THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



263 



that which is transformed flower-nectar 

 is largely mixed with that of many different 

 sources. Not infrequently the bees visit 

 groceries, cane syrup factories and the maple 

 bush, and thus appropriate cane sugar un- 

 mixed. It is impossible, if desirable, to se- 

 cure any honey that we can insure entirely 

 from flowers. 



It follows from the above that any artifi- 

 cial admixture of glucose or other syrup 

 with honey makes it a compound that is not 

 honey. It is a mixture of honey and syrup 

 and is in part a substance that has not been 

 digested by the bees. It is an adulteration. 



From the above, it would follow that 

 honey secured by feeding any nectar is still 

 honey. Is there any avoiding this conclu- 

 sion? If we feed honey, no one would ques- 

 tion the fact that the resultant product 

 is honey. But the bees may have secured 

 the nectar of this same honey from maple 

 sap, from fruit, from the sorgham factory 

 or elsewhere. It is nectar digested or trans- 

 formed by the bees and so it is honey. It 

 may be very undesirable honey, but still it is 

 honey. Does the bee keeper regard the 

 honey from houey dew as aught but honey? 

 No, he writes to the dealer as follows: I 

 have some honey from honey dew, which is 

 dark, rank and poor. Can you use it? Mr. 

 Mr. Muth, it may be, writes back I can use 

 it for various kinds of manufacturing, and 

 makes an offer. Mr. Muth in speaking of 

 his business says: I purchase so much 

 honey each ye r. Does he exclude tliat just 

 referred to? I think not. 



Suppose then that glucose or cane syrup 

 is fed, I think we must pronounce the re- 

 sultant product honey. It is digested nectar. 

 But this does not say that it is good or even 

 marketable honey. I am very certain that 

 honey from commercial glucose would not 

 be good. The bees do not like it, will refuse 

 it if any other nectar is at command; will 

 die if feed it exclusively and continuously. 

 If mixed with honey it is easily detected by 

 the chemist, and so any such adulteration 

 can be detected, punished and so prevented. 

 If fed to bees, I doubt if it could be made a 

 success, and as all such production would be 

 confined to bee keepers it would cease as it 

 would not be to the honey producer's interest 

 to create an unworthy product, and injure 

 his own business. Such honey would be 

 palpably unwholesome, and as I believe it 

 could be detected, it would be possible to 

 prevent its production, should this be neces- 



sary. Honey then from feeding glucose, 

 would be still honey, but it would be infer- 

 ior, unwholesome, and so its production 

 could be and should be prevented. As it 

 could probably be detected, it could be pre- 

 vented should such a course be necessary, 

 which from the nature of the case is not 

 probable. 



Honey from feeding cane sugar is quite 

 another thing. It is honey and so far as we 

 yet know, indeed there is no reason to think 

 otherwise, it is entirely wholesome. It is 

 exactly like the honey from flowers except it 

 lacks some of the aromatic flavoring sub- 

 stances which exist in very minute quanti- 

 ties. If fed slowly it would be well reduced 

 by the bees, and I believe few would pro- 

 nounce it even an inferior honey. Mr. 

 Larrabee fed our bees twenty-three pounds 

 of honey in one night last June. This was 

 extracted the next day and my students— a 

 large class — all pronounced it undoubtedly 

 honey, and of excellent quality. A lady of 

 my household— the best Cook I ever had— 

 uponbeing told what it was said it had the 

 real honey flavor unmistakably, but was 

 mild and pleasant. It is interesting that the 

 chemists analyzed this and classed it with 

 samples of clover and bass wood honey of 

 most superior quality 



Yet the honey was rapidly stored and 

 would certainly have been more like most 

 honey from flower nectar had it been stored 

 in five days, instead of one. 



If then, honey from this source is entirely 

 wholesome,of which there can be no doubt, 

 if it is so excellent that forty persons en- 

 gaged in the study of honey pronounce it 

 houey and excellent in quality, and if our 

 best chemists class it with the best of honey 

 from the choicest honey plants, does it not 

 stand to reason that it can be, may be, and 

 shall we say ought to be, a product with no 

 tarnished fame or reputation? If upon fur- 

 ther investigation, it proves to be insipid 

 and inferior, then it will be for the interest 

 of bee keepers, the only ones who can pro- 

 duce it, to see to it that no such article is 

 produced and put into the market. If, as 

 some of our best bee keepers believe, it is 

 superior as a food for bees, may we not 

 from parity of reason, conclude that it 

 ranks high as a table commodity? 



Mr, Larrabee finds that he can dilute ex- 

 tracted honey with 12 per cent of water, and 

 feed it with a slight profit with foundation 

 in the sections, and at a greater profit if he 



