French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1917-02-08
SOME THINGS YOU OUGHT TO
KNOW ABOUT BEES AND HONEY
Interesting Letter Explaining an In
dustry Which Should Thrive in
Henderson County.

l read, with interest, a short article
which appeared on your agricultural |
page a few weeks ago. This article I
was taken, if 1 am not mistaken, from
the Progressive Farmer and was in
the form OF advice to bee-keepers or
those wlro intend engaging in apicul- |
tural pursuits. The advice offered in
that article is good, but I believe the
most of us in this section who keep |
bees, or who contemplate keeping. !
them. know so little about the indus
try that a few additional remarks in
connection with that article would not
be amiss. / am prompted thereby. at
any rate, to offer the following for
those who are interestd in the mat
ter. 1t might be well to say here a
few words about honey and wax, since
it is desirable to have some knowledge
as to the fruits of our labour, or what
we may reasonably expect to be the
fruits of our labor, before we decide
to embark on any line of endeavor4
and take it that those who might be
familiar with this end of agriculture
will not be offended at the insertion of
a few lines i'll this connection. Honey,
/ then, is the hector of flowers gather
ed and deposited in the comb by the
bees. No other article gathered and
stored in the comb by the bees is
honey; is not so regarded nor is its
sale permitted as such by the govern
ment. What is known as honey dew
! Ga secretion of certain aphis) which
is gathered and stored in considerable
quantity in some seasons is not honey
and it's sale as such is not permitted
when known. Sugar syrup fed to bees
and in every respect looking like hon
ev when healed or capped over, is not
/ honey at all and is not permitted to be
sold as SUCH The government has
fixed a standard for honey and any,
thing not conforming to that standard
can not be sold as honey. and indeed.
it would not be- honey. This will be
clear to any one who will follow me
for a few minutes Now, hector, when
freshly gathered is very thin and wa
ltery and in that stage of course is not
Honey. But it is evaporated, and pre-
digested to a certain extent, by the
lbees and is sealed or capped over by
the bees when it has reached certain
stage of evaporation. Thickness, col
or and flavor of honey varies consider
ably. The varieties in this respect are
as many as there are flowers from
which the hector is gathered. This Is
one of the causes why so many people
think honey is adulterated. When It
does not taste like that which they
purchase direct from the farmer at
home, it is frequently termed "store"
honey or "adulterated" honey. AS a
matter of fact there is practically no
adulteration of honey at this time. 1t
is alos fact that there is no artificial
honey comb in which honey is sold.
There is an artificial starter" used,
which 1 will mention later. Honey is
an old article of food. 1t was the
principal sweet for three thousand
. years befare the first sugar refinery
was ever thought of, but it's use has
not kept pace with that of sugar. and
this is due, believe, largely through
ignorance of the difference between
!, the two products, and the difference
in the cost of production. Honey could
never be produced in such large guam
titles as sugar, and the price will al
ways remain somewhat higher. AS
. compared with sugar, however, honey
| is certainly the more wholesome. II l
| am correct, all sweets taken into the
body which are not already glucose
y. have to be converted into such before
they are assimulated, and through this
. process it very frequently happens
. that certain individuals taking more
sugar than the system can so convert
, force an excess of work on the kid !.
news. which frequently results in
Brights disease and other kidney
trouble etc. But it so happens that
. honey, since it is principally glucose
, CDevulose and Dextrose) and having
! ! been in a measure pre-digested by the
lbee. does not 'equire this inversion
but is taken directly into the system
, to the amount of approximately one
! hundred and ninety-nine two hum
, dreths. Pure sugar is pure glucose,
: / 1t all must be inverted. Honey be-
sides it's sugar contents contains al
bumen. It also contains phosphorus
: iron. calcium, magnesium, chlorine,
, sodium, potassium, sulphur and man
ganese. We are told that all these ele-
|. lments are necessary to the human
body. SO chat by their presence ln
HONEY we may assume that they HELM
| to make this article q very wholesome
food. The value Of the annual pro-
; tduction of honey IN the United States
/ is over twenty million dollars. and
) this value is decidedly on the increase
t from year to year. This does not take
r into consideration the millions of dol
> lars worth imported from Cuba. ana
D South America and Europe. Inc
r greatest amount of honey is used ID
r the CONNECTIONS. 1t would be hard 70
t say how many car loads are used an
: nually in the making of high grade
J. candy alone. The National Biscuit
!. company a few days ago placed an or
a der for seventy car loads at one time
to be used in the manufacture o.
their goods. There are hundreds OF
I car loads used annually in the DIS
: bakeries alone All CONNECTIONS keel
Z better when honey is used in Itnell
fcontinued on Page slx.l