ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



lis 



I Tielieve if the bee-keepers know their 

 own interests, they will strive very 

 hard not to put anything in the line 

 of extracted honey on the market that 

 is not up to a good standard. And 1/ 

 am condemning myself when I say 

 that, because years ago, when I run 

 for extracted honey I put something 

 ■on the market that no decent white 

 man ought to put on the market. 

 (Laughter.) I didn't know any better 

 than that. If some man had said the 

 things I have said to-night I would 

 not have done it. 



Mr. Baxter — What makes the differ- 

 ■ence? What difference does it make 

 whether it is good, or not as good? 

 "The public don't know the difference — 

 the public never looks at the quality. 

 Tou have to take their eye, that is the 

 only way you can satisfy the public. 

 Take a Ben Davis apple, take a Con- 

 cord grape; the public don't look at 

 the quality of anything. I know that, 

 Tjecause I have been shipping grapes 

 in big car-loads. Tou show them some- 

 thing beautiful, like these Western ap- 

 ples that are in the market, and that 

 is what they want. They don't care 

 ■a snap for the quality, if it looks nice. 

 Mr. Burnett — I do not wish to disa- 

 gree with the last speaker in this 

 matter, but let us accept his explana- 

 tion, that it does not make any differ- 

 ence about the quality to the public, 

 if it pleases the eye. Now I grant 

 that is true, that people should buy 

 Iioney simply because it is honey and 

 looks pretty. But they don't buy 

 honey very often. They don't say, 

 "Here, it looks pretty and seems to be 

 all right, but I don't care about it 

 liaving any taste that I particularly 

 care about." They don't say it. Now, 

 last year, of course, we had a great 

 honey crop, had lots and lots of comb 

 "honey. We didn't get it used up until 

 this autumn, but it is all used up now, 

 so far as I know, and we had very 

 little W^esern honey. I am speaking 

 now of comb honey, and towards the 

 •end of the season, people got to using 

 boney more largely — that is, judging 

 from our sales — than they had for some 

 years before. They said they didn't 

 know how it was, but somehow the 

 "honey tasted better to them this year; 

 don't know whether the apples were 

 not so good, or something else was 

 not so good, but they had eaten more 

 "honey than they had for some time. 

 Now, there is such a thing as buying 



more goods because you like the taste 

 of it; if it tastes good, you like it; if 

 you taste a thing, if it does not look 

 good to you, if you taste it you like it, 

 and you will use much more if it 

 pleases the palate than if it pleases 

 the eye. Therefore, the facts are 

 Vhat the people who extract their honey 

 have got the idea largely as our friend 

 has, that all you need to know about 

 it is to get honey that looks good. But 

 people who sell honey from house to 

 house, they find they say, "We have 

 got some of that honey you got of us 

 last year." And I, from an experience 

 of over thirty years, have noticed this 

 thing carefully, and this year there 

 was such a demand for Western honey 

 came from all over, and it was ob- 

 served at once. People wanted it. Next 

 year, if we get a crop of honey here, 

 we will have to go through this same 

 fight again, to talk them up to the 

 fact that the honey this year has got 

 some taste to it. That is, next year. 

 This year they will say, "Well, the 

 honey looks good and pretty, but our 

 folks don't use it." The store-keeper 

 gets it and sells out a case and it looks 

 all right, but the people don't buy any 

 more of it. Last year the crop of Illi- 

 nois, Wisconsin and Michigan, out of 

 that crop they sold, after a time, more 

 and more honey. It has been cleaned 

 up. Years ago we used to get good 

 sage honey from California that, in 

 my opinion, when properly ripened, is 

 not excelled by any honey for people 

 to continuously use. They will use it 

 and ask for it year after year. I have 

 said this year, "Yes, we will have some 

 of that sage honey this year." They 

 say: "I have not had any good honey 

 for several j'^ears that tasted right. 

 When you get it, let us know." Now 

 sage honey comes this year and it 

 i? not as good as it was, it is not so 

 good. So far as we have gone, we 

 have not had any that has been equal 

 to years past. It may be that the fla- 

 vor is not in the sage this year; the 

 flavor is not there. It is good honey, 

 it is clear enough but it lacks flavor. 

 And when you put it in your mouth, 

 the taste leaves quickly, it does not 

 remain there. The flavor is not 

 there. It ihas not got that pen- 

 etrating aroma that honey- lovers, or 

 people who eat honey for honey's sake, 

 want. Now, in comb honey, the bee- 

 keepers have to leave it in until it is 

 ripe, and honey that comes out of the 



