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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



try are getting to be greatly overcrowded in 

 population. Lands subject to cultivation 

 in the East are getting to be scarce; and 

 farms are too small to compete with ranch- 

 es in Kansas and Nebraska, of 250 to 500 

 acres; and if this vast area could be open- 

 ed up, thousands and millions of people 

 would be able to acquire homes where now 

 they are able to eke out only a bare living. 

 " The labor organizations, . . . manu- 

 facturing, jobbing, and transporting inter- 

 ests of the country appreciate," says Mr. 

 Newell, "the overwhelming importance of 

 this great potential home market now but 

 sparsely inhabited. Private enterprise," 

 he concludes, " has already gone to its full 

 limit. State action has been confined al- 

 most wholly to attempted improvements in 

 legislation and the control of the distribu- 

 tion of the water among the irrigators. 

 National works are being urged by those 

 who have most thoroughly studied the sub- 

 ject, upon the ground that the nation alone 

 is in a position to conserve the water sup- 

 ply, since it controls the land and the 

 sources of most of the important streams." 

 There can be no question about this. The 

 only trouble now is that a few partisans in 

 the East imagine that the opeuing-up of 

 these arid lands by irrigation will ruin the 

 farming interests on this side of the Missis- 

 sippi. There could be no greater mistake. 

 " They do not appreciate," says Mr. New- 

 ell, "the fact that wheat, corn, and other 

 staple products of the East, are not raised 

 by irrigation, save for the most limited lo- 

 cal consumption, and never will be, be- 

 cause the cost of cultivation under irriga- 

 tion is such that only the higher-priced 

 products can be raised. The citrus fruits 

 and the green and dried fruits of the arid 

 regions differ from those of the humid re- 

 gion, and have in no respect reduced the 

 price or limited the product of peaches, ap- 

 ples, or any other fruit of the East." 



I hope our subscribers will write to their 

 Representatives in Congress, urging them 

 in the interests of humanity to support any 

 measure looking toward the development of 

 the arid lands of the great West, and thus 

 scatter our population where all will have 

 a more equal chance in life. 



A FEW PLAIN FACTS ABOUT GLUCOSE, BY A 

 CHEMIST. 



In the. American Bee Journal th&ve have 

 appeared two articles by Prof. E. N. Ea- 

 ton on the subject of honey and beeswax, 

 considered by the Illinois Food Commission. 

 Regarding glucose he writes: 



Glucose is produced by the action of dilute sulphu- 

 ric, oxalic, or hydrochloric acid upon starch, in an 

 open or closed vei^sel, with or without pressure The 

 conditions of manufacture govern the quali y of the 

 syrup. If the boiling be conducted in an open^'essel, 

 only a part of the starch will be converted into dex 

 trose. the remaining portion forming dextrin. This 

 forms the so-called glucose syrup of trade. If the 

 boiling is conducted in a closed vessel under pressure, 

 almost all the starch is converted into dextrose. This 

 product, after treatment and evaporation in vacua, 

 forms the article of commerce known as grape sugar. 

 The liquid product is alone used as an adulterant of 

 honey. 



In Germany, potatoes furnish the starch for the 

 manufacture of glucose, but in the United Statts corn 

 alone is used. 



After the starch is converted into " glucose," the 

 acid is destroyed. In case sulphuric or oxalic acid is 

 used, lime is added, forming calcium sulphate (gyp- 

 sum) or calcium oxalate and these products being in- 

 solvent in the syrup may be separated by filtration. 

 In this country, of late'years, hjdrochloric acid is 

 generally used in manufacturing glucose, the acid be- 

 ing destroyed by soda-lye, which forms .sodium chlo- 

 ride, or common salt, which, while it can not be re- 

 moved on account of its solubility, is perfef^tly harm- 

 less, and is not in sufificient quantity to affect the taste 

 of the syrup. Hydrochloric acid is also superior to 

 sulphuric acid, as it is less likely to be contaminated 

 with arsenic. The recent wholesale poisoning in Eng- 

 land was attributed to arsenic in glucose used in the 

 manufacture of beer. In the manufacture of glucose, 

 English manufacturers use sulphuric acid produced 

 from pjrites. the original source of the arsetuc. 



Several grades of glucose are marketed, graded by 

 degree of concentration and color. Confectioners' 

 glucose is the best, and almost white in color. 



Recently a grape sugar has been placed upon the 

 market consisting of almost pure dextrose, white in 

 color. The product in a granulated form is being 

 somewhat extensively used as a substitute for cane su- 

 gar in baking and lo mix (I am not aware of its being 

 done fraudulently) with cane sugar. It is a possible 

 adulterant of honey. 



Glucose is only one-half as sweet as cane sugar, pos- 

 sesses a characteristic metallic tas-te, and is miscible 

 in all proportions in water and solutions of other su- 

 gars. It does not readily crystallize. It tractably ac- 

 quires the flavor of the substance with which it is mix- 

 ed. Its cheapness and general properties make it an 

 excellent adulterant for other sugars. Probably nine- 

 tenths of all adulteration in honey and syrups con- 

 sists of glucose. 



Glucose occurs in nature in combination with other 

 sugars in many fruits and vegetables. An investiga- 

 tion performed at the instance of the United States 

 Department of Internal Revenue resulted in finding 

 gli cose as made in this country not in the least detri- 

 mental to health ; in brief, a proper food. 



It may be mentioned that the glucose of to-day is 

 superior to the product investigated by this Commis- 

 sion. Some grades of glucose, especially that intend- 

 ed for Southern trade, are decolorized and preserved 

 by sodium sulphite, a substance not improving the 

 healthfulness of any food into which it enteis. 



The amount of violent active poisons, sul- 

 phuric and hydrochloric acid, lime, ar.sen- 

 ic, and other awful drugs that are used in 

 the manufacture of glucose, is such that no 

 consumer, if he knew how it is made or 

 what he is eating, would even taste it. 

 Chemically speaking, a wholly refined glu- 

 cose is not unwholesome; but the ordinary 

 article, such as is used for adulterating 

 honey, is the very cheapest stufi" the glu- 

 cose-factories can put out. The acid used 

 in its manufacture appears to be not en- 

 tirely neutralized, or it is over-neutralized 

 by the use of strychnine. If it were not for 

 the beer business and the general adulter- 

 ation business throughout the world there 

 would be no trade or traffic in glucose; 

 and regarding the manufacture of beer I 

 note that Prof. Eaton refers to the recent 

 " wholesale poisoning in England " " at- 

 tributed to arsenic in glucose used in the 

 manufacture of beer; " and a large part of 

 the American beer, as I happen to know 

 (not the hop beer) is a decoction of rank 

 poisons. Any one who can eat some of 

 these so-called decoctions of honey, almost 

 entirely of glucose, must have a stomach of 

 brass or iron. 



But there is another point that is quite 

 interesting, for Prof. Eaton says, "Glu- 

 cose is only half as sweet as cane sugar. 

 It possesses a characteristic metallic taste. 



