1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



85 



goods. It ought to be remembered, also, 

 this same thing is taking place all over the 

 entire country. In sympathy with this move- 

 ment the honey market has experienced a 

 lirmer tone, and the end is not yet in sight. 



Honey is still much too cheap. It behooves 

 every bee-keeper to see that the law is en- 

 forced in his locality by being ready and 

 willing to assist the government officials in 

 gathering evidence; and as there is a force 

 of at least half a million bee-keepers in this 

 country the law should not lack for help. 



Mr. Dadant, in the article referred to, calls 

 attention to a fact not generally realized — 

 that the sugar interests would work with us, 

 as they too have suffered from adulteration 

 as we have. 



In Florida the makers of genuine cane syr- 

 up are already experiencing a benefit from 

 the new national pure-food law, it is said. 

 If the Hepburn law does not fully protect the 

 consumer in every respect we may rest as- 

 sured legislation will soon be provided which 

 will. The new law is a wedge, and a big 

 one, without doubt. 



THE NEW PURE- FOOD LAVT AS VIEWED BY 



TWO OF THE LARGEST BUYERS OF HONEY 



IN THE UNITED STATES; THE DANGER 



OF SENDING OUT UNRIPE HONEY 



UNDER THE LAW. 



Messrs. R. A. Burnett & Co., of Chicago, 

 and Hildreth & Segelken, of New York, 

 are probably two of the largest honey-deal- 

 ers, if not the largest, in the United States. 

 A few days ago we wrote them, requesting 

 their opinion as to the general effect of the 

 new national pure-food law on the honey 

 business — whether or not it would advance 

 prices, etc. The following are their replies. 

 They will speak for themselves: 



Gentlemen: — You ask for our opinion concerning- the 

 national pure-food law. It will take some time to get 

 it enforced. The tricky people will find some way of 

 evading it for a time, but eventually it must be of 

 great benefit to the nation; and as to the sale of hon- 

 ey, in our judgment it will at least not hinder it; but 

 if the bee-keepers will let their honey ripen before 

 taking it off the hives it will do more than any law 

 passed in furthering its consumption. 



R. A. Burnett & Co. 



Bear Sir; — We have always been in favor of a na- 

 tional pure-food law. The present law may not be 

 perfect in every detail, but as a whole we consider it 

 fair and just. It certainly is not calculated to injure 

 those who comply with its provisions, but, on the con- 

 trary, they will be benefited by its enactment. 



As to its effect on honey, we firmly believe that the 

 enforcement of this law will greatly aid the sale of 

 honey; in fact, we think that from now on only pure 

 goods will find sale, for, to comply with the law, in- 

 ferior or adulterated goods must be labeled according- 

 ly, and this we think will stop the sale of them; there- 

 fore pure goods, in all probability, will bring better 

 prices. Consumers, as well as manufacturers, should 

 be found willing to pay the advance, as they will have 

 a guarantee that they are getting the genuine article. 

 HiLDBETH & Segelken. 



Mr. Burnett is apparently more conserva- 

 tive in his opinion than Messrs. Hildreth & 

 Segelken. We wish, however, to draw at- 

 tention to the importance of his last sentence. 

 There are some old veterans in the business 

 who may take off their honey before it is en- 

 tirely (;apped or ripened in the combs; but 



the average bee-keeper, at least, had better 

 let the bees do their own ripening. The 

 suggestion of Mr. Burnett is a very good 

 one, especially as unripe honey on the 

 market will suggest adulteration, even if it 

 does not make the producer of it actually 

 liable under the new law. We should be 

 a little fearful, at least, that some chemist 

 would declare some unripe honey as adul- 

 terated, and it might be very difficult for the 

 producer to prove his innocence of the 

 charge. All bee-keepers, therefore, had bet- 

 ter err on the safe side by seeing to it that 

 all honey shipped from their yards is thor- 

 oughly ripened, with a good body and first- 

 class flavor for the kind of honey sold. 



It is well to remember that the U. S. stan- 

 dard for honey allows only 25 per cent -of 

 water, and any in excess of this would ccr- 

 tai7ily be construed as an adulteration. Pro- 

 ducers generally should "paste this in their 

 hats." 



DEATH OF THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. 



We are very sorry to annoiince the death, 

 on Dec. 80, of the President of the British 

 Bee-ke'epers' Association, the Baroness Coutts, 

 of London, England, whose loss will be 

 severely felt by the bee-keepers of Great 

 Britain, as she for many years was a sort of pa- 

 tron saint of bee-keeping over there. She was 

 one of the most famous women of the 19th cen- 

 tury, and, besides, was the bosom friend of 

 Queen Victoria. Her name originally was 

 Miss Georgina Burdett. Her father was an 

 English statesman who sided with the plain 

 people, though very wealthy himself. His 

 daughter ihnerited his wealth, also that of 

 her uncle, Thomas Coutts, a great banker of 

 London. At the age of 23 she received as 

 her portion $10,000,000 in gold, weighing 14 

 tons, and with it the great Coutts bank of 

 London. The first thing she did with her 

 money was to look up Charles Dickens and 

 with him go around relieving the poverty of 

 the London poor, doing every thing possible 

 to help them along. She established the 

 National Society for the Protection of Chil- 

 dren; also the Destitute Children's Society, 

 for which she provided 300,000 dinners *a 

 year. She founded quite a nnmlier of tech- 

 nical schools of all kinds. She aided starv- 

 ing Russian and Turkish ai-mies. and endow- 

 ed three colonial bishoprics in English colo- 

 nies. She founded colonies in Canada, ant! 

 offered to furnish the means to relieve Gen- 

 eral Gordon, imprisoned In Khartoum. She 

 financed a society to encourage poor persons 

 to keep milch goats. She opened fiahing- 

 schools in Ireland. In fact, she was one 

 of the greatest philanthropists of our age. 

 She was born April 21, 1814, and was, 

 therefore, 93 years of age at her death. 

 When over sixty she married a brilliant 

 young American, Mr. Ashmead Bartlett, 

 who assumed the name of Burdett-Coutts, 

 and became a member of the House of Com- 

 mons. Needless to say, the Baroness Coutts 

 was idolized by the English people, and well 

 they might. Her like we do not see very 

 often. 



