1885 



GLEAKIKGS LN BEE CULTURE. 



737 



stances, steal eggs ; and your singular ex- 

 periment seems, so far as I can see, to be 

 evidence almost positive. The next ques- 

 tion is. How did that Italian bee succeed in 

 getting access to a brood-comb ? If the bee 

 slipped into a black colony in the way that 

 robbers do. and obtained an egg, and got i 

 out again, it is one of the most wonderful 

 promptings of instinct that have ever been 

 recorded. This worker-ljee was a hero. The 

 safety of the whole colony depended upon i 

 him, and he, like a brave patriot, risked his | 

 life for the possible chance of obtaining re- 

 lief for the rest of his fellows, and succeeded. 

 We have had record before, of tlie way in 

 which a young queen cuts open the queen- 

 cells and stings the occupant, but your ac- 

 count of it is very plain and clear evidence. 

 Many thanks for your communication. 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN REaARD TO THE HON- 

 .EY BUSINESS 0? OUE COUNTRY. 



As a protection to our bee-keeping population, we propose in 

 this department to publish the names of newspapers tiiut per- 

 sist in publishing false statements in regard to the purity of 

 honey which we as bee-keepers put on the market. 



fpl HE following is sent us, clipped from 

 l'' the JST. Y. NV'eekly Tribune of Oct. 7: 

 ^ COUNTEUPEIT "COMU IIONEV." 



Mr, George A. Stockvvell draws attention to 

 what we have reason to Relieve is a widely 

 prevalent and g-rowing evil— tht- aihiltcrai i>in of 

 noney, not only by inixinu- a lai-ji-c iXTccntaf^c <.t 

 fi-lucose with the extractcil prodiicl. hut li.\- iTicaiis 

 of "fed apiaries," wlicic sii^;!n- inul ■waici- is sup- 

 plied to the bees, which ilc|Misit it in ilic rcnili. He 

 tells T/iC iV. B. FnrnK/- that "the market isfjiiitted" 

 with this counterfeit, ami yives the lullowiuji items 

 of observation and experience: 



The bee-keeper delights to watch the bees as they 

 come and go. Jii the busy season they drop iii)oii 

 the alighting-lioard as fast as drojis of rain, and 

 faster than man can count they aie leiMing the en- 

 trance for the fields. Tlie ceaseless iicu\ity is in- 

 spiring as well as interesting. Hut in !i fed apiary 

 the scenes are different. Tlie young bees and the 

 drones may play in the sun in front oi the hive, but 

 the hurrying workers are not seen as in otiier apia- 

 ries. Where are they? They are within the lii\e 

 carrying syrup frotn the feeder tn t he eomh-- 'l'l:f.\ 

 are active, but active in what / In ronntei-ieiimv : 

 The blame lies with the bee-mastei-, who (■mplo.Ns 

 bees to build eomt) around suLjar s.\ inp that he may 

 sell for honey. There is inDlit in selling for twenty- 

 flve cents what cost live eeiits or less, but, in tlie 

 long run, there is no i)r()lit in dishonest v. 



The honey olitMiiied by feeding granulated-su-ai- 

 syrup has an attr■aeli^(' appearance in the eoniii. 

 It is white, so eulled, l.iit there is also a ilnll, Idnish 

 tinge that tells its history at onee to the practiced 

 eye. If this counterfeit w<?re sold on its merits, no 

 one would complain; but it is sold for honey. A 

 bee-keeper carried to market luire com It iioney. 

 Some of it was white, not the bluish white, some 

 was darlc, and some yellow. The dealer would not 

 buy. "1 could never sell it," he said; "but if you 

 can produce honey like this" (pointing to a can of 

 sugar honey), " I can dispose of it." Tlie bee-keep- 

 er was disgusted. His pure honey could not com- 

 pete and win with sugar and water. Let luiyers 

 demand honey, and not accept at any price what is 

 not honej-. That will give sugar and water a cold 

 shoulder, and drive it out of the market. 



Now, if we knew where Mr. George A. 

 Stockwell lives we might have some chance 

 of refuting this slander on our industry. If 

 there is an apiary in our land where comb 

 honey is produced by feeding bees sugar 

 syrup, let us hold the man up until he quits 

 the business. I do not believe there is a 

 word of truth in the statement, that adul- 



terated honey ever brought a better price 

 than a good quality of the genuine article. 

 Will the Tiibune please take notice, that 

 they are greatly wronging an honest and 

 hard-working class of people by giving place 

 to statements like the above. Vhich are en- 

 tirely untruthfulV 



ANOTHER. 



1 mail you a copy of the Lafayette Dailxi Journal, 

 which has an article on first page, headed "The 

 Busy Bees' Occupation Gone." Please read it. 



Oxford, Ind. .lAS. Campbell. 



Below is the extract from the Dailv Jimr- 

 iml, of Oct. KJ: 



THE BUSY BEES' OCCUPATION GONE. 



The spurious honey is now put up in little square 

 boxes, which sell for from twenty to thirty cents a 

 pound". It looks like honey, and it is said that it 

 takes an excellent judge to tell that it is a fraud on 

 the bee. 



The comb is manufactured with such skill that 

 but few can tell it from the genuine article. It i.s 

 made from iiaralline or beeswax, and the honey is 

 blown into it by machinery. 



Another kind is put up in glass vessels like ordi- 

 nary .iclly-packages, the center of which contains a 

 piece of honey-comb, and the honey Is madts by 

 jiouring about six parts of glucose around one part 

 of Iioney in the comb. Some of it is adulterate<l 

 with glucose, some with cnite sugar, with the syrilp 

 of iiuH'rted caiK' sugar and others by heating tn-di- 

 nary sugar with an acid; but it all resembles hon- 

 ey, and to a certain extent has its tlavor and odor. 



As tliere is no name or signature to the 

 above item, we are forced to believe that it 

 is an editorial, or written by one of the re- 

 porters. Will our friends of the Journul 

 lake notice, tli.il the above is absolutely 

 false, and that we have for more than a year 

 been trying to tind out a single case t)f tlie 

 kind mentioned. Tlie comb honey in little 

 square boxes is genuine bees' Iioney; and not 

 even an attempt has ever been made to imi- 

 tate it. We stand ready to go to any need- 

 ful expense to ferret out' this whole matter, 

 and prove what we say. There is this much 

 truth in regard to tlie last part of the para- 

 gra])h. There are glass vessels on the mar- 

 ket, containing a piece of genuine comb 

 honey: Imt as all Iioney candies as soon as 

 tlic 'ivcather becomes moderately cool, the 

 proprietors of this kind of package use what 

 tliey call corn syru]) to pour around the hon- 

 ey—or rather, perhaps, a mixture of honey 

 and corn syrup ; but every jar of this honey 

 has the matter fully explained by a label, so 

 that every purchaser knows exactly what he 

 is getting. If honey can be procured that 

 will not candy at the approach of cool weath- 

 er, it would probably be used instead. So 

 far as manufacturing comb honey is con- 

 cerned, it is both untrue and impossible. 



Please read this little slip of paper; and as you 

 read, understand it was clipped from that best of 

 all agricultural journals, the Rural Neu--Yorker. If 

 you think best to notice it in Gle.\nings, do so. 



Borodino, N. Y., Oct. Ifi, 1885. G. M. Doolittle. 



S. W. M., Griffin, Ga.— Bishop Clark, of Rhode Is- 

 land, in a late New- York papei-, says that men, 

 without the aid of bees, now make and sell "comb 

 honey," in which neither wax nor honey is used; 

 that the comb is made of paraffine, and filled with 

 substance resembling honey. If this is true, it is a 

 death-blow to the honey trade; if not true, the 

 agricultural press ought to contradict it. 



Ans.— It is probably true; but the sale of such 

 imitations must be limited to those ignorant of the 

 properties of genuine honey. Such concoctions 



