1074 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



case of a slightly diseased colony, is not so 

 great in practice as it is in theory. 



It would appear to me that, where there 

 is foul brood in the locality of an extracting 

 apiary, the need of the excluder would in- 

 crease in proportion as the bee-keeper was 

 incautious or lacked experience. In the case 

 of such a bee-keeper, the excluder v/ould be 

 apt to confine the disease to the colony or 

 colonies where it first appeared, until such a 

 time as it would become well enough devel- 

 oped to show even a casual observer that 

 there was something wrong. It is not an 

 uncommon thing for foul brood to be present 

 in a colony through the first season after in- 

 oculation, and show but a few diseased cells. 

 Such colonies are dangerous ones if combs 

 containing brood are extracted from. 



York, Neb. 



[I had decided I would not take any hand 

 in this controversy, believing that our read- 

 ers are perfectly capable of drawing their 

 own conclusions after reading both sides; 

 but I think we may all agree on this: To use 

 queen-excluders in every extracting-yard 

 where foul brood is to some extent, and to ex- 

 tract from no colony (either upper or lower 

 story) where the disease is known to exist, 

 even when there are only three or four dis- 

 eased cells. Such a policy would eliminate 

 to a great extent the chances of getting the 

 trouble.— Ed.] 



CREATING A MARKET FOR HONEY. 



some Pertinent Suggestions ; Why Not Create 



a Bee-show, to be Held in New York or 



Chicago, or both? a Valuable Article. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Of all the knotty questions that have aris- 

 en in the last few years to perplex bee- 

 keepers, none is more important than this. 

 Some of the bee-keeping fraternity who 

 live far from the madding crowd in cities 

 may not realize just how much the exist- 

 ence of the bee-keeping industry is threat- 

 ened by what is known as the comb-honey 

 lie and similar attacks; but I think we are 

 justified in saying it would be only a ques- 

 tion of time when the bee-keeper's occupa- 

 tion would cease to exist. Just consider the 

 situation for a moment. There are fortunes 

 in glucose-making if the people can be fool- 

 ed into eating it; and any one knows there 

 are no fortunes likely to be made in keeping 

 bees; so there is a big stake up for the glu- 

 cose people, and only a living for us. The 

 industry of making jelly and jam has been 

 rendered almost non-existent by the glucose 

 mixtures, and the same can be done with 

 bee-keeping. The comb-honey lie would cut 

 a poor figure if it were not for the fact that 

 the people are aware of the common use of 

 glucose as an adulterant, and steer clear of 

 it as far as possible. 



For fear some one will think I am stretch- 

 ing the truth, let me add a word or two 

 about other industries. Some time ago the 



dairy industry of the United States was 

 threatened with dire disaster if the manu- 

 facture of oleo was not curbed in some way, 

 and only drastic legislation by congress 

 saved the day, but not before the United 

 States lost a valuable trade with Europe in 

 butter and cheese. It will be a long time 

 before the United States regains that trade. 

 Over in Canada, where no oleo is allowed to 

 be made, they have a magnificent European 

 trade in butter and cheese. Comment is su- 

 perfluous. Quite a number of trades are 

 weakened by the evil of adulteration or spu- 

 rious imitation. Some of the finest old dyes 

 have been pushed aside by the inferior ani- 

 line colors. Indigo, for example, has ceased 

 to be profitable; so has vanilla culture been 

 curtailed because artificial vanilla is cheap- 

 er. It does not make much difference if the 

 cheaper stuff kills a few victims so long as _ 

 it is cheaper; besides, the manufacture and 

 sale of these inferior goods offers a far 

 greater opportunity of making a fortune for 

 some one. I can cite a familiar instance 

 which shows very weil what I mean. There 

 are two kinds of butter-color sold in the 

 United States, one made from an aniline 

 source, the other from annatto, a fruit grown 

 in tropical countries. Despite the fact that 

 deaths have been traced to the use of this 

 aniline color in butter, and that it is no 

 cheaper than the other kind, it still contin- 

 ues on the market. Probably there is more 

 money in selling the artificial kind. But M 

 what is more convincing still is the fact that ■ 

 the intelligent thinking people of all coun- * 

 tries are now most studiously avoiding any 

 thing and every thing that savors of adul- 

 teration. They fight shy of honey, and with 

 good reason, for they see that it can readily 

 be adulterated. They have been told, too, 

 by the newspapers that comb honey is an 

 artificial production, and they simply won't 

 buy it. 'The fact is, they are afraid of be- 

 ing poisoned with a concoction of glucose 

 and paraffine. Can you really blame them ? 

 It was recently stated by an authority that 

 600,000 people (mostly children) lost their 

 lives annually by the use of deleterious food 

 in civilized countries, so they have abundant 

 reason for being afraid of spurious foods. 



How shall we convince the public that the 

 bee-keepers' profession is not built on 

 fraud ? Simply by showing the public our 

 way of doing business. Some one has sug- 

 gested advertising; but our enemies can do 

 more of that than we can. I say, do not 

 spend a single cent on advertising. The great- 

 est frauds in the world do lots of advertising. 

 The poultry industry can show us just what 

 can be done. The great shows of poultry in 

 New York and other large centers have had 

 a splendid effect on the trade at large. Peo- 

 ple have been educated into knowing what 

 good poultry is like, and otherwise taught 

 what to call for when going to the poultry- 

 stand in the market. 



Some time ago the horse market was 

 "slow;" but the horse-shows promoted in 

 the large cities created a great desire in 

 many people to own a really fine horse, and 



