122 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



sell with about equal ease, 100 lbs. of good 

 extracted honey at V2}ic, or r)00 Iba. at 10c, or 

 2,500 lbs. at l^c, or 12,500 lbs. at 5c, or 62,- 

 500 lbs. at 2Xc; the question is, to make a 

 profit at these lower prices, ard the question 

 will be answered in the aiiirmative In time. 

 There is as much profit at l^c. now as some 

 years back at 15c. ; each year is lowering the 

 cost of production. With granulated sugar, 

 the standard of sweets, selling at 5c. a lb., 

 there isn't a big show for glucose, and honey 

 must come down too. There is no use kick- 

 ing, exclusive of labor, 75c. per swarm per 

 annum, will cover all cost of maintainance 

 and I believe it can be reduced to .50c. : that 

 leaves good room for a profit, if the labor 

 can be kept down. 



For every five cents we have lost because 

 of actual adulteration, we have lost !|5.00 be- 

 cause of the talk incident thereto. For every 

 $lkOO worth of honey sold here, there is $25 

 worth of glucose sold rts such: the price does 

 it. Most persons prefer the honey, but can't 

 afiford it. I have eaten lots of glucose, and 

 when pure, it is as healthy as honey, their 

 composition being identical. While the 

 flavor of good honey is incomparably super- 

 ior, many inferior kinds are not so good. It 

 would seem therefore that the less said 

 about this adulteration, the Ijetter. The 

 proposed "trade mark" remedy would only 

 advertise the evil gratuitously, and unless a 

 standard of excellence was agreed on, and 

 every jmckage examined by inspectors, the 

 remedy would be worse than the disease. 

 There is no way to prevent members of the 

 trade mark federation from "glucosing" 

 honey, if there is money in it, except through 

 our statute laws, and it would be no aid in 

 enforcing them. It would be a fine cover, 

 under which to dispose of inferior but pure 

 honey, creating a suspicion of adulteration 

 in all who ate it. The idea that all actual 

 bee-keepers are honest in this matter, is like 

 the idea that all farmers are honest in the 

 produce they sell, yet, last week, my neigh- 

 bor got seven half- formed chickens in 2.5c 

 worth of eggs she bought. 



In such a union, the ignorant, careless and 

 dishonest, would reap the gain incident to 

 any reputation it might have, and the honest, 

 conscientous, careful ones would lose. Suc- 

 cess means the cheapening of production, 

 which means less labor. After all is said, 

 labor is the one thing that can, and will be 

 cut down. 



Bkklin, Mo. April K;, 1891. 



It is Impossible to Produce Honey Cheaper 



Than Glucose. — Keeping Still not the 



best Policy. 



O. 0. MILLEB. 



'ITH the exception of one point, 

 I think I am in accord with your 

 leader. A half crop of honey 

 does not double the price per pound. 

 Perhaps it is well, also, to notice the other 

 side, for I do not believe that a double 

 crop would cut in two the price per 

 pound. I think it is also true that when the 

 price of honey sinks so low that adulteration 

 is no longer profitable then such adultera- 

 tion will cease. But suppose such a point 

 were reached to-day, would not the produc- 

 tion of honey also cease? How many bee- 

 keepers do you think would continue in the 

 business if they were assured that for the 

 next twenty-five years the average annual 

 profit in bee-keeping would be no greater 

 than it has been for the past five years? And 

 if you assure them that the price will come 

 down and stay down so that adulteration 

 will 1)6 no longer profitable, I strongly sus- 

 pect that you would make a clean sweep of 

 the whole business, for the whole crowd 

 would be so poor that five would have to 

 club together to subscribe for a single copy 

 of the Review. 



I know that you combine with that the 

 idea that so much advance may be made in 

 methods of production that we can afford to 

 come down. But now what reason have 

 we to expect that? What great advance 

 have we made toward competing with an 

 adulterant that costs less than three cents 

 per pound? I know very well the talk that 

 has come up at different times about im- 

 proved methods and short cuts that would 

 revolutionize the whole business, but I notice 

 that the men who have been doing that kind 

 of talk do not show their own faith in it, to 

 any very alarming extent, by their works. 

 Please tell us when the time will come when 

 we can undersell the adulterators, and please 

 don't forget that the adultt rators have just 

 the same chance to improve on their meth- 

 ods of production, so that when you meet 

 their 3-cent mixture they will smilingly 

 come forward with a two cent mixture. 



Now if I am right about this, let us see 

 where your position places us. The only 

 hope of preventing adulteration is to bring 

 down the price of honey to that point where 

 adulterators will find there is "no money in 



