AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



697 



the Professor's charge, and make his 

 blows the more severe. Of course, we 

 well know that "sugar is not honey," 

 and have often so stated it in the Bee 

 Journal. It was a sad blunder to have 

 unthinkingly given into the hands of 

 our enemies the hammer with which to 

 strike this terrible blow ! 



One of our valued exchanges copied 

 the above extracts, and then added : 



Fifty samples of honey collected in 

 Ohio, for which 20 cents per pound — the 

 price of pure honey — was paid, and 20 

 were adulterated with glucose costing 3 

 cents per pound. Two samples had 

 been adulterated with cane sugar or 

 syrup. 



The labels on the samples, most of 

 which are transcribed, are very entic- 

 ing, -'Golden-Rod Honey," "XX White 

 Clover Honey," "Pure Old Virginia 

 Honey," " Strictly Pure Extracted 

 Honey," figure conspicuously. 



" Pure Machine Extracted-Honey," 

 labeled from the apiary of C. F. Muth, 

 also " Muth's California Honey," is 

 classed by the chemist as almost pure 

 glucose. 



No, sir. It is false ! Brother Muth 

 never mixed an ounce of glucose, or any 

 other adulterant with honey ! Never ! 

 Every one acquainted with the man 

 knows that it is beneath him to do so ! 

 Honesty is stamped upon his every 

 action — every word — every thought ! 



Brother Muth's crime is that, like an 

 honest man, he has^ fought adulteration, 

 and therefore an attempt must be made 

 to destroy his influence — he must be 

 branded as an adulterator ! 



The same thing has been done about 

 the editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. Men, when cornered in their 

 stories about manufactured comb-honey, 

 have several times asserted that they 

 had seen its editor actually make combs 

 by machinery, fill them with glucose, 

 and cap the cells with hot irons. 



These falsehoods have been repeated 

 over and over again, until some people 

 actually try to make themselves believe 

 them, even though there is not a word 

 of truth in them. But why multiply 

 words on this subject ? 



We close by saying that the purity of 

 honey cannot be absolutely determined 

 by analysis. The difference in atmos- 

 phere and soil makes it impossible to 

 invariably decide whether it is adul- 

 terated or not. This very thing has 

 given the wily Professor a chance to 

 stab us in the dark, but he brings down 

 upon himself and his associates the 

 execration of the apiarists of the world. 



This report has cost the United States 

 Government thousands of dollars, and 

 it is not only utterly worthless, but it is 

 a waste of money, and is a disgrace to 

 the Nation as well ! 



Bees and Fruit.— The following 

 item shows the value of bees to fruit- 

 growers : 



*A fruit-grower in England established 

 an extensive greenhouse, and stocked it 

 with choice native and exotic fruit trees. 

 He expected in due time that he would 

 have an abundance of fruit. Seasons 

 passed, but no fruit. There were plenty 

 of blossoms on each tree, but no fruit. 

 A great many different plans were 

 employed to bring the trees to bearing, 

 but they were all unsuccessful. Finally 

 a friend suggested to him to place a 

 colony of bees in his greenhouse to fer- 

 tilise the blossoms. The next season 

 there was an abundance of fruit. The 

 bees had distributed the pollen from 

 flower to flower, and thus fertilized the 

 blossoms. In the large greenhouses at 

 Arlington, N. J., where they raise early 

 cucumbers, they have bees to fertilize 

 the blossoms. 



Oloves used about the apiary, be- 

 coming dirty or covered with propolis, 

 can be easily cleaned by soaking a day 

 or two in strong lye made from potash 

 or wood ashes, or by soaking in water 

 saturated with quick-lime. The propolis 

 comes off without difficulty after such a 

 soaking. 



An Apiary in Windsor, Colo., last 

 season produced four tons of alfalfa 

 honey of excellent quality. Alfalfa is 

 the best honey-producer in that region 

 of country. 



