1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



821 



Afternoon Session.— 2 p. m.— Announcements. 



—Miscellaneous business.—" Winterini? Bees," Ira 



Barber, DeKalb Junction, N. Y.— " Different Kaces 



of Bees," D. A. Jones, Beeton, Ont.— Adjournment. 



\V. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN REGARD TO THE HON- 

 EY BUSINESS OF OUR COUNTRY. 



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

 this department to publish the names of newspapers that per- 

 sist in publishing false statements in regard to the puiity of 

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



FALSE STATEMENTS IN THE ENGLISH PAPERS, IN 

 REGARD TO THE HONEY BUSINESS. 



«FTER reading- Gleanings for Nor. 1, and see- 

 ing the many clipping-s from papers about 

 bogus honej', I thought I would send 3-ou 

 one, especially after reading about your ex- 

 porting honey to England, and the man saj-- 

 ing they would not require more American honey, 

 etc. The inclosed slip is taken from the Newcastle- 

 on-Tyne Chronicle, England (my native city). After 

 reading it and your paper, I wondered if the one 

 had any connection with the other. Joh.n Lillie. 

 Vincennes, Ind., Nov. U, 1885. 



artificial honey. 

 One of the latest Amerieun novelties is artificial 

 honey— that is, honey adulterated with syruj) man- 

 ufactured from maize, the inerhod being as yet a se- 

 cret. Experiments on the subject show, however, 

 that if wheat or maize starch (not potato starch) be 

 treated with oxalic acid, or any other powerful or- 

 ganic acid, a syrup is produced which in a certain 

 concentration, and after standing two or three 

 weeks, exactly resembles in taste and appearance 

 old honey. 



Thank yon, friend L., bnt I do not believe 

 onr English correspondent had adidterated 

 honey in mind when lie wi-ote what he did. 

 The extract which yon send ns was ])robal)ly 

 brought out l)y what onr friends had seen in 

 the Americaii papers. We would suggest 

 to their, that if they want to be fair to tlie 

 friends over here they will tell what iiroofs 

 they have, that our corn syrup has ever 

 been brought over from America to be solil 

 as honey. Have the packages amilyzed. and 

 find out whei'e they come from. Let us 

 root out the fraud, no matter what it costs. 



FEEDING BEES SUG.\R SYRUP, AND SELLING IT FOR 

 HONEY. 



Below is part of a clipping from the Tole- 

 do Blade : 



Late in the fall, in warm days, feed each swarm 

 until it has ample stores to last till we can com- 

 mence to feed in spring. 



Now, what to feed. In preparing sugar syrup to 

 feed bees, use the best coffee crushed sugar (not 

 granulated, as that will tiiru back to sugar in the 

 cells), such as is used for cooking i)uiposes. // some 

 iifthis is Morrd in the hoxcK with honey coUcctcil from 

 flowers, it }riU in no ivay decrease il» value, or impair 

 the Unror nf t)ie honey. 



Feeding bees judiciously is a benefit to the con- 

 sumer as well as the producer. It increases the 

 product, makes honey cheaper, and does not impair 

 the quality. By increasing the quantity produced 

 by a swarm of bees, it increases the profit of that 

 swarm in dollars and cents; by increasing the quan- 

 tity of honey in the market it reduces pi-ices per 

 pound, and brings it within reach of all. 



Nearly every family with a garden might keep a 

 few swarms of bees with good profit. In commenc- 

 ing, get the best bees in the best hives, and manage 

 them on common-sense principles. 



Mrs. Lizzie E. Colton. 



The italics in the above extract are oiu-s. 

 There is no (question but that the editors of 



the Blade meant to credit it to Mrs. Cotton. 

 The letter L was probably a typographical 

 mistake, and her teaching accords exactly 

 with wdiat she says in her book. Of course, 

 she does not directly recommend feeding su- 

 gar on a large scale 'to get nice comb honey, 

 but she very plainly suggests that it may be 

 done, and that nobody will be harmed by it. 

 We call upon the editors of the Toledo Blade 

 to recognize the fact tliat they are encourag- 

 ing a fraud and imposition upon the public ; 

 and we hope that wlien their attention is 

 called to it they will as publicly protest. We 

 would also remind them that they are allow- 

 ing one who has been for years published as 

 a fraud, to use their pages as an indirect 

 means of advertising her fraud. 



From the Apiarian department of the 

 Rural Neic -Yorker. o( a late date, we clip 

 the following: 



THE OXE thing THAT FRAUD CAN NOT 

 COUNTERFEIT. 



I am surprised to note the following response to 

 an inquirv in the Farmers' Club of a late Rural New 

 Yorker: " It is probably true, 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 parattine, and filled with a substance like 

 honev." Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to say that the 

 above is not only not probably true, but that it is 

 utterlv absurd, mischievously false, and entirely 

 impossible. No such thinj; has ever been done, and 

 it is verv certain that no such thing ever can be 

 done. ()nly Nature's deft and delicate fingers can 

 fashion the beautiful comb honey. Comb honey is 

 one thing that fraud can not counterfeit. Whoever 

 purchases the beautiful, white, incomparable comb 

 honey, may be sure that ho has Nature's product, 

 pure "and genuine. 



A few years ago. Prof. II.W. Wiley, now Chemist 

 of the .\yrieultural Department at Washington, 

 published an interestin'i- article on sugar, in the 

 rojnilarSi-iriiri' Mntitlilu. in which he made the above 

 statement, aiipiuentiv in all soberness. .Afterward, 

 when Prof. Wiiev was called upon for proof of what 

 was palpalih- alisurd to any one who knows of the 

 real nature of comb honey— a substance which is 

 clearlv iuiinitiilile— he replied: "I only said it as a 

 scientific i)leasantrv." This statement was appar- 

 entlv as candid and earnest as any part of the arti- 

 cle, and so was widely copied by the press of the 

 country, and now, like all untruthful statements, 

 it is, ever and anon, lifting its ungracious head, only 

 to do mischief. 



Comb honey owes its excellence to its very deli- 

 cate structure. The cell walls of the comb are only 

 1-UOof an inch in thickness, and thus the delicate 

 wax breaks up in the mouth almost without any ex- 

 traneous force, and just serves to reduce or dilute 

 the exquisite honev, and so becomes one of the most 

 coveted articles of diet. It seems almost like sacri- 

 lege to say that such an incomparable article can be 

 made artiflciallv. As before stated, it is utterly im- 

 possible; never has been done, and never can be 

 done. I hope, Mr. Editor, you will puldish this cor- 

 rection at once, and that the many papers that have 

 spread the error may be equally quick to fling out 

 the correction: even then much wrong will be done; 

 for. as we all know, falsehood will traverse the globe 

 while truth is hitchinar up her horse. 



Agricultural Coll., Mich. Pkof. A. J. Cook. 



Manv, manv thanks, friend Cook for hav- 

 ing struck so effective a blow% at just the 

 right time and in the right place ; but it 

 does reallv seem to me as if the editors of the 

 Rural Xew-Vorker should have added an 

 editorial note, or made some little apology, 

 for their unwise and inconsiderate state- 

 ment. I want to emphasize Prof. Cook's 

 w\irtls where he says : 



No such thing has ever been done, and it is very 

 certain that no such thing ever can be done. 



And : 



