126 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



law, which will go into effect Januar> 

 1st, is to keep our bees as near as we 

 can where they will store the sweet that 

 they get from the field; and if we find 

 that they are gathering honey-dew, save 

 it by itself and sell it for what it is. 

 We will have to do the grading more 

 than any one else. If we know our 

 bees are gathering honey-dew, let it go 

 as honey-dew, and sell it as such. There- 

 are always people in my locality who 

 want to buy poor or cheap or dark 

 grades of hbney. They like to buy the 

 "lasses" for the children, while they 

 have something better for the older 

 folks. They will buy honey-dew if you 

 ■ tell them what it is ; but sell it for 

 what it is. Then as a help to our Na- 

 tional Association members, especially, 

 how can we then protect ourselves under 

 this point which Mr. Arnd brings up? 

 When I send him honey, he, as a deal- 

 er, has to put up a guarantee to sell my 

 honey. How is he going to be safe in 

 his guarantee? He ought to have a 

 right to fall back upon the producer, 

 and the producer simply guarantees it as 

 the product of the bee. When they go 

 beyond that as to proof that it is from 

 flowers, I question if we have anything 

 yet that is satisfactory; chemistry is 

 weak on that point. 



A Member — Do the chemists know it? 



Mr. France — Yes, sir; the chemists 

 are aware that they are weak on the 

 point of a positive proof of strictly 

 pure honey from the nectar of flowers 

 or exudation of plants gathered and 

 stored by the bee. 



Mr. Meredith— What is the definition 

 of the word "honey-dew" from a bee- 

 keeper's standpoint"? 



Mr. France — As a bee-keeper under- 

 stands it, it will be the exudation of in- 

 sects gathered by and stored by the bee 

 in the combs. Some one was speaking 

 about the little white aphids upon the 

 soft maple. We found a good deal 

 of that in Wisconsin, in the last 2 or 

 3 years. The little white aphid is de- 

 stroying the maple-tree. The bees are 

 working upon the leaves, and it was in 

 places, too, where clover was coming 

 in enormously, and it was in many places 

 mixed in the extracted honey. We can 

 not separate it, but must sell it for what 

 it is. 



Dr. Miller — Mr. President, will you 

 read the question again? 



Pres. York— "Should not the bee- 

 keeper be compelled to guarantee to the 



broker or buyer that his honey will 

 stand the pure-food law test?" 



Dr. Miller — I suppose that depends 

 upon circumstances. In some cases the 

 buyer would requir<e it. If I were a 

 buyer and wanted the bee-keeper to stand 

 back of me, I would expect him to do 

 it. In some cases I do not think I would 

 want it. For instance, here is a dealer 

 that wants to put out honey under his 

 own brand, and he receives his honey, 

 puts it up in packages himself. He can 

 not keep the bee-keeper's guarantee up- 

 on the packages, but the bee-keeper's 

 guarantee can stay on a package that 

 comes from that bee-keeper only, and 

 when that seal is broken his guarantee 

 does not amount to anything upon it. 

 If the dealer wants to sell it with that 

 original guarantee on it, then he would 

 want the bee-keeper to guarantee it. The 

 thing, you see, will be complicated; but 

 I think I can see that there might be 

 some advantage in that, too. There is 

 the disadvantage of the objection the- 

 dealer would make to it. He would 

 say, "I want to sell my honey^I don't 

 want any other man's name upon it, be- 

 cause I want the advantage of all the 

 reputation I get from it." On the other 

 hand, there might be this advantage. 

 There are people who would buy honey 

 more readily with the guarantee of the 

 bee-keeper upon it, just because they 

 knew who the bee-keeper was that it 

 came from. Then, again, there are 

 others that would buy from the dealer 

 because they would know the dealer, 

 and would depend upon him.. So. you 

 see the thing has a good many different 

 bearings. I would say, in answer to 

 that question, that any honest bee-keep- 

 er would be willing to guarantee his 

 honey. He might guarantee it to the 

 dealer, even if the dealer chose to break 

 it up and put it in packages of his own. 

 I do not believe that I would ever sell 

 honey to any man that I would not 

 guarantee was all right. 



Mr, Arnd — I asked that question, so 

 that a dealer could trace back, an-d if 

 he is "held up" he can go back to the 

 next man, if he buys it from a dealer, 

 and so on to the bee-keeper. 



Mr. Abbott — I would like to say that 

 the producer could not ship it unless he 

 guaranteed it to the railroad, under the 

 interstate commerce law. 



Mr. Arnd — As being pure honey? 



Mr. Abbott— Yes. 



Dr. Bohrer — I voted in favor of re- 



