light condition to cause what might be call- 

 ed constipation. At any rate, if there is no 

 relief the bees die in great agonj^ In this 

 condition they crawl out of the hive with 

 their wings stretched out or lying close to 

 the floor, and they roll over and tremble, 

 and at times seem to lose control of them- 

 selves. They have a greasy appearance, 

 and their abdomens seem to be so distended 

 that the different segments hardly meet. 

 They go to the edge of the alighting-board, 

 and fall to the ground in great numbers 

 and die. 



I am not a doctor nor a medicine man, 

 nor even an expert beekeeper; but I decid- 

 ed to try a remedy that occurred to me. I 

 made a syrup of equal parts of sugar and 

 water, and then mixed with it about a 

 fourth of a teaspoonful of herbine, a medi- 

 cine which we get here at the drugstore. I 

 poured some of this syrup into an empty 

 comb and set it at one side of the hive, and 

 the bees quickly emptied the cells. The 

 next day the hive was fairly covered with 

 brown spots, and one would almost need an 

 umbrella in the apiary, for the medicine 

 took quick action. I suppose almost any 

 kind of strong physic would answer, but 

 the herhine is all that I happened to be able 

 to get. 



Later on, the bees in this colony were 

 sick again, and I tried feeding syrup alone, 

 but it had no effect. Then I added the med- 

 icine, and it worked as well as before. 



Two more colonies were diseased, and 1 

 gave the bees the same treatment and with 

 the same result. 



My colonies are all right now; but if I 

 have any trouble I intend to shake the bees 

 on empty combs and give them a new sup- 

 ply of medicated syrup to take the place 

 of any bad stores they might have had. 

 San Jose, Cal. 



[This looks like a case of bee paraly- 

 sis. If so it might not disappear of itself 

 without treatment. Was the medicine re- 

 sponsible for the cure of the trouble men- 

 responsible for the cure of the trouble men- 

 tioned? We should be glad to have others 

 try it and report. — Ed.] 



THE ADULTERATION OF HONEY, AND WHAT 



rr MEANS TO THE BEEKEEPER AND 



DEALER 



BY HENRY REDDERT 



Up to a decade ago, before our national 

 Government enacted the pure-food laws 

 now in forc«, widely distributed eatables of 

 all kinds, including honey, were found adul- 

 terated to some degree. It was said at one 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



time that 40 per cent of the honey sold in 

 Ohio alone was mixed with ingi-edients for- 

 eign to its own kind. We know of cases 

 where small dealers, eager to make the most 

 mone}' out of a given quantity, mixed it 

 ^^^th sugar syrup the moment the farmer 

 selling it left their store. But the practice 

 has been abandoned, so far as we know, 

 simply because they fear the sting of pros- 

 ecution. 



Large dealers, as a rule, were honest. If 

 not, their business lasted but a shoi't time. 

 It was the small consumer who suffered 

 most, the large buyers having skilled in- 

 spectors at their warehouses — a fact known 

 by the sellers. I remember when honey 

 that was purchased from any one excepting 

 the beekeeper was considered impure, even 

 if the dealer giiaranteed it. Even up to the 

 l^resent day this supposition is still found, 

 but mostly among people who know very 

 little about honey. Recently a ladj' said to 

 me, " I buy your honey because you have 

 bees." I told her that I knew dealers in 

 the city who also had pure honey, but she 

 still insisted that the beekeeper's honey was 

 better. 



Frequently we read an article in the daily 

 newspapers about artificial comb honey, col- 

 ored and mixed strained honey, sugar synip, 

 etc. All have their share of condemnation. 

 One year my son sold the larger part of my 

 crop to druggists in one city. The honey 

 was very light. He had solicited their or- 

 ders by a small sample in a clear white-glass 

 bottle. One refused to take the gallon he 

 had ordered, saying it was colored, because 

 the density of the honey in the tin bucket 

 didn't admit the clear and light color of the 

 sample. Of course, he should have known 

 better. This case shows that even men of 

 science are baffled as to the purity of honey. 

 A beekeeping friend relates this incident : 

 A grocei-y and daily-market owner bought 

 a quantity of his honey for Ins own table, 

 saying, " When I buy j'our honey I know 

 it's pure." My friend replied, "What's the 

 matter with the honey you sell?" He an- 

 swered in broken English, " Dey always put 

 a little in." 



Why is the consuming public so doubt- 

 ful ? Simply this — even now we have bee- 

 keepers and honey-dealers who believe they 

 have found a recipe to improve the color 

 and taste of their product. Everj' purveyor 

 of honey should bear in mind that the edu- 

 cation of the general public in the elaborate 

 use of honey instead of other syn;ps de- 

 pends largely on the purity of the article. 

 By all means, don't mix. Every now and 

 then the newspapers cite cases where this 

 or that firm or pei"son has been fined for 



