THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



191 



Honey as an Article of Pood. 



BEAD BKFOKE THE MICH. CONVENTION. 



The small boy of forty years ago had one 

 source of enjoyment not vouchsafed to the 

 youth of the present time. I refer to the 

 general muster, when the unterritied militia 

 (nicknamed the ragged barefoots) were call- 

 ed out to serve their country. This was a 

 gala day for the boy of the time. For 

 weeks and months he had saved and begged 

 till he had from one to four shillings in his 

 pocket to spend on this day of days, 

 various were the enticements to induce 

 him to part with his hard earned pennies. 

 There was the man with the barrel of sweet 

 cider at two cents a glass. There was the 

 man with a market basket of ginger-bread— 

 and such ginger-bread— its like never was 

 seen, either before or since, the color of 

 gold and fit for the table of a king. The 

 ginger-bread man always got a portion of 

 the boys' money. But the crowning attrac- 

 tion of the day for the boy of the time was 

 the man with the upturned bee-hive, from 

 which he cut dripping slices of virgin 

 honey, yet from fear that it would become 

 " loathsome from its own deliciousness" 

 and make the boys sick, he always sold 

 with it a slice of bread. He never failed to 

 , take the last reluctant penny. Alas, the 

 memory of those days is all that is left of 

 them. But the taste for sweet things has 

 been faithfully transmitted from that to the 

 present generation. 



The amount of sugar, syrups, honey, and 

 other sweet things consumed by the people 

 of the world is something astonishing, and 

 to the people of Great Britain and the 

 United States, must be accorded the distinc- 

 tion of using more than any others on the 

 face of the globe. "The Anglo-Saxon race 

 consume annually 41.4 Bs. per head, the 

 Latin race 12.34 Bbs. per head, the Teutonic 

 race 7.3 lbs. per head, while the poor of 

 Russia, Poland, Turkey, and Greece con- 

 sume only 3.3 Rs. per head."— Letherby on 

 food, page .50. So it will be seen that we 

 are eminently a sugar-consuming people. 

 Rich and poor alike share in this vast con- 

 sumption, so that to tax or adulterate the 

 sugars, syrups, or honeys, is to strike a 

 blow at one of the chief comforts which the 

 poor man can afford for his table. 



Tiie above figures are for sugar alone. I 

 regi'et that I have no statistics at hand to 

 show the consumption of honey alone, per 

 head, but from the census of 1870 1 gather 

 that in the United States there was raised 

 of honey nearly 1.5,000,000 lbs. This a fall- 

 ing off of over 8,.500,000 lbs. from the census 

 of 1860. By looking at the census for the 

 different States it would seem that tliis fall- 

 ing otf is the result in the Southern States, 

 of the war, and in the 'Northern States of 

 the bee disease— dysentery. But fi'om the 

 information furnished by our bee papers I 

 am satisfied that the production of honey is 

 increasing with rapid strides. Take for in- 

 stance the State of California, the census 

 report gives for 1870. 147 tons, while lately 

 we have reports of shipments, this last 

 autumn by single individuals of over 100 

 tons, and I have reason to believe that a 

 similar increase has been had in the rest of 

 the States. And this increased production 

 is going to continue. Heretofore the pro- 

 duction of honey was confined to compara- 

 tively few persons, but now this industry is 



attracting the attention of men of education 

 and practical skill— men who are prompt to 

 utilize the discoveries that have been made 

 within the last .50 years. The supply of 

 honey is practically inexhaustible, croakers 

 to the contrary, notwithstanding, and I will 

 venture the prophecy that the next census 

 will show astonishing results in this direc- 

 tion. So that all of you who have a longing 

 for honey on your buckwheat cakes, need 

 have no fear that you cannot continue to in- 

 dulge in this healthful food as years roll on. 

 In treating of honey as an article of food 

 it is hardly possible to disassociate it with 

 sugar. The chemical composition of each 

 is so near alike that 1 am compelled to treat 

 of them, so far as food is concerned as one 

 and tlie same substance. 



Dr. Dalton, who is high authority as a 

 pliysiologist, in treating of the substances 

 which compose the human body, indicates 

 three classes of proximate principles. Those 

 of the first class are of an inorganic nature, 

 such as water, salt, potash, lime, phos- 

 phates, etc. Those of the second class are 

 starch, sugar, and oil, and those of the third 

 class he terms the albuminoid substances. 



In this treatise I am concerned only as it 

 regards sugar. Our author says of sugar, 

 that "it includes a considerable number of 

 substances which differ in certain minor 

 details," and he classes the sugars under 

 the following six varieties, viz.: Vegetable 

 sugars— cane sugar, grape sugar, sugar of 

 starch. Animal sugars— milk sugar, liver 

 sugar, sugar of honey. While not feeling 

 qualified to dispute so high an authority, I 

 cannot but think he is mistaken in classing 

 sugar of honey as among the animal sugars. 

 Honey in its original state is certainly a 

 vegetable production, but that it undergoes 

 change in the honey sac of the bee I have 

 reason to doubt. 1 know that the dis- 

 tinguished entomologist. Prof. Riley, of 

 Missouri, holds to the opinion that it does, 

 but this position has oeen vigorously at- 

 tacked by some of our most scientific bee- 

 keepers and I think the weight of the 

 argument is against this classification. But 

 this point is immaterial in relation to my 

 present purpose. 



In speaking of food, under which our 

 author above quoted, includes "all those 

 substances, solid and liquid, necessary to 

 sustain the process of nutrition," he treats 

 of starch and sugars in the same group, 

 "since starch is always converted into sugar 

 in the process of digestion." He further 

 says that " there is a natural desire in the 

 humara species for both sacharine and 

 oleaginous food. It has," he writes, "been 

 supposed that sacharine matters could not 

 be absolutely necessary as food. Since it 

 has been found by the experiments of Ber- 

 nard, that in carnivorous animals kept ex- 

 clusively on a diet of flesh, sugar is still 

 found in the liver, as well as in the mam- 

 mary gland. The above conclusion does 

 not apply to the human species practically. 

 The carnivorous animals have no desire for 

 vegetable food, while in the human species, 

 there is a natural craving for it which is 

 almost universal. It may be dispensed 

 with for a few days, but not with impunity 

 for any great length of time." And turther 

 he lays down this comprehensive rule: 

 " The instinctive desire of animals for cer- 

 tain substances is the surest indication that 

 they are in reality required for the nutritive 

 process." 



