Report of the Chemist for Agriculture. 



835 



The Adulteration of Honeys. 



The most common adulterants of lioney are glucose, cane sugar 

 syrup, and tlie inverted cane sugar. The presence of glucose is a 

 matter of easy detection. The detection of cane sugar presents also 

 very little difficulty ; but the question of an intentional addition as 

 an adulteration is complicated by the absence of definite knowledge 

 as to how much a genuine article should contain. The particular 

 flora, and the artificial feeding of the bee are responsible for large 

 variations in this direction, as evident in the composition of some of the 

 Californian honeys. As invert sugar enters largely into the composition 

 of a pure honey, the known limits of the quantities, naturally present in 

 unadulterated samples, are the only sure guide to the expression of 

 opinions as to the genuineness or otherwise of a sample in this 

 direction. With respect to cane sugar, according to Wiley, it is a 

 rare thing to find a genu.ine honey containing more than 4 per cent, 

 of sucrose, but there are undoubted instances of pure honeys very 

 considerably exceeding these figures. A sample of honey, supposed 

 to be adulterated, was submitted to this laboratory for investigation 

 by a gentleman engaged commercially with the article. The results 

 of the examination indicated that an opinion might be ireely given 

 unfavorable to its purity. A number of other samples however sub- 

 mitted by the same gentlemen, and guaranteed as pure and unadul- 

 terated, gave in instances, returns corresponding closely with the 

 supposed sample. According to Wiley's statement, a pure honey will 

 rarely show, measured as degrees on a cane sugar scale with normal 

 sugar weight, more than — 2U ; although a greater number than this 

 may not, he states, be conclusive of adulteration, it may well be 

 looked at with suspicion. The results of the analysis of the samples 

 sent in gave the following figures : — 



HONEYS. 



It is a usual practice, I believe, to feed bees at a certain time of the 

 year with a partly inverted sugar syrup ; although it is stated not for 

 sale purposes. The production of the bee from such a food can not 

 be regarded as a pure honey. This practice and certain unique 

 conditions of flora and climate may explain, to a degree, certain 

 characteristics of some of the samples sent in as pure ; but the indi- 

 cations to my mind, are that certain samples which are accepted 



