondence. 



If there is any question asked more than 

 another by new customers in our honey 

 trade it is the question as to whether it is 

 pure, and when we know this, and know that 

 these two little words put together save us 

 both time and money, we would consider it 

 poor business policy not to use them. 



We believe, Mr. Elfer, if you could look 

 over our mail in one season, and read some 

 of the letters we get, that you would at 

 least modify your opinion, if not change it 

 completely, and incidentally do some smil- 

 ing. W. S. Pangburn. 



Center Junction, la. 



«= 



BEE HU NTING IN 1720 



A Unique Account of the Method Used by Our 

 Forefathers 



The following article is a reprint of an 

 article originally published in Latin by the 

 Royal Society in 1720. It was afterwards 

 translated into English, and I am indebted 

 to the Curator of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia for this copy. The 

 Royal Society is an association founded in 

 London in 1660 for the advancement of 

 science. It has always held the foremost 

 place among such societies in England. One 

 of its principal publications is ' ' The Philo- 

 sophical Transactions." This paper on Bee 

 Hunting is here reproduced word for word 

 with no change in the lettering, punctua- 

 tion, or quaint mode of expression. Altho 

 written two centuries ago, these directions 

 for finding "where the bees hive in the 

 woods ' ' are not very different from those 

 which would be followed by the modern bee- 

 hunter, when engaged in this fascinating 

 pursuit. 



AV AOCOTJNT OF A NEW METHOD IN NEW ENGLAND 

 KOK DTSnOVERTNO WHERE THE REES HTVE IN 

 THE WOODS, IN ORDER TO GET THEIR HONEY; 

 BY MR. niTDLEY. ROYAL SOCIETY, PHILOSOPHI- 

 CAL TRANSACTIONS, No. 3G7, A. D. 1720. 



Thd hunter in a clear sunshiny day takes a plate 

 or trencher with a little sugar, honey or molasses, 

 spread thereon; and when he gets into the woods, 

 ho sots it down on a rock or stump: This the bees 

 soon find out; for, it is generally supposed, that a 

 bee will smell honey or wax at above a mile's dis- 

 tance. In a box or other conveniency the hunter 

 secures one or more of the bees, as they fill them- 

 selves; and after a little time, he lets one of them 

 go, (for when one goes home from the sugar plate, 



