Glucose for Adulteration. 



Dear Editor. — Have you seen the 

 article in a recent No. of the Chicago 

 Tribune, entitled " Manufacture of 

 Glucose from Corn V" It seems you 

 have an extensive manufactory of it in 

 Chicago, and that it is used to an enor- 

 mous extent, for the adulteration of 

 California honey for exportation, etc. 

 Think of one house only, using in 1878, 

 five millions of bushels of corn in its 

 manufacture. Bee-keepers have no ob- 

 jection to their making as much of the 

 article as they please. What we object 

 to, is the lying and rascality implied in 

 selling it under a false name for an 

 article that costs twice or three times 

 as much. Bee-keepers are now suffici- 

 ently numerous and have influence 

 enough to put a check to this fraud, if 

 they choose to use their power, and 

 they will be forced to act in self defense. 

 C. W. Taylor. 



We have seen it, and also the item in 

 Gleanings for December page 474, where 

 Novice says : " Grape sugar, so bitterly 

 persecuted and misrepresented has 

 now taken its place among the legiti- 

 mate products of our indian corn, and 

 its manufacture has become a great in- 

 dustry, benefitting many classes of 

 people." W r e are sorry that Novice 

 should see fit to give it all this praise, 

 and carefully conceal the fact that one 

 of its main uses is to adulterate honey 

 and thus cheat the public and damage 

 bee-keepers. 



From the article of the Chicago 

 Tribune we extract the following : 



Manufacture of Glucose from Corn. 



The extent to which the manufacture of 

 glucose syrup from corn has reached, would 

 astonish the country if fully known. We 

 are not prepared to give figures indicating 

 the totality to which this business has al- 

 ready reached. In fact, the business is at 

 present mainly carried on under a kind of 

 secrecy, the profits being immense, and the 

 article produced being used, but not avow- 

 edly 



1. It is sold as was proven before the 

 Congressional Investigating Committees, in 

 immense quantities to sugar-refiners. 



2. It is sold to all manufacturers of so- 

 called syrups represented as made from 

 jure sugar. 



3. It is sold in immense quantities to 

 manufacturers of candy and all other forms 

 of confectionery ; instead of buying sugar 

 largely made from glucose, they now buy 

 the glucose itself and make their wares 

 direct from it. 



4. It is sold extensively to be mixed with 



California honey, it assimilating in color 

 and in other respects with that article. It 

 is mixed in the proportion of at least one 

 gallon of glucose to one of honey, and the 

 combined product is now not only sold to 

 consumers as honey, but is also exported to 

 Europe, where on account of its cheapness 

 as well as its flavor and other qualities, it is 

 finding an increasing market. 



5. It is used in the East in the manufac- 

 ture of sweet wines and in all liquors re- 

 quiring syrups. 



In naming these purposes to which glucose 

 is applied, we do not mean to say that it is 

 confined to such uses : of course, it enters 

 into all other productions of which sugar is 

 a constituent. 



The extent to which corn is used for the 

 manufacture of glucose, which manufacture 

 is only in its infancy, may be judged when 

 it is known that the consumption of corn 

 for this purpose during 1878 by the one es- 

 tablishment to which we referred, was 5,- 

 000,000 of bushels. For a time the trade was 

 confined to a few hands, in New York, but 

 the patent process has been sold to others, 

 and at least one large establishment is in 

 operation at Buffalo, another in St. Louis, 

 and a third in Chicago — the lafter having 

 been put in operation quite recently 



This industry presents the rather strange 

 phenomenon of manufacturing annually 

 the equivalent of many millions of pounds 

 of sugar, involving the employment of 

 large capital, with machinery, consuming 

 millions of bushels of corn, and yet the 

 whole business is carried on with as much 

 secrecy as attends the illicit distillation of 

 spirits. No purchaser is willing to avow 

 that he purchases the article ; both seller 

 and purchaser avoid publicity. The pur- 

 chaser of glucose sells it to his customers 

 under different names at ten times its origi- 

 nal cost, and the consumers are paying 

 several hundred per cent, profit on all com- 

 modities of which sugar or sugar syrup is 

 suppose to be the essential ingredient 



As Mr. Taylor remarks, the fraud is 

 in selling the article as " honey," and as 

 " syrup," calling it by these names, and 

 thus reaping a profit, unjustly and 

 fraudulently of 50 to 75 per cent, on 

 this adulterated "honey," or "syrup" 

 put upon the market. 



Let every bee-keeper take this mat- 

 ter in hand and write to the Member of 

 Congress from his district, and demand 

 his influence and vote for the law against 

 adulteration of food, when itshall again 

 be brought before Congress. Immediate 

 action is necessary, in order to secure 

 the passage of the law. 



The Bee-Keeper, is the title of a new 

 paper started in London, England. It 

 presents a very creditable appearance. 

 It is well edited and nicely printed. 



