230 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



hoping that this old-time rain will give us an 

 abundance of bloom, and that the weather 

 will be favorable while it is in bloom, which 

 it has not been for years past. But, to go 

 back to extracting. 



We are all interested in securing the largest 

 results from our bees, and for this reason I 

 want to " agree to disagree " with Mr. Cogg- 

 shall when he states that " In extracting, the 

 knife should cut deep, so as to give the bees 

 an opportunity to use up their surplus wax, 

 which would otherwise go to waste.'" This is 

 the first time I have ever known the bee to be 

 charged with wastefulness, and I wish, in its 

 defense, to state that the bee does not carry 

 its surplus wax about in its pockets, read}' to 

 shake it loose like a chicken shedding feathers, 

 when it has no further use for it. Ou the con- 

 trary, all raisers of comb honey know how 

 difficult it is to get the bee to make comb, 

 save when the honey is coming in with a rush. 

 At that time a large number cf bees are kept 

 in the hive clustering in idleness, consuming 

 large amounts of honey that they may " sweat 

 wax," and this right in the heart of the flow. 

 Now, I contend that every pound of wax made 

 at this time costs many more pounds of hon- 

 ey; and the less wax the bees have to build, 

 the more honey will be gathered. How about 

 it, brother bee-keepers? 



The manufacturers, bottlers, and retailers 

 of glucose assure us that glucose is healthful, 

 and to be preferred to sugar. The following, 

 from The Medical Record of Dec. 15, proves 

 the contrary : 



The English victims of poisoning in beer now num- 

 ber iiice than sixtj' dead and more than one thousand 

 ill. It has been completely established that ihe cause 

 of the poisonine is arsenic in the sulphuric acid used 

 in the manufacture of glucose which the English 

 brewers use in the place of malt and hops in the man- 

 ufacture of cheap beer. An analysis shows that some 

 beers contain arsenic sufficient to kill a persistent 

 drinker, as much as one sixth of a grain being found 

 in a pint. The fact that arsenic is a cumulative poison 

 makes it the more dangerous. 



I have ta^^ted glucose, bottled in San Fran- 

 cisco, and bearing the label " L'^s Angeles 

 Or tnge-blossom Honey, Guaranteed Absolute- 

 ly Pure," that was unadulterated ( with honey) 

 glucose. So very strong is its taste of sulphu- 

 ric acid and brass that it could not be retained 

 in the mouth. Now, if a teaspoonful of glu- 

 cose in a pint of beer will kill a man, how 

 long will it take the straight article, with a 

 piece of comb honey inserted as a bait, to do 

 the same work? 



Murphys, Cal., Feb. 2.3. 



[The statement of The Medical Record is 

 quite in line with some tests I made on my- 

 self some years ago. For experimental pur- 

 poses we purchased a small quantity of com- 

 mercial glucose — the very same article that is 

 used so largely for adulterating. I sampled 

 this stuff repeatedly, taking sometimes a 

 whole spoonful. It came very near inducing 

 vomiting several times as a result of this tast- 

 ing, and I was sick for two weeks. My whole 

 digestive apparatus had become disarranged ; 

 and no one can make me believe it was not 

 the poison in the glucose^the sulphuric acid, 

 the arsenic, and every thing else that is used 



in its manufacture. The greed of the manu- 

 facturers is so great they do not stop to clarify 

 the cheaper grades they put out. By pajing 

 enough, one can get a good grade ; but the 

 mixers do not find the better goods so profita- 

 ble, and therefore use the very cheapest be- 

 cause it "looks all right." 



I was very sorry to see in the Ohio Merchant 

 an admission from Prof. H. W. Wiley, Chief 

 Chemist of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, as to the wholesomeness of glucose. 

 While I indorse most heartily every thing he 

 said in the article, there is one statement 

 that I feel sure will do harm, because I do not 

 think it can be true of the ordinary glucose — 

 such stuff as is used for adulterating. He says 

 in the article on page 24 of the periodical 

 above mentioned : 



There is a distinction to be drawn between injuri- 

 ous and harmless adulterants. Certain falsificat.ons 

 have no bad effect upon the health of the con.'-umer — 

 as, for example, glucose, which is one of the rat st 

 largely employed of all adulterants, (ilucose is not 

 at all unwholesome. It is prepared from India corn, 

 and something like ten pounds of it are manufactured 

 aiinuallv in the United States for ever j' man, woman, 

 and child in the country. There can be no objection 

 to it, except that it pretends to be what it is not. 



What Prof. Wiley doubtless alludes to is- 

 chemically pure glucose. The manufacturers 

 of the stuff have probably sent him some for 

 his inspection — the very best glucose that tht-y 

 can make, and from this he might base his 

 statement as to its wholesomeness. But if he 

 will, as did ourselves, go to the concerns that 

 make a business of adulterating their wares 

 with glucose, and analyze such an article, I 

 feel positive he will find poison enough in it, 

 in the way of arsenic and sulphuric acid, to 

 upset the stomach of a pig. It is this vile 

 glucose that is used so much in honey ; and 

 when these glucose-mixers masquerade their 

 decoctions under the names of " Strictly Pure 

 Honey," " Farmers' Honey," " Bees' Honey," 

 and a dozen other honest names, the over-sus- 

 picious public conclude that, if these a.iQ hon- 

 ey, they will never buy another ounce, nor 

 will they. It is this feature of the glucose 

 business that disgusts consumers with all 

 kinds of honey, and that is proving to be so 

 damaging to the honey business of the United 

 States. 



I hope Prof. Wiley, whom I believe to be a 

 friend of bee-keepers, and one who has done 

 much for the cause of pure food, will have oc- 

 casion to modify the statement, because he 

 has before spoken of the wholesomeness of 

 the syrup from corn. 



Further on in the same article he says, 

 " Maple sj-rup, so called, is nearly always fals- 

 ified with other substances, and over 40 per 

 cent of the strained honey sold is impure." 

 This last statement is a little too strong. In 

 some cities it is possibly true ; but I doubt if 

 there is anywhere in Ohio, under our present 

 law and our present food commissioners, a 

 place where there is even one per cent of glu- 

 cosed hone}' ; and Chicago, once the very hot- 

 bed of adulteration, has been compelled, on 

 account of the new food commissioners, and 

 the new law, to go out of the business, and 

 sell only pure syrups and honeys. — Ed ] 



