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The Food Value of Honey (Days of our grandfathers honey)

In the days of our grandfathers honey had a place on every table. Honey and maple syrup were the only sweets supplied to the family. Refined sugar, as now used, was unknown. A few bees were kept to supply honey the same as a cow was kept to furnish the family milk and butter. As the conditions of the country changed and ways of living became more complicated, new food products appeared upon our tables, and substitutes took the place of things formerly regarded as necessities. The dairy interests of the country made a tremendous fight to prevent oleomargarine from replacing butter and the sentiment created by this organized effort was sufficient to create a demand for butter from the American public, rather than for its cheaper and inferior substitute. Unfortunately, the beekeepers have not been organized, and while butter has continued to grow in demand and sell at constantly higher prices, the demand for honey which was once well nigh universal has been largely supplied by corn syrup and other inferior products, while honey sells at a lower price than it brought half a century ago.