September 23, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
285 
extent’ the honey companies are doing this. But what we want 
to <to is, if possible, to bring the consumer and producer together 
without the intervention of the middleman, who practically 
absorbs all the profits.” This is surely a most severe criticism 
by an eminent bee-keeper and a member of the B B.K.A. on the 
policy of the establishment of the Honey Company; and the 
concluding sentence is still more pregnant with me ining, for it is 
written, “ The cry is constantly making itself heard, * We cannot 
sell our honey.’” 
There were present at this meeting Messrs. T. W Cowan, 
Walker, Hooker, Garratt, Lyon, and others, and Captain Campbell, 
Revs. G. Jenyns, and Hon. H. Bligh, and not one of these bee¬ 
keepers had a single word to say in favour of the Company. 
The Company, then, is a failure so far as the attainment of the 
object dangled before the eyes of the bee keeping fraternity. 
But how can this be ? The cry is, “ We cannot sell our honey.” 
Yet every week since the Company was established an advertise¬ 
ment has appeared in the British Bee Journal something after 
this kind: “British Honey Company.—Wanted, honey.” Now, 
here is something strange : the Company always wants to pur¬ 
chase and the producer always wants to sell. This can only be 
accounted for in one way, and the c luse is very evident; in fact, 
Mr. Seager in his address virtually gives the reason when he says, 
“ the middleman practically absorbs all the profits.” In a few 
words, the price offered is so low, and the margin between the 
price offered to the producer and received by the middleman 
from the retailer is so great, that while a large profit lies in the 
hand of the middleman, the producer is left with a miserably 
small profit, and the middleman takes away the remainder of 
what ought to be the reward of his labour and expenditure. The 
necessity for a good dividend and the powers of purchasing 
foreign honey have beaten down the price of honey more than 
some of us imagine. It is hard that a company floated by the 
producer should be worse than useless to its parent. 
Bee-keepers must endeavour, if they want to sell their honey 
at fair prices, to create a local demand. They must dispose of 
all the honey they possib'y can at home, and if the attempt is 
honestly made they will succeed far beyond their most sanguine 
anticipations; but if the trouble of doing this in any of the 
many ways lying open to them is too great, they must be content 
to receive what a honey company will give, and see the profits of 
bee keeping continually reduced until at last in despair they 
forswear bees and bee-keeping as unprofitable, and take up some 
more remunerative industry. —Felix. 
(To be continued.) 
MR. HEWITT AND SIMMINS’ DRY-FEEDING SYSTEM. 
In your issue of August 19:b, page 170, “A Hallatnshire Bee-keeper” 
—otherwise Mr. John Hewitt—makes the fo'lowing strange statement: 
“ Feeding bees on dry sugar alone as a practical thing was my idea, and I 
made a big fight for it in the British Bee Journal, and no one tried to 
‘ sit’ on the idea more than Messrs. Abbott and Simmins, and yet within 
six months the latter claimed all the credit, and said he had been working 
at the problem for years, though his published letter, not six months 
before, entirely repudiated the theory. In fact, it was entirely owing to 
his scouting the idea of bee3 being able to consume dry sugar that I came 
out in its defence, and told what I knew. But Mr. Simmins began to 
make a trade of it,and advertise his ‘dry sugar feeders,’ and when I wrote 
to the “ B. B. J.” pointing out his inconsistency, I was quietly dropped, 
and he was allowed to figure as the man.” 
To say the least, the claim put foith by Mr. Hewitt is peculiar and 
contradictory, and there will be no difficulty in showing that not only 
is he entirely in the wrong, but that he has not even introduced a prac¬ 
tical idea in regard to feeding bees. Your readers, like myself, will be 
surprised to hear that Mr. H. can lay claim to having originated the 
present system of feeding dry sugar to bees, which embodies the prin¬ 
ciple of giving uncooked sugar in specially prepared feeders, and which 
alone are adapted to the purpose. 
My own system was introduced as the result of practice, and is 
suitable only for stimulation and storing during such times as it is 
desirable so to do. I wish it to be distinctly understood that I have on 
no occasion advised my plan for winter feeding, neither do I recom¬ 
mend feeding in winter in any way, believing it, as proved by my own 
experience, always possible to store bees properly before the season 
arrives. Yet, it so happens that all Mr. Hewitt can lay claim to is that 
in the autumn of 1883 he advanced the long since exploded theory that 
bees could exist during winter upon dry combs devoid of liquid stores, 
and one or more dry slabs of candy, he considering that the whole of the 
8t >res could be extracted and sent to market, while the bees would thrive 
until spring upon about 6 lbs. of candy made drier than is usual. 
Mr. Hewitt knows as well as I can tell him, that it was not until after 
his theory had been advanced that I made any mention of the subject, 
and my letter will be found in the “ B. B. J.,” vol. xi., page 195, wherein 
I show that not only would the process lead to disaster, but that it would 
be simply impossible to get the combs entirely free from honey eo late as 
September 20 h, and moreover the act of exposing the pollen, in addition 
o the wet combs and frame of candy, would cause unseasonable breeding 
and activity, the very thing which Mr. Hewitt hoped would not be the 
case. If mild for a week or two after inserting the candy, which often is 
the case at the date named, the same would be stored as syrup, or at least 
the balance would be, after the requirements of the extended brood nest 
had been attended to, and Borne other consumed in building new combs in 
the candy frame, as well as the wide space given the bees to cluster in, 
and who does not know at wbat expense of vital energy comb-building is 
carried on late in the year ? Mr. Hewitt, doubtless, knew afterwards to 
his own cott. 
In fact, it was due to the hint given by some who had begun to try it 
that Mr. H. then advised the inseition of candy at a later date, finding 
his first legs fast failing him. How the starving process he then recom¬ 
mended, and the addition of candy at a later period succeeded, is best 
shown by his own silence the following spring. Mr. Hewitt was so satis¬ 
fied that the whole thing would succeed, and that he had given a new 
plan of wintering, that he was going to hang the whole of his stocks upon 
this candy peg. No doubt there were many who hoped to hear from the 
author of this new theory after his bees were wintered (?), but that the 
result was not published no practical bee-keeper was surprised. There 
was nothing new in giving candy in frames, as the same thing had been 
done for years before Mr. Hewitt mentioned it, and if he has now settled 
down to the knowledge that candy can only be relied upon in winter when 
given as an addition to liquid stores, then his own good sense ought to 
tell him that he has no claim either to a new method of wintering or a 
new way of using candy. 
In one instance I notice that Mr. H. does mention that he could con¬ 
ceive no better way of feeding bees from spring till autumn than by in¬ 
serting frames of candy, but it may interest him to koow that long before I 
knew his name I had been remarkably successful with candy poured into 
frames for stimulative feeding, but this—called by its right name “candy 
feeding”—has been entirely superseded in my own apiaries by my pre¬ 
sent plan of dry feeding with the enamelled sheet to induce the necessary 
moisture. 
The strange part of it is how Mr. Hewitt could have mixed this wintering 
theory and all the troublesome candy making with the system which I have 
made public after the problem had been reduced to practice, a process, 
too, which I recommend only to be used during the months of activity, 
and by which there is no cooking or other preparation needed. Mr. 
Hewitt is fully aware that I have not advertised my feeders for sale, and 
that he should say that I have done so cannot be wondered at, consider¬ 
ing the heedless expressions of which he seems to be capable. Had he been 
only as consistent and honourable as it appears he would wish others to 
be, there would now be no need for me to remind him of his own posi¬ 
tion in relation to the theory presented by him. 
Mr. Hewitt’s statements with regard to wintering on candy alone 
will be found in “ B. B. J.,” vol. xi., pages 119 and 155, and though he 
may feel disappointed that the theory did not meet with general appro¬ 
bation, he may rest assured that the bee-keeping public would willingly 
give him his due if only he could show that he had introduced something 
worthy of their notice. At the same time I would ask him in a friendly 
spirit to abstain from attacking others in the manner that he does, and, 
above all, before doing so to be certain that he has truth and justice 
on his side.— S. Simmins. 
THE CANADIAN EXHIBIT. 
The exhibit of honey from Canada, which is now on view at the 
Colonial Exhibition, will be likely to cause alarm to timid bee-keepers 
who already are dissatisfied, and not without reason, at the small price 
oSered for honey, even though the honey harvest of this year has been 
much below the average. It is no u*e trying to shut our eyes to the fact 
that the sale of this 40 tons of honey will sensibly affect the price of 
English honey. Still we venture to think that the ultimate result will bs 
to the advantage of English bee-keepers, and for much the same reasons 
as the late exhibition of the B.BKA. has done good in bringing before 
the public mind the great advantages of honey as food, and the capa¬ 
bilities of our own country for supplying a large amount of honey. At 
present honey has a very limited sale, and until we can educate the public 
mind to the fact that it is a necessary food, and not merely a luxury to be 
indulged in by the few, so long will there be a difficulty in securing 
h ney even at the low price offered by the honey companies and the 
dealers. 
To take a parallel case, we can well remember tasting our first Tomato 
nearly thirty years ago, and thinking how unpleasant it was. For many 
years after this there was little or no demand for this fruit, but within the 
last few years the demand for Tomatoes has enormously increased, and it 
is said to be a better paying crop than Grapes, and as far as we are con¬ 
cerned we never pass by this fruit, especially in the form of salad. 
It would be difficult to point out the reasons for this change, but the 
fact remains that the consumption of Tomatoes is steadily increasing. 
So with regard to honey, if the public will take it into their heads to use 
honey in larger quantities than they have done, there will be no 
difficulty in finding out the real value of honey. 
The public press is a very good indicator of public opinion. Though the 
B.B.K.A. have held several shows in London during the last twelve years, 
very slight notice was taken of these shows, for bee-keeping was looked 
upon more as a hobby than an industry. But with regard to the last 
Show, the Press quickly recognised the fact that there was something in 
bee-keeping, and all the leading papers had editorials on the subject, 
pointing out the great strides that had been made during the last few 
' years. 
