Vol. XV 



MAY, 1905. 



No. 5 



SIXTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



By W. J. DAVIS, 1st. 



THIRD LETTER— Continued from Page 68, April Number. 



V FOOLISH story started by a 

 "Prof." that comb honey was 

 produced by the artificial con- 

 ruction of combs from paraffine, fill- 

 1 with glucose and capped over By 

 achinery and done so nicely as not 

 ' be detected as a work of art, has 

 locked many dollars from the ledger 

 the honest bee-keeper. But he, the 

 oresaid Professor, after years of 

 idgeling by the different bee papers 

 lally admitted it was only a scientific 

 easantry, like the manufacture of 

 tificial eggs — a proposition too ab- 

 rd for belief by any one. 

 Another '"Professor," a lover of the 

 es, has taught that honey is nothing 

 !t digested nectar, and I suppose he 

 Duld give all the bees he has, if he 

 s any, and his book too, to prove 

 is scientifically correct. I would 

 ggest a more appropriate term to be 

 laporated nectar. I know of no 

 "getable product that when digested 

 1 any animal is good for any pur- 

 ise but to enrich the soil. With 

 ;out 999 out of a thousand persons 

 t; term "digested nectar," will pro- 

 cce a very imcomfortable sensation 

 ( the stomach. But, fortunately for 

 (r business, but few believe such 

 Eifif; and all such teaching, whether 

 t (would-be) friend or foe, militates 

 aiinst the sale of honey, which I 

 1 ieve to be the purest sweet known 

 i table use. The Hon. Mr. Whit- 



I 



comb, of Nebraska, once said: "There 

 is more nutriment in a pound of honey 

 than in two pounds of beefsteak and 

 more medicines than you can buy at 

 any drug store for half a dollar." 

 Small things often efifect wondrous 

 results. 



Honey is mentioned 28, and honey 

 comb nine times in the Bible, and 

 sugar not once. The manufacture of 

 glucose has also been detrimental 

 to honey producers. A sweet that can 

 be manufactured and sold by retail at 

 two or three cents per pound will have 

 buyers, no matter if not the healthiest 

 food. 



Another hindrance has been the 

 way some bee-keepers dispose of 

 their honey. I had succeeded in build- 

 ing up a good trade in my home mark- 

 et, but farmers having a few stocks of 

 bees and producing a little honey to 

 sell would bring it to town and sell 

 to our grocers at just what they chose 

 to give, perhaps about 2-3 what I 

 was selling at. It might be a good 

 article of honey, but poorly prepared 

 for market and hence not very at- 

 tractive. You can readily see the ef- 

 fect of one such sale. It virtually sets 

 the price, at least for a time, and the 

 man who makes a specialty of produc- 

 ing honey is put to a disadvantage. 

 No wrong intended on the part of the 

 small bee-keeper, yet an absolute 

 wrong is done. The only remedy for 



