THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



discussion, but as to taking the " mat- 

 ter in hand," I am glad the Michigan 

 convention did no such thing. For 

 such a scheme, if undertaken, would 

 surely fail. The " bee-keepers from 

 a distance," and there are multitiidet 

 of them, could never be reached by 

 such an organization, and if they 

 could, no purauasion would induce 

 them to join it. All such combina- 

 tions are, in their nature, monopolies, 

 and opposed to public policy ; and no 

 monopolies are so odious as those 

 which seek to make scarce and dear 

 the food products of the world. We 

 have too much of this monopoly busi- 

 ness in this country now, and this, 

 with the most bare-faced class-legisla- 

 tion has brought many an honest 

 toiler to penury and want. 



Three-fourths of the food products 

 of the world are consumed by the 

 toiling poor, and if the products of 

 our apiaries ever attain to the dignity 

 of a prime necessity, it must be with- 

 in the reach of tne humblest toiler. 

 And whether we like it or not, this is 

 the tendency, of the honey markets 

 to-day. 



With prime extracted honey, in 

 Chicago, at 5 to 7 cents per pound, 

 and in other cities from 3 to 4 cents ; 

 and prime sugar from 5 to 6 cents per 

 pound, and with the increased pro- 

 duction of sorghum., how is it possible 

 to advance prices by a combination V 

 The tendency certainly is to still 

 lower prices. Shall our honey be a 

 necessity on the table of the poor, or 

 only a luxury for the rich 'i This is 

 the conundrum which the " combined 

 wisdom of apiarists " is called upon 

 to solve. 



God, in his good providence, has 

 filled His flowers with the precious 

 nectar, with a lavish hand. He in- 

 tended that honey should be plenty, 

 and cheap. With our improved pro- 

 cesses and fixtures, and increasing 

 knowledge of the nature of the honey- 

 bee, there is practically no limit to 

 the production of honey. There is 

 now an hundred-fold more honey 

 produced than 25 years ago, and it is 

 safe to assume that this increased 

 production will go on in an acceler- 

 ated ratio. And you, Mr. Editor, are 

 doing your utmost through your most 

 excellent paper, to help on this in- 

 creasing production, and thus aiding 

 a kind Providence in supplying His 

 poor with this precious food. It is 

 surprising, therefore, to find you in 

 opposition to your life work, by advo- 

 cating a scheniie to make scarce and 

 dear that which God intended should 

 be plentiful and cheap. 



Allegan, 9 Mich. 



[We desired to have this matter 

 fully " discussed." Bro. Tomlinson 

 has presented his view of the ques- 

 tion very clearly. Some are present- 

 ing " the other side " quite forcibly ; 

 while others express their " doubts." 

 We simply outlined a plan for such 

 organization, if it was decided to have it 

 formed— hut strenuously advocated a 

 thorough discicssion of the merits of 

 the subject before any move was 

 made. We are Jilways on the side of 



the honey-producer, in any measure 

 which is proposed in the interest of 

 the pursuit ; and it would, indeed, be 

 " surprising " not only to our Bro. 

 Tomlinson, but to ourself, to find us 

 in " opposition " to our " life work." 

 But such is not the case by any means, 

 except as vainly imagined by Bro. 

 Tomlinson.— £d. J 



For the AmencaQ Bee JounmL 



Flavor of Honey, its Recommenilation. 



W. E. KOGARDUS. 



On page 760 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1886, is an article entitled, " Adul- 

 terating Comb and Liquid Honey." It 

 was written for the American Grocer, 

 to inform the subscribers of that 

 paper about the honey they buy and 

 sell. The writer assumes that ex- 

 tracted honey is no longer adulterated 

 with glucose ; that glucose is more 

 likely to be adulterated with honey. 



A traveling grocer sells a good deal 

 of honey for me. Last year, he sold 

 both comb and liquid ; this year I have 

 limited him to comb honey, having, 

 comparatively, but little liquid honey, 

 only that which I extracted from im- 

 perfect sections. Sometime ago I 

 told him that he would find a case of 

 honey ready for him at my house. 

 " By the way," said he, " can't you 

 let me have some extracted honey V I 

 bought some in New York the last 

 time I was there. They may talk to 

 me about their cheap honey !" Then, 

 with a change of countenance and a 

 shrug of the shoulders, and a tone of 

 voice expressive of deep disgust, he 

 added: " But, my gracious ! it hasn't 

 any taste at all. There's a bottle of 

 it ! It looks beautiful, as nice as 

 yours, but I want no more of it. I 

 shall get rid of this as soon as 

 possible." 



Its appearance was certainly in- 

 viting. I glanced at tlie natne of the 

 firm, and wondered what it was V It 

 reminded me of some corn-syrup 

 which I saw a few years ago at a cer- 

 tain dealer's in New York, in which 

 there floated a comb of white clover 

 honey. I was told it was on exhibi- 

 tion because it promoted the sale of 

 genuine honey. A novice without 

 the guidance of an expert, would 

 have preferred it. It was not neces- 

 sary for me to say anything to the 

 grocer, except that I would try to 

 supply him. 



A druggist in Paterson said that 

 he once manufactured some liquid 

 honey, in which there was not a drop 

 of the real article, and sent it to New 

 l''ork to be tested. It was pronounced 

 genuine. Naturally, and justly, that 

 verdict destroyed his confidence in 

 their extracted honey. 



Now as to comb honey : Of course 

 that cannot be changed after it leaves 

 the apiarist, and, therefore, must be 

 pure, unless the bees were fed sugar 

 or glueose. But there is a great dif- 

 ference in the taste of the varieties of 

 so-called white clover honey. Beauti- 

 ful white honey,in profuse abundance, 



is retailed here at 18 cents per pound, 

 and yet there are grocers who pay me 

 for prime sections, 20 cents per pound 

 at wholesale, because, as they say, 

 they have customers who will buy no 

 other. 



A gentleman from New York called 

 this fall to purchase honey. He was 

 a last winter's customer. Said he : 

 " Recently I bought some very nice 

 looking honey in New York as a pres- 

 sent for some friends in the country, 

 whom I was visiting. I was disap- 

 pointed, for it was so far inferior to 

 your honey in flavor. I have a nephew 

 In Paterson who purchased a ton of 

 nice looking comb honey in Western 

 New Y'ork, at 12 cents per pound, 

 which he retails at 18 cents, but it 

 does not suit me." He paid me 2.5 

 cents per pound, and was perfectly 

 satisfied. 



I do not, of course, question the 

 honesty of apiarists, knowing that no 

 sweets enter my hives but those 

 which the bees gather from natural 

 sources. The yield of honey in this 

 section is not so large as in some 

 other sections, but I doubt whether 

 the quality can be excelled ; and cer- 

 tainly that should count for some- 

 thing. The price of honey, evidently, 

 should be graded as far as possible, 

 not simply according to appearance, 

 but far more according to flavor. 



Oakland, 6 N. J. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Disturliiiig Bees in Winter, etc. 



DR. A. B. MASON. 



Having been so universally success- 

 ful in wintering my bees for so many 

 winters, it may not be uninteresting 

 to some to learn of some of my bad 

 " luck." I have thought of it when- 

 ever I have read or heard it said that 

 disturbing bees in winter was a bene- 

 fit to them. Such has not been my 

 experience. 



In November, 1883, my bees were 

 placed in the cellar, which was under 

 the kitchen. The hives were piled in 

 tiers, live high, one end of the pile 

 being under a door that we came in 

 at from out-doors, and of course more 

 or less stamping of the feet to remove 

 snow was done here. The top of the 

 upper tier of hives was not more than 

 a foot from the floor, and were only 

 covered with a honey-quilt. I no- 

 ticed, sometime after the snow came 

 to stay, that there was a large num- 

 ber of dead bees on the cellar-bottom, 

 and I began to look for the cause. 

 One evening, while removing dead 

 bees from the entrances of the hives, 

 some one entered the kitchen door 

 above, stamping on the floor, and the 

 bees under the door gave a very 

 thorough buzz at every stamp, and 

 the buzzing was less and less intense 

 as the colonies were further from the 

 door ; the bottom tiers under the door 

 not being disturbed at all. If the 

 stamping was continued for a little 

 while some of the bees would put in 

 an appearance at tlie entrance. A 

 few of the hives were entirely emptied 

 of bees, and many more colonies were 

 very materially weakened. 



