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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



made will appear from time to time in the 

 various apiarian journals, and likewise 

 some possible publication of the Depart- 

 ment. Meanwhile the apiarian work of the 

 Department will be in suitable hands, and 

 all inquiries such as have hitherto been ad- 

 dressed there for information should be sent 

 to the Department of Agriculture, Bureau 

 of Entomology. 

 Washington, D. C, May 19. 



UNRIPE HONEY. 



This Subject, until a Few Months ago, Consid- 

 ered Quite Unimportant; Now More and 

 More of Our Intelligent Bee-keep- 

 ers are Seeing the Folly of 

 Such a Practice. 



BY DAN WHITE. 



Now, Mr. Editor, if you will give me room 

 I will say something again. You know I 

 have from time to time been making strong 

 pleas against unripe extracted honey get- 

 ting into our markets. I have tried to show 

 the benefits to be derived if every bee- 

 keeper in the land would do his part in this 

 line; but before going any further I will be 

 honest, and tell you that I've been getting 

 quite a bit of free advertising out of my 

 articles. You remember the article that 

 came out last June, headed "Quality or 

 Quantity." Well, sir, orders came all the 

 way from six to eight hundred miles from 

 here for some of that " Fancy No. 1" honey 

 I claimed to have. I wish you could see the 

 compliments and good words received after 

 these far-off customers got their honey. 

 But I will tell you this much: In every 

 instance the second and third orders came 

 back with the understanding that they look 

 to me for their honey supply in the future. 

 Then, without any solicitation on my part, 

 families club together, as they can get 100 

 pounds by freight as cheap as less weight. 

 But, hold on! if I tell much more you will 

 never allow this in print, giving away all 

 this good advertising, so I will switch off 

 and tell my excuse for writing at this time. 

 Gleanings, for April 15, is before me. On 

 page 416, an article headed "Unripe Ex- 

 tracted Honey," by E. D. Townsend, inspir- 

 ed me. Say. how I would like to shake 

 hands with Mr. T. ! Then here comes Virgil 

 Weaver, on page 297, with his article, ' ' The 

 Production of Extracted Honey," and how 

 to get quantity and quality at the same 

 time. I am just as ready to shake hands 

 with Mr. Weaver— yes, and give him credit 

 for being the first one ever to refer or say 

 one word about my article, "Quantity or 

 Quality." You see I have always been so 

 enthusiastic over quality I lost sight of 

 every thing else, and actually tried to be so 

 outspoken, and almost say mean things on 

 purpose to see if some one would not come 

 back at me. Think of it! Gleanings has 

 been coming to me ever since its second 

 year of existence. Think again! has there 



ever been much said through any of the bee 

 journals concerning this nefarious practice, 

 as Mr. Townsend puts it, of throwing out 

 the unripe stuff, and by some hook or crook 

 palm it off at the regular market price ? 

 What I mean by much never being said, the 

 subject has been one, as I take it, of so 

 little importance, or considered so by the 

 mass of bee-keepers, that they have simply 

 kept still. If we go back twenty years, 

 when, I believe, everybody extracted unripe 

 honey (we seemed to know no better), I was 

 one of the number, but soon learned to know I 

 was doing injustice to myself, was dishonest 

 to my customers, and helping to give extract- 

 ed honey a reputation that would not only 

 deprive me of a home market but do a last- 

 ing injury to the business all over the land. 

 I was just as outspoken some twenty years 

 ago as to-day on this subject, and tried to 

 say something through the bee papers; but. 

 sir, they came back at me by the dozen with 

 arguments in favor of thin extracted honey, 

 and various ways of ripening, evaporating, 

 and curing the stuff ready for market. Was 

 there any one to take sides with me at that 

 time? No, sir; I tell you. the way I was 

 handled caused me to feel for years after 

 like a kernel of wheat in a bushel of cockle. 



The very first encouragement from any 

 one was a few years ago when the editor of 

 Gleanings was ready, and has been out- 

 spoken on this line. Now, here come two 

 new recruits in print, and I believe we are 

 about ready to prove to everybody interested 

 in extracted honey that it is their duty to do 

 every thing in their power to help repair the 

 most radical wrong that could possibly hap- 

 pen to the industry. 



Much has been said in print and at bee- 

 keepers' conventions about educating the 

 people to buy and eat honey. Are we going 

 to keep on talking and trying to educate the 

 millions whom we expect to consume our 

 products, or shall we turn our attention to 

 the few thousand honey-producers and try 

 to educate them ? How different it would 

 be if honey were a food that people have to 

 buy, like meat, milk, and many other arti- 

 cles of diet ! The authorities would have 

 looked up the dishonest part of it, and en- 

 acted laws to protect the people long ago. 

 Supply and demand make the price on 

 almost any thing. If people buy honey that 

 just suits them they not only buy again, but 

 they take special pains to speak of it to 

 their friends and neighbors— yes, and even if 

 it is the right quality, and extracted honey, 

 they will put it on the table for their visit- 

 ors. But if they buy honey they do not like 

 they can hardly be persuaded to buy again; 

 and if any thing is said about it to neighbors 

 and friends it will not be words that will 

 persuade them to buy. Can any one imag- 

 ine the. damaging effects on the one side that 

 have been going on for years? Then, on the 

 other hand, had nothing but a high grade of 

 honey ever got into our markets, I for one 

 can imagine, at least, that the supply of to- 

 day would not equal the demand, and our 

 product would be bringing better prices. I 



