1500 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CILTURE. 



Dec. 1 



A HONEY EXHIBIT IN AUSTRALIA. 



—From the Agricultural Gazette, N. S. 'Ff. 



on this subject, we sent these questions to 

 him. His reply is as follows. — Ed.] 



DR. miller's reply. 



Yes, this matter was fully emphasized in a 

 leaflet issued several years ago, of which 

 many thousand copies have been published, 

 in which it was said: "Besides the various 

 disorders of the alimentary canal, that dread 

 scourge, Bright's disease of the kidneys, is 

 credited with being one of the results of svi- 

 gar-eating. When cane sugar is taken into 

 the stomach it can not be assimilated until 

 first changed by digestion into grape sugar. 

 Only too often the overtaxed stomach fails to 

 perform this digestion properly; then comes 

 sour stomach and various dyspeptic phases 

 . . . Now, in the wonderful lalDoratory of 

 the bee-hive is found a sweet that needs no 

 further digestion, having been prepared fully 

 by those wonderful chemists — the bees — for 

 prompt assimilation without taxing stomach 

 or kidneys. As Prof. Cook says: 'There can 

 be no doubt but that, in eating honey, our 

 digestive machinery is saved work that it 

 would have to perform if we ate cane sugar; 

 and in case it is overtaxed and feeble, this 

 may be just the respite that will save from a 

 breakdown.' " 



When these remarks were written, the av- 

 erage annual consumption of sugar for every 

 man, woman, and child in the United States 

 was about 60 pounds. Now it is abr ut 65 



pounds — an increase of 8 per cent. Do not 

 make the mistake of thinking that that in- 

 ci'eases the danger of sugar-eating only 8 per 

 cent. The danger-increase is much more 

 than that; for up to a certain amount there 

 is no danger in eating sugar. It is the ex- 

 cess beyond that certain amount which plays 

 the mischief. It is doubtful that auy one can 

 say just where lies the danger-line; but for 

 the sake of illustration let us suppose that 55 

 pounds may be consumed annually with safe- 

 ty. Then when 60 pounds were consumed 

 annually, the danger lay in the 5 pounds of 

 excess. Now, when 65 is the annual rate, 

 the excess beyond a safe amount is 10 pounds, 

 making the danger just 100 per cent greater 

 than it was when the excess was 5 pounds. 



Another thing may be worth considering. 

 It is saitl that the excess consumed is not even- 

 ly distributed. That is, each man, woman, 

 and child does not consume exactly 65 pounds 

 annually. Some, especially of the poor, may 

 eat much less than that; and to make up for 

 this deficit some must eat much more. Es- 

 pecially are the heavy consumers likely to be 

 among the rich and the well-to-do middle 

 classes who can well afford to pay the higher 

 price for the more delicious and entirely 

 wholesome sweet — honey. 



If bee-keepers could unite upon a campaign 

 of advertising, it would be not only a matter 

 of profit to themselves, but a matter of gain 



