DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PllODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., DECEMBER 3, 1884. 



No. 49. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EDiTOF AND Proprietor. 



Build up your Home Markets. 



This, we verily believe, is the best 

 advice that can be given to apiarists 

 generally. There should be a steady 

 and growing demand for lioney in 

 every locality in America, no matter 

 whether it be a large or small place. 



The large markets are well supplied 

 with honey, while in the smaller ones 

 it is often a very scarce article. This 

 should not be the case when the honey 

 is produced in the country. Just think 

 of it ! The country merchants in all 

 the Western States are continually 

 ordering honey, both eomb and ex- 

 tracted, from the wholesale grocers 

 of Chicago, and thus it has to be 

 shipped ticice when none would be 

 necessary, if every home market were 

 kept well supplied by the producers 

 near it. 



Let every honey-producer see to it 

 that all the towns in his immediate 

 vicinity are well supplied with good 

 honey, put up in attractive packages, 

 and this will in a great measure 

 remedy the evil, and keep prices up 

 to a paying basis. The Indiana Farmer 

 of last week has the following which 

 is just to the point : 



We are strongly impressed with the 

 idea that this is one of the most im- 

 portant subjects now before the bee- 

 keepers of this country, and we feel 

 very much like keeping the sentence 

 standing at the head of our Apiary 

 Column, a persistent reminder that in 

 our home markets rests our best s\ic- 

 cess. Our California advices report 

 that large lots of fine honey are 

 being sold there as low as three cents 

 per pound. This is much lower than 

 it can be produced with anything like 

 profit, and shows that something is 

 woefully wrong. There is some 

 remedy for all this, and we are fully 



impre.ssed with the idea that the very 

 first step towards remedying the evil 

 is to see that our home markets are 

 fully supplied. There are thousands 

 of people in this grand country of 

 ours who have never eaten such honey 

 as we are able to offer them at the 

 present time, that would become reg- 

 ular consumers, if once induced to 

 make a purchase. This matter is not 

 theoretical with us. Besides we know 

 personally of parties who dispose of 

 good crops of lioney at a fair price, 

 among their neighbors, while others 

 do not try to dispose of a pound at 

 home, but seek a large market at a 

 loss to themselves. 



The example has been often record- 

 ed, how an enterprising bee-keeper 

 has built up a local trade which is not 

 only lucrative, but a steady thing, 

 year after year ; and when we think 

 of the saving of freight rates and 

 breakages, does it not pay well to look 

 after the home markets ? Just think 

 of it ! Five hundred or a thousand 

 Leaflets with the producers name and 

 address on them [would sell tons of 

 honey every year in almost any neigh- 

 borhood. Try it, and astonish your- 

 selves with the result ! The only ne- 

 cessity is to have good honey in at- 

 tractive packages, and energy enough 

 to push the sale and make the market. 



Ignorance About Honey. 



^° We have received a copy of an 

 excellent agricultural work entitled 

 "How THE Farm Pays," published 

 by Peter IIenderson;& Co., 3-5 and 37 

 Cortland Street, New York. It is a 

 volume of over 400 pages, being well 

 bound, extensively illustrated, and 

 nicely printed on good paper, and de- 

 serves a position in every well regu- 

 lated farm-house in the laud. All 

 should study it wlio are endeavoring 

 to make farming a success, as it 

 treats thorougly and practically of the 

 various important subjects which 

 should engage the earnest attention 

 of every progressive farmer. 



^" The Michigan State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will meet in the 

 Senate Chamber of the State Capitol 

 on December 10 and 11, 1S84. 



The ignorance of the public con- 

 cerning honey is astonishing, when 

 we consider the efforts being put forth 

 to instruct them concerning it. la 

 the Prairie Farmer, ]SIrs. L. Harrison 

 gives the following illustrations of 

 this ignorance : 



A lady called this morning saying 

 that she wanted to buy some comb 

 honey to make a wash for the baby's 

 mouth. The Doctor had told her that 

 she must not buy it at a drug store, 

 but get it in the comb and strain it. 

 This looks as if the Doctor thought 

 the drugsrore honey was adulterated. 

 I showed her some extracted honey, 

 telling her it was pure, but she shook 

 her head saying " the Doctor told me 

 to get comb honey and • strain ' it my- 

 self." 



Yesterday, an Irish woman who has 

 a few colonies of bees called, and said 

 that she could not sell her honey, be- 

 cause the stores were so full of that 

 white stuff in little frames, that is 

 made in Chicago. " Shure, indade, 

 the comb is made and filled with glu- 

 cose, and then sealed with a hot iron." 

 It appears that the " scientific pleas- 

 antry " of Prof, W. is widely dissem- 

 inated. All bee-keepers, and those 

 who have ever worked with wax, 

 know that to thus fill and seal is an 

 impossibility, and yet when tliis state- 

 ment was made by a learned profes- 

 sor, it had the run of all the papers. 



1^ The Sugar Bowl and Farm Jour- 

 nal contains a very complimentary 

 notice of the apiary and business of 

 Dr. Paul L. Viallon at Bayou Goula, 

 La. It says : 



Just as you enter Bayou Goula, you 

 observe a liome-like cottage, embow- 

 ered among trees, a croquet ground at 

 the side, and back of this, some large 

 new buildings to themselves. As you 

 enter the apiary grounds you find per- 

 fect order and an easy metliod for the 

 management of those little "stingers" 

 and useful "busy-bodies." Four hun- 

 dred colonies of bees and 200 nuclei 

 for queens comprise the industrious 

 settlement. 



^" For two subscribers for the 

 Weekly Bee Jourkal (or S for the 

 Monthly) for one year, we will present 

 a Pocket Dictionary, and send it by 

 mail postpaid. 



