60 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



and thmk thai it the storm had held 

 off for a week lunger I would have 

 gotten a least fifty pounds average 

 surplus. 



My average this year from all 

 sources has been 88J/2 pounds, spring 

 count, and an increase from 90 to 220, 

 against an average for the last seven 

 years of 70 pounds. So there is one 



lining to that cloud, and when I tell 

 you that I used to gi I 6 cents ior ex- 

 tracted honey and 1(1 cents and pay 

 freight for comb, and that this year 

 1 got 10 cents ior extracted and IS 

 cents for comb, and the purchaser 

 pay freight, there is another lining 

 to the cloud. 



Mt. Pleasant, Ala. 



well says: "I am afraid the working 

 man does not get much hi mej 



LEGAL SERVICE 

 * DEPARTMENT ft 



Net Weight of Sections 



"Must each section of honey be 

 stamped with the net weight, in 

 Iowa, to comply with the law, or can 

 it be sold by the section or case?" 



Answer. There has been much 

 confusion regarding this matter in 

 Iowa, owing to the fact that the 

 Iowa State law is patterned after the 

 federal law. While the federal law 

 is so interpreted that all section 

 honey which is produced in one State 

 and sold in another must be stamped 

 with the net weight, in Iowa the 

 commissioner has not seen fit to en- 

 force that regulation. The section of 

 the pure food law which applies 

 reads as follows : 



"If any person shall sell, offer or 

 expose for sale any food in package 

 form, if the quantity of the con- 

 tents be not plainly and conspicu- 

 ously marked on the outside of the 

 package in terms of weight, measure 

 or numerical count; provided, how- 

 ever, that reasonable variations shall 

 be permitted, and tolerances and also 

 exemptions as to small packages 

 shall be established by rules and 

 regulations made by the State Food 

 and Dairy Commissioner." 



This State law reads almost word 

 for word like the Xational law. The 

 federal commissioners insist on the 

 marking of all sections of comb 

 honey, but the Iowa official, acting 

 upon the authority vested in him to 



grant exemptions, has so far made 

 an exception of comb honey. In a 

 private letter he writes as follows: 



"There is no exemption in the law 

 to any product, yet this department 

 has not been enforcing this law so 

 far as it applies to section comb 

 honey, because we understand that it 

 is a little hard to weigh each section 

 and put on the net weight. Unless 

 we change our attitude, or the law is 

 changed, we will probobly not re- 

 quire that section comb honey be 

 marked as to its net weight." 



W. B. BARNEY, Commissioner. 



To add to the confusion, Iowa has 

 a net weight law, which exempts 

 comb honey from its provisions. 



The best policy for the beekeeper 

 to pursue is to weigh all sections and 

 stamp them with the net weight in 

 order that he may be in position to 

 fill orders from outside of the State 

 without violating the provisions of 

 the National law, or to avoid possi- 

 ble conflict by a change in the regu- 

 lations of the food and dairy depart- 

 ment of which he might not have 

 due notice. It is highly desirable 

 that a uniform policy be generally 

 followed, and since the National law 

 requires that all comb honey going 

 from one State to another be 

 stamped as to the net weight of the 

 sections, it is only a question of time 

 until a similar requirement will be 

 made in all the States. 



Bee-Keeping <3& For Women 



Conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson, Marengo. 111. 



Honey Custard 



A senior in "Home Eci mics" at 



the Oregon Agricultural Coll' 

 conducting SO 



ments with honey, provided by the 

 .i p i,ii j . ac< ' 'i ding to an ex- 

 tension bulletin just received. 



The following recipe, 

 Honey Custard," is recommended bj 

 her : 



Two cups milk. 



Three egg 



One-third cup honey. 



< )ne-cighth teaspoon salt. 



Mix the honey, eggs and salt; scald 

 the milk and pour it over the eggs. 

 Then cook in a double boiler until 



the mixture thickens. This custard 

 i ini.iMi for use in plaee "t" cream 

 or gelatine dessi rl s, or to be pi iui ed 

 over sliced oranges or stewed fruit. 



A Neglected Industry 



A Manitoba correspondent sends a 



iper clipping in which Lady 



McDougall directs attention to bee 



g as "a ver\ ancient, but now 

 neglected, British industry." If price 

 is any inducement, surely there 

 should In an indui 

 keeping, sim 



hi i i- selling ,ii to 2s 9d 



per pound section." ["hat's 50 to <" v ' 

 cents per section ! Our correspondent 



What Our Farm Women Ask and 

 Answer 



In a department of a farm paper, 

 under the above heading, occurs the 

 following item : 



" "Miss I. E. B., New York, suggests 

 that someone give cake and cookie 

 receipts making use of honey." 



It is encouraging to know that 

 farm women are asking questions of 

 that kind. It would be a good thing 

 for beekeepers, and a still better 

 thing for the general public, if farm 

 women could, know the whole truth 

 about honey and sugar. If they did 

 they would not only want to use 

 honey for "cake and cookie receipts," 

 but in staple articles of food and in 

 drinks as well. It will bear repeat- 

 ing again and again that the more 

 than 80 pounds of sugar used an- 

 nually for every man, woman and 

 child of the nation is a menace to 

 health, because the 'sugar must be 

 changed from cane to grape sugar 

 by the digestive organs before it can 

 be assimilated, and that throws too 

 heavy a burden upon said organs, 

 while on the other hand the bees are 

 the little chemists that prepare 

 honey for direct assimilation. It is 

 to be feared that even the women in 

 the homes of beekeepers do not 

 sense this as fully as they should, 

 and act upon it. 



Few as the number of women may 

 be who are fully aware of the real 

 advantage honey has over sugar in 

 the way of ready digestion — rather in 

 the way of predigestion — still fewer 

 are aware of the fact that honey 

 contains elements that are absolutely 

 lacking in sugar, mineral elements, 

 to be sure in small quantity, yet of 

 great importance in supplying what 

 is needed for the full support of 

 physical well being. 



It might not be a bad thing if this 

 sentence should be placarded on the 

 walls of homes, indeed everywhere : 

 "Honey is much easier of digestion 

 than sugar, and contains important 

 mineral elements that are entirely 

 lacking in sugar." 



Making Bees Carry Up Honey 



Your reply, advising to pound on 

 the hives to make the bees carry up 

 stores from below, seemed very prac- 

 tical to me, but in one little place, 

 suppose we had pounded on or dis- 

 turbed a colony, as you suggested, 

 that had had a flight later than any 

 of the rest and did not need it. 

 would not the disturbance then do 

 more harm than good? Our bees 

 geni i ally a ime i ml from 12 until 2 

 o'clock in the afternoon. If we wait- 

 ed until the ''si had flown before 

 pounding on the hive, when they 

 would warm up it would be too late 

 for them to fly, and the large amount 

 of honey they had taken up would 

 do more harm than good, for it might 

 cause d\ senterj So the only remedy 

 I would see would be to Inst listen 

 at the entrance and see if we could 



