The Vanilla-Beans brought into this country range in price about as follows: Mexican, $3.50 to $6.00 per pound. Bourbon, $3.00 to $5.50 per pound. Guadalupe, $3.00 to $5.50 per pound. Seychelles, $3.25 to $4.50 per pound. Tahiti, $1.75 to $2.50 per pound. And a large variety, such as Java, South American and others, ranging in price from $2.75 to $5.00 per pound. These prices represent wholesale prices and vary from time to time. The use of Tahiti Beans, coming from the Islands of Tahiti, has grown very largely in the last few years. They are much used by manufacturers making the cheaper extracts. The Vanilla-Bean dries out very quickly, but if properly cared for and protected does not lose its strength. In fact, the flavor greatly improves with age. The same beans can be treated for extract by different persons and an entirely different quality of goods produced, just as two cooks can take the same kind of flour and one will produce a delightful loaf of bread while the bread of the other will not be fit to eat. We age our Bee Brand Extracts for two years in white oak casks before placing them on the market. Thus they become mellow and have a rich, dainty bouquet, which cannot be obtained by any other process. The minimum cost of carrying large vats of Vanilla is about 12 to 15 per cent per year. A fine, properly aged Extract of Vanilla, such as Bee Brand, made from the best beans, would cost from $8.00 to $9.00 a gallon to manufacture, and yet “Strictly Pure U. S. Standard Extracts” can be made to cost not over $3.50 per gallon. Frequently you will find that a cheap pure Extract of Vanilla is almost as strong as the fine, or high priced, Bee Brand goods, but its flavor is rank and it has not the same bouquet and delicacy of flavor, the comparison between the two being the same as that between cheap cigars (three for 5 cents), which may be just as strong as a fine Havana, or stronger, which costs 25 cents, but the latter has a flavor and quality which the former do not approach. The average consumer thinks if an Extract is pure it must be good, and is satisfied with that statement. This belief on the part of the consumer is largely due to the fact that many jobbers and large retailers want their goods under their own names, requesting the manufacturer to put up the cheapest Extract that will comply with the law, regardless of the kind of beans or other materials used in its manufacture. They simply ask for goods that comply with State and National laws, but you can readily see what the word “pure” means under this condition. These jobbers and retailers think when they have complied with the law they have done all that is necessary. We refuse positively to sell our Bee Brand goods, or any other Flavoring Extracts, under any other name than our own.