make that a warm place. About 9 miles 

 south of this we halt at Wirt's apiary, in 

 Keithsburg ; here we find about 100 hives, 

 all Langstroth, surrounding his honey-house. 

 His swarming was conducted in this wise ; 

 there being no trees near his apiary, he 

 took some old gooseberry bushes and placed 

 them on poles about 6 to 10 feet high: on 

 these his bees always settled fully one-half 

 settling on one pole. These poles were 

 dropped in a hole in the ground and when 

 the swarm liad settled, he carried pole and 

 bush to his hive. 



Six miles east of this we find an apiary of 

 250 Langstroth hives, belonging to Dr. N. H. 

 Derr. 



About 8 miles from Keithsburg, and 4 

 miles north of Oquawka, we find the bee 

 ranch of N. L. Jarvis, 150 hives, Banta & 

 Kellogg. 



The order and arrangement of Kellogg's 

 apiary, shop and tools are fully commenda- 

 ble, everything in its place; tools bright and 

 in condition for use. In fact, everything is 

 stamped with neatness and precision. In 

 this apiary there are about 100 hives. 



To the north of this are 2 more apiaries 

 belonging to Dickie & Hollingsworth, num- 

 bering perhaps 200 hives. 



To sum up, we have near us 10 apiaries, 

 numbering in all about 1,500 colonies. In 

 tlie year of 1877, 79 members of Western 

 Illinois and Eastern Iowa owned 3,980 colo- 

 nies of bees, from which they got 144,000 fts. 

 of honey. Can any other convention beat 

 that? D. D. Palmer. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Adulteration of Sweets. 



" Behold, I give unto you power to tread on ser- 

 pents and scorpions, and over all the power of the 

 enemy ; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." 

 -Luke 10 : 19. 



Such is the answer that Mr. A. I. Root, 

 under the date of Sept. 1st, made to the 

 articles criticising his course in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for September. 



Still he deigned to descend from his 

 pedestal to briefly answer my article on 

 Adulteration of Sweets, in this language : 



" Because I have declined an article on the adulte- 

 ration of honey, it has been intimated that I did it 

 from selfish motives. I do not believe in ' writing 

 up' or ' down' a thing, nor have 1 much faith in 

 petitions to Congress, or legislation ; but I do believe 

 in letting people exercise their own good, common 

 sense, and letting demand and supply regulate dis- 

 puted questions. I have never bought or sold a 

 pound of glucose in my life ; but I have sold a great 

 many tons of grape sugar for feeding bees, to incite 

 brood-rearing. Grape sugar cannot be mixed with 

 honey, either in the hive or out of it, by any way that 

 I know of, on account of Its propensity to solidify 

 and separate. My profits are a quarter of a cent a 

 pound. 



" In regard to what shall or shall not be published 

 In Oleanings, it seems to me you have chosen me to 

 be the one to decide; 1 am always glad of suggestions, 

 but inasmuch as we have, all the time, a great deal 

 more gond matter than can possibly be used, I do not 

 see how I can always accommodate all of you." 



In this answer, Mr. Root mistakes the 

 facts. It is not because he declined an arti- 

 cle on adulteration of honey, but because he 

 declined at least three letters and the peti- 

 tion, and especially because he continues to 

 extol glucose, knowing, as well as I do, that 

 sugar is cheaper and more wholesome to 

 feed bees. 



In a letter Mr. Root had promised to help 

 me in fighting adulteration. Why did he 

 refuse his co-operation, after receiving the 

 petition ? Because I stated in this petition 

 just what glucose was ! I dare Mr. Root to 

 point out another motive. 



Mr. Root does not believe in "writing up" 

 or "down" anything, and j'et he was the one 

 to decide what was fit to be published. To 

 my mind, an editor should be like a judge, 

 having the strict duty of putting before the 

 people both sides of a disputed question, 

 especially when it is an important one. A 

 judge or an editor who acts differently, is 

 not an impartial one ; I will say more, is not 

 an honest man, whatever be his claims to 

 bigotry or Christianity. 



Mr. Root has never sold a pound of liquid 

 glucose. But he has prepared the way to 

 sell it by tons, by intimating that basswood 

 honey is better when mixed with glucose, 

 and that no chemist would be able to detect 

 the adulteration. It is true that he adds that 

 such mixture would be dislionest. Imagine 

 a father telling his sons that there are riper 

 watermelons in the garden of our neighbor ; 

 you could help yourself easily without being 

 detected ; but don't go. for it would be dis- 

 honest ? What would be the result ? The 

 boys would steal the watermelons ! Mr. 

 Root acts like that father, and anticipates a 

 good sale of glucose to mix with the crop of 

 honey ! He cannot be responsible. Oh ! 

 no ! Did he not tell his readers that this 

 adulteration would be dishonest ? 



Mr. Root, who believes in miracles, does 

 not believe in science, since he imagines 

 that scientists cannot detect adulteration. 

 He does not believe in legislation; but he 

 believes in letting people exercise their com- 

 mon sense, leaving demand and supply to 

 regulate disputed questions. 



Every adulterator would endorse these 

 views, and become rich before the question 

 of adulterated honey could be fixed. In 

 nearly all the civilized nations of the world — 

 in England, France.Germany, etc.— there are 

 public officers to examine ail the articles of 

 rood offered to the people. Why ? Because 

 nobody would be able to detect all the 

 frauds. For years, glucosed honey flooded 

 our market, hindering the sale of the pure 

 article. What good did, in this case, the 

 system of letting the demand regulate the 

 supply ? None ; for the adulterated article 

 is every year more and more freely offered. 

 Some of this adulterated article was exported 

 to England. Immediately it was detected ; 

 the grocer of Glasgow, who had sold it, was 

 fined, and the American dealers hastened to 

 remove their spurious article, not only from 

 England, but from France, and this unlaw- 

 ful business was nipped in the bud on the 

 European continent. As legislation only 

 could do that, let us have legislation. 



" Olenn'inns has too many good things to 

 u.se all." les; we find in Qleanmgs a 

 great many letters praising the goods sent 

 by the editor, together with some accounts 

 of a boy who i-eturned drunk, of another 

 who swears, etc. But of what importance 

 is the adulteration of honey to us bee- 

 keepers, when compared with such interest- 

 ing facts ? Was it not enough for the 

 readers of Oleanings to know that what 

 was said against glucose, was but sensational 



