174 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



sold as pure lard. Much of the ex- 

 tracted or strained honey that is put 

 upon the market, is made by flavoring 

 glucose syrup with a small amount of 

 honey. Extracted tea leaves are used 

 to increase the profits on tea. Of eigh- 

 teen samples of lemon extract exam- 

 ined by the State analyst for the Illi- 

 nois Food Commission, onl.v three con- 

 tained oil of lemon, and all of ten 

 samples of vanilla extract were adul- 

 terated, thou.yh sold as ''pure vanilla." 

 The same authority states that "the 

 only adulterations in jelly are artificial 

 body, artificial color and artificial fla- 

 vor, with perhaps the addition of pre- 

 servatives.'' Such jellies are composed 

 largely of starch, paste and glucose, 

 colored with analine dyes and flavored 

 with ethereal flavors. A somewhat bet- 

 ter grade of jellies, jams, fruit juices, 

 etc., is made from parings, cores, and 

 decayed fruit and put up with glucose, 

 a material much cheaper than cane 

 sugar. A number of the states have 

 laws regiilating the manufacture and 

 sale of food products, but in states 

 where no such laws exist the con- 

 sumer is forced to take what he finds 

 upon the market and suflier the conse- 

 quences. It is not necessary that the 

 adulterants which are not injurious 

 should be entirely prohibited, but it 

 is important that the packages should 

 be properly labeled; that is, the name 

 of the adulterant, dilutent or preserv- 

 ative should be made a part of the 

 label, and then if the consumer prefers 

 to use an adulterated article at a cor- 

 respondingly lower price he does it 

 intelligently. The report on the Inspec- 

 tion and Anal.vsis of Foods issued by 

 the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment 

 Station for February, 1902, contains 

 the following: "The prohibiting of the 

 sale of all injurious articles, and com- 

 pelling all imitative, artificially pre- 

 served and adulterated articles to be 

 so labeled, and to be sold on their 

 own merits, is bringing a noticeably 

 better class of foods to the Kentucky 

 public." If Kentucky and other states 

 having a food law are getting a bet- 

 ter class of food, is it not possible and 

 even very probable that Florida and 

 other states having no such law are 

 getting more and more of the adulter- 

 ated goods which cannot be sold in 

 states having the law? This is no 

 indifferent matter; it is far-reaching 

 in its effect, both on the health and 

 the morals of a community, state and 



nation. The continued consumption 

 of inferior and harmfiil food products 

 by any people must of necessity re- 

 sult in the physical and moral dete- 

 rioration of that people; while the 

 fraud and deception which must con- 

 stantly be practiced, destroy competi- 

 tion and force the otherwise honest 

 manufacturer and dealer to adopt 

 methods which he knows are question- 

 able.— A. W. Blair 



Mr. Fred W. Muth, president of the 

 honey-dealing corporation which bears 

 his name, at Cincinnati, was a pleas- 

 ant visitor at the Bee-Keeper sanctum 

 recently. Mr. Muth was circulating 

 among the producers of the state in 

 the interest of his house, and incident- 

 all.v casting the line for heavy fish, for 

 which sport he has a marked fondness, 

 with a particular liking for whales 

 and shark of the man-eating variety. 

 While on the coast Mr. Muth landed a 

 specimen of the latter entirely too large 

 to have its avoirdupois stated in fig- 

 ures to an incredulous public. "Fred," 

 as he is known by his more intimate 

 acquaintances of the fraternity, made 

 many warm friends on the East Coast. 



Mr. John W. Pharr, of Berclair. Tex., 

 writes that he has acquired the inter- 

 est of C. B. Bankston in the New Cen- 

 tury Queen-Rearing Co., of that place, 

 and he is now sole proprietor of the 

 concern. 



That little bird of ours that gets 

 around among the bee-keepers of the 

 country, intimates that the world will 

 add to its bee lore, one of these days, 

 a book on queen-reariu.g b,v "Swath- 

 more." 



The Texas Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will convene at A. & M. College, Col- 

 lege Station, Tex., July 7 to 10. Louis 

 Scholl, Hunter, Tex., is secretary of 

 the Association. 



The bee-keeper who solves the prob- 

 lem of converting his honey into bees- 

 wax at a ratio of three to one, will 

 have found the open sesame to wealth ± 

 by apiculture. I 



The American Bee-Keeper three 

 years for one dollar. Rather a cheap 

 and useful present for a bee-keeping 

 friend. 



