GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



him, and that I did not adulterate it myself? 

 Or suppose I buy from several people and 

 mix all the honey together so as to make one 

 grade — how can I prove afterward from 

 whom the adulterated honey came? The 

 dealer who sold the honey, whether he adul- 

 terated it or not, will, in case, of trouble, 

 naturally want me to prove that this was his 

 honey; and how can I do this? The only 

 way I can see would be to have the honey 

 sampled on receipt (each can or package), in 

 presence of witnesses at the depot on arrival; 

 then have it analyzed by a competent chemist; 

 but such expense and loss of time would, of 

 course, stop trade altogether. 



1 can not see the good of any guarantee, 

 once the honey has gone out of control of 

 the seller and passed into the possession of 

 the buyer, and been bottled by him. The 

 dealer may not know himself that the honey 

 he sells is adulterated; or, if unscrupulous, 

 he may adulterate it himself and give a guar- 

 antee of purity — knowing quite well that his 

 buyer can not afterward prove the honey in 

 a particular bottle or package is from him, 

 or that the buyer has not adulterated it him- 

 self; consequently I expect that, in case of 

 trouble, it will always in the end be the buy- 

 er that will have to suffer in case of convic- 

 tion — I mean the man who puts up such pur- 

 chases in small receptacles and sells it to the 

 consumer or retailer. 



Seeing the matter as I do, I am afraid to 

 buy any honey. Am I wrong? and can you 

 set me to rights and reassure me about the 

 workings of this pure-food law? 



Lake Charles, La. 



[Our correspondent has given us a hard 

 nut to crack — in fact, we have thought of the 

 same thing. Almost every good law, if it is 

 worth any thing, will work some inconven- 

 ience, perhaps hardship, upon innocent law- 

 abiding people Mr. R. states a condition 

 where an honest bottler might be made to 

 suffer for the rascality of some one else; but 

 the national pure-food law has been in effect 

 now for some fourteen months, and we have 

 yet to hear of a case like either of those sug- 

 gested by our correspondent. 



Take the case cited: Suppose your bottled 

 honey is pronounced adulterated and it is 

 made up of one or more lots of honey from 

 as many dealers. You should always retain 

 a good-sized sample of each lot. Having 

 done this you can have them all analyzed, 

 and the one showing the adulteration would 

 give you the means to place the blame where 

 it belongs. With a guarantee of purity from 

 the party furnishing such honey you would 

 be cleared of all responsibility and Uncle 

 Sam would proceed to prosecute the party 

 who furnished you the adulterated lot. 



Any bottler who does any extended busi- 

 ness should be able to determine pretty ac- 

 curately by the mere taste whether his hon- 

 ey is pure or not. Even if he does not have 

 the knowledge to make such determination 

 he should be careful to buy of honest and 

 well-known honey-producers or dealers. 

 When the honey arrives he should carefully 

 sample by tasting of every can or barrel of 



honey. If he tastes the honey and buys only 

 of reliable people he will not be likely to run 

 up against the national law, nor, in fact, any 

 State law barring out adulterated goods. 



But perhaps our correspondent would like 

 to know how to detect glucose, the most 

 common adulterant in honey, by the mere 

 taste. Let him buy a small quantity of glu- 

 cose of some confectioner, and then prepare 

 several samples of honey and put into a part 

 of them various percentages of glucose. First 

 he should taste the pure glucose until he is 

 perfectly familiar with its flavor. Next, in 

 a day or so afterward or when the glucose 

 taste is out of his mouth, let him taste the 

 prepared samples. If he does not find him 

 self pretty nearly unerring in detecting which 

 is glucosed we shall be surprised. But sup- 

 pose he finds his taste is not reliable. Let 

 him take a sample of adulterated honey and 

 pour over it a little alcohol and stir it. If 

 glucose is present the honey will become 

 cloudy. While this test is not entirely reli- 

 able, yet it will show if any considerable 

 quantity of glucose is used. 



In a word, the bottler's best protection is 

 his knowledge of reliable dealers and pro- 

 ducers, and his knowledge of good and pure 

 honey when he tastes it. — Ed.] 



UNITING WEAK COLONIES IN THE SPRING. 



On first thought, weak colonies could be 

 united to advantage, but the many failures 

 prove the fallacy of this plan. I have a 

 plan, however, which has proven very satis- 

 factory to me for a number of years — simply 

 unite the weak ones with the very strongest. 

 The strong ones can care for the little brood 

 the weak one may have if it is placed close 

 beside the brood of the strong one. This 

 plan will save the weak ones very nicely, 

 and especially where they may be too weak 

 to be united on the Alexander plan. If two 

 valuable queens come together, divide the 

 brood equally with a thin wooden division- 

 board with a double strip of zinc — one piece 

 nailed on either side. That will prevent the 

 queens from visiting each other. 



I prefer the board J or | thick, with a hole 

 I inch wide by 5 or 6 long through the cen- 

 ter, covered with zinc. Separate the colo- 

 nies as soon as the hive is well filled with 

 brood. F. H. Cyrenids. 



Oswego, N. Y. 



PASTE for LABELING TIN. 



I notice in Gleanings for Jan. 15 that Mr. 

 N. E. France recommends washing the sur- 

 face of tin with soda or vinegar before put- 



