THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



631 



tain elements of the food, as the most 

 eminent authorities maintain, then it 

 is absolutely certain that for six or 

 eight months of the year in this 

 climate, there is no more wholesome 

 or necessary food than pure honey. 

 True, in our ordinary dietary we can 

 get the necessary heat-forming ma- 

 terials from other sources, but we also 

 get iit the same time from these other 

 sources disease-producing impurities 

 —fat pork, for instance, and other 

 oleaginous substances so common on 

 our tables. The conclusion is, there- 

 fore, as plain as it is logical, that 

 during the seasons of autumn, winter, 

 and spring in these latitudes, honey 

 is the very best food of its class which 

 we can get. Let there be less pork, 

 butter, and the dirty, unwholesome 

 syrups used in the families of our 

 land, and more honey, and the certain 

 result will be the greatly improved 

 health of the people. Sickness and 

 the common ailments of life will be 

 greatly diminished. Considering the 

 relative wholesomeness, purity, and 

 nutritive properties, pure extracted 

 honey is much cheaper as a regular 

 article of diet than pork or the aver- 

 age quality of market butter at the 

 same price. 



In nature's materia medica, honey 

 has also valuable properties as a cura- 

 tive agent. In pulmonary complaints, 

 common colds, sore throats, and that 

 class of diseases. honey has frequently 

 proved most efiRcacious. Many in- 

 stances are recorded of remarkable 

 cures by honey in •such cases when 

 other medicaments had utterly failed. 

 That honey possesses restorative and 

 remedial properties of an important 

 character is already well known by 

 the beekeeping denizens of country 

 places, and their neighbors, who fre- 

 quently call upon them for honey in 

 cases of sore throat, colds, croup, etc.; 

 while the bee-keeper knows well that 

 every druggist in every country town, 

 as well as in the city, lays in a stock 

 every year for medicinal purposes. 



HONEY BEVERAGE. 



We may also lay honey under 

 tribute in the production of one of the 

 most wholesome beverages in exis- 

 tence ; to supersede tea and coffee on 

 the family table. We give the formula 

 and process, and advise all to try it : 



Take three quarts of good, clean, 

 wheat bran and bake in the oven till 

 it becomes quite brown. Then add 

 one quart of liquid buckwheat honey 

 and stir thoroughly; put it back into 

 the oven to bake still more, stirring 

 it frequently until it gets dry, granu- 

 lated, and very brown— a little 

 scorching will not hurt it. Draw it 

 the same as coffee, and use with milk 

 and honey, or milk and sugar, to suit 

 the taste. 



This makes a perfectly wholesome 

 and palatable drink, and the sooner it 

 takes the place of tea in every family, 

 the sooner the public health will im- 

 prove. In the writer's family this 

 wholesome and really palatable bev- 

 erage has been on his table for years 

 with the best results ; and were a ton 

 of tea and coffee unloaded at the door 

 gratis, we would say, " no, thank 

 you," so far as drinking either is con- 



cerned. The buckwheat honey is 

 preferable to the clover in making 

 this beverage, for the double reason 

 of its brown color and more pungent 

 taste. 

 Selby, Ont. 



For tbe Amencan Bee JoamaL 



Tli£ Lesson of Our Misfortunes. 



JULIUS T0MLIN80N. 



A few days since, my daughter and 

 a lady friend made a visit to the 

 charming home of T. F. Bingham. In 

 regard to his honey crop, Mr. Bing- 

 ham said, " Tell your father that the 

 present season is nearest to nothing 

 of any year since I have kept bees." 

 And this is substantially the report of 

 every bee-keeper that I meet. 



Iloney is scarce— and higher in 

 price. And the correspondents and 

 editors of our bee-periodicals, in or- 

 der to still more inflate prices, are 

 advising all who have honey, to hold 

 on to it. This may be good advice 

 this year to those who have honey. 

 There are probably enough well-to-do 

 people, who will, at almost any rea- 

 sonable price, purchase and consume 

 the entire crop this season. But 

 scarce as the crop is, should it be pur- 

 chased by a few strong parties and 

 held for exhorbitant prices, it may be 

 doubted whether such prices can be 

 obtained. Extravagant prices will 

 restrict consumption. They will also 

 force npon the market every available 

 pound in existence. This is the in- 

 exorable law which is ever at worh to 

 defeat those who by creating an arti- 

 ficial scarcity of any commodity, en- 

 deavor to enrich themselves by ex- 

 tortion ; examples are not wanting, 

 which fully illustrate this statement. 

 The collapse, not long since, of the 

 colossal combination to control the 

 entire wheat crop of the world, is a 

 striking example. 



One of the lessons of the situation 

 in regard to honey is, that a scarcity 

 of it inflates its price. This is a 

 truism so universally admitted in re- 

 gard to other natural products, that I 

 would not offeud the intelligence of 

 bee-keepers by its statement, but for 

 the loud and persistent call not many 

 months since, of not a few of tbe bee- 

 keeping fraternity, for a combination 

 of honey producers, which, by some 

 process of legerdemain, not very 

 clearly defined, proposed to inflate the 

 price of honey. These combination 

 advocates are piping very low just 

 now, and I predict that few will ad- 

 vocate it in the coming North Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



The present scarcity of honey will 

 have done some good if itteaches bee- 

 keepers that it is not combinations, 

 but the inexorable law of supply and 

 demand that controls prices of every 

 product, honey included. Excessive 

 prices can never be long maintained. 

 Should the honey crop next season be 

 a full one, prices must, in the nature 

 of things, fall to their normal stan- 

 dard. 



What bee keepers need is bountiful 

 crops, and a good demand at living 



prices. The supply is largely beyond 

 our control, but inasmuch as we can 

 never have too much of the good 

 things of this world, it behooves us 

 all to use every appliance which 

 science and experience dictate to 

 secure to the fullest extent the boun- 

 ties of a beneficent Providence. The 

 demand for honey is amost entirely in 

 our hands. Combination with this 

 end in view would be most desirable. 

 To promote demand is a matter of 

 business, and business methods 

 should be employed. Iloney should 

 be advertised. 



If the coming convention at Chi- 

 cago would take action, having for its 

 object the creation of an ample fund 

 to create a " honey bureau," to scatter 

 leaflets on honey broadcast; to adver- 

 tise it in short, crisp articles in all the 

 daily and weekly newspapers, and 

 perhaps in more elaborate articles for 

 the leading magazines, there can be 

 no doubt but such a demand would 

 be created, as would yearly consume 

 tbe most bountiful supply. All this 

 is in accordance with natural law, and 

 if our present misfortune should teach 

 us to obey these laws, it may prove a 

 blessing in disguise. 



Allegan, p Mich. 



[We liave never advised the creation 

 of a " corner " to control the price of 

 honey. We simply wanted bee-keep- 

 ers to hold their honey until berries 

 and fruit were " out of the way," and 

 then they would get the full benefit 

 of the rise in values. To ship the 

 honey before that, would break down 

 the growing prices, and leave no one 

 the better off. 



The hint for the convention is a 

 good one, and we hope Mr. Tomlinson 

 will either present his ideas before 

 the assembled body by an address, or 

 in writing, so that they may pass 

 upon the merits of his plan, when the 

 subject is under consideration. — Ed.] 



Gleanings. 



Bee-Keening as a Life Easiness. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. 



" It seems a pity he should settle 

 down into nothing but a bee-keeper, 

 when he might be successful in al- 

 most any line of business he should 

 undertake." Such expressions I have 

 heard, when, so far as I could see, 

 the only reasons for it were that it 

 was thought the man might make 

 more money at some other business 

 than bee-keeping. 



I am aware that too much has been 

 said of the bright side of bee-keeping 

 in the way of urging every one into 

 it, and 1 have protested against it ; 

 for in nine cases out of ten, the person 

 who chooses bee-keeping as his life- 

 business, merely for tbe money there 

 is in it, will meet with disappoint- 

 ment. But for once I want to take 

 the other side, and say something in 

 the way of urging the choice of this 

 business upon a certain class. 



