46 



EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



- HONEY MANUFACTURE. 



{By^C. P. Dadant, Editor of the American Bee Journal.) 

 In the "Poplar Science Monthly" for June, 1881, in an article 

 entitled,' " Glucose and Grape Sugar," Prof. H. W. Wiley, the erst- 

 whilel^United States Chemist, wrote as follows: 



"Bees eat glucose with 

 the greatest avidity; or 

 rather they act as funnels 

 by which the glucose is 

 poured into the comb. For 

 it is quite true that honey 

 made by bees which have 

 free access to glucose differs 

 scarcely at all from the glu- 

 cose itself. But the quan- 

 tity of honey which a bee 

 will store away, when fed 

 on glucose, is truly wonder- 

 ful. This gluttony, how- 

 ever, rapidly undermines 

 the apiarian constitution, 

 and the bee rarely lives to 

 enjoy the fruits of its ap- 

 parent good fortune. In 

 commercial honey, which is 

 entirely free from bee medi- 

 ation, the comb is made of 

 paraffene, and filled with 

 pure glucose by appropriate 

 machinery." 



Commenting in a joc- 

 ular way upon this state- 

 ment of his, in the American 

 Bee Journal for June, 1882, 

 Professor Wiley wrote : 

 "This last clause which, when written, was meant for a scientific 

 pleasantry, came near throwing the whole bee world into epilepsy. 

 It appears that persons who devote themselves to Bee Journals undergo 

 a cerebral inspiration which renders them incapable of seeing a joke. 

 The only point which they can appreciate is the sting of a bee. " 



Professor Wiley also made the statement that this joke of his 

 had been published in "nearly every paper in the country." He did 

 not seem to appreciate the fact that his "scientific pleasantry" was 

 taken in earnest and that the masses fully believed on this testimony 

 of his, that honey in the comb was then manufactured "by appropriate 

 machinery. " 



At the present day, after 36 years, there are still people who believe 

 in the truth of this statement. Few persons can conceive the great 

 harm it has done to the sale of bees' honey. The invention of that 

 story was contemporary with the beginning of the use of comb founda- 

 tion. Honey in sections of perfect shape, well sealed and attractive, 



C. p. DADANT, 

 Editor of the American Bee Journal. 



