114 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Whereas, The possible benefits to be 

 derived by the fruit-grower from spray- 

 ing during the time of blooming are 

 slight at most ; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Association recommends 

 the apiarian societies of the various 

 States to memorialize their respective 

 legislatures to enact such laws as shall 

 forbid the spraying of fruit-trees during 

 the time of blossoming. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Fkank Benton, 1 

 A. N. Draper, V Com. 

 J. E. Crane. ) 

 (Continued next week.) 



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ILAJ 



"Where Are We At" on the 

 Adulteration of Honey ? 



Written for the American Be-e Journal 

 DR. C. C. MILLER. 



In the report of the Michigan State 

 Convention, on page 16, is found the 

 discussion upon the adulteration of 

 honey. More than three-fourths of the 

 space given in the report to this discus- 

 sion is occupied by Mr. Heddon, and as 

 his name is signed to his argument, it is 

 reasonable to suppose that he is cor- 

 rectly reported. His remarks can hardly 

 be held up as a model for fairness and 

 freedom from sophistry. 



His first utterance is, "There is no 

 trouble in enforcing the law against 

 murder." Isn't there? Does every 

 murderer suffer the full penalty of the 

 law? A friend of mine was sitting 

 quietly in front of his home in Chicago 

 in broad daylight, when in cold blood a 

 man came up to him and shot him dead. 

 It was a deliberate, premeditated mur- 

 der, yet the murderer got ofif scot free, 

 and has defiantly walked the streets of 

 Chicago for years. If I am not mistaken, 

 statistics show that about one murderer 

 in fifty suffers the full penalty. 



Then Mr. H. goes on with the general 

 statement, "There is no trouble in en- 



forcing any law that the people care 

 enough about to have it enforced." I 

 don't believe that is true, and I don't 

 think he will believe it after he has time 

 to think it over ; but if it he true, it is a 

 very encouraging thought for those who 

 want rigid adulteration laws, for I think 

 there are in the ranks of bee-keepers a 

 sufficient number of the people who 

 "care enough about" the matter. 



Mr. Heddon says the public "don't 

 know nor care whether honey is adul- 

 terated or not." Then why all the 

 anxiety and trouble about the Wiley 

 "pleasantry?" Why did the papers 

 take it up and circulate it so industri- 

 ously ? Was it all a mistake on the part 

 of bee-keepers to believe that the mere 

 report of adulteration, false though it 

 was, injured decidedly the sale of honey? 

 Why do the public take so much inter- 

 est in the Paddock Pure Food Bill? 

 Don't you fool yourself, Bro. Heddon. 

 The public do care, and care a great 

 deal. 



Mr. Heddon says : "I think that the 

 adulteration of honey has never injured 

 bee-keeping ; that it has rather been a 

 a benefit." The reason given is that 

 the adulterators " made a market for 

 our strong fall honey that otherwise 

 would have been scarcely salable ; they 

 pushed its sale, and kept the markets 

 supplied, and I say they have not in- 

 jured the bee-keeper nor the public." 

 Even if an outlet should thus be made 

 for the dark honey, which may lack 

 proof, what is done with it when adul- 

 terated ? It is made into lighter honey 

 by being mixed with glucose, if I under- 

 stand Mr. Heddon correctly, and so the 

 market for light honey has just this 

 much more to compete with. Is this a 

 benefit to bee-keepers? 



If adulteration is wrong, Mr. Heddon 

 thinks we ought to attack it where it is 

 doing more harm — in cane syrups and 

 confections. He seems for the time to 

 forget that bee-keepers are looking out 

 for their own interests. I'm not so 

 much interested in the adulteration of 

 coffee, because I don't raise coffee, and 

 I do produce honey. For the same rea- 

 son the adulteration of honey comes 

 closer home to me than that of syrups 

 and confections. 



"Now if we are going to fight adul- 

 teration, let us decide why we fight it," 

 says Mr. Heddon, but he doesn't do very 

 much deciding. I think the mass of 

 bee-keepers have decided that they want 

 to fight it for the simple reason that it 

 hurts their market by increasing the 

 supply, and also by making the public 

 suspicious of the genuine article. 



