BEE KEEPERS. 433 



REMARKS ON PRECEDING TABLE. 



Of these ten honeys only one is certainly genuine, viz.: No. 3. A solution of 

 it in the polariscope turns the plane of polarized light slightly to the left. Its re- 

 ducing action on the copper salts is sensibly the same after and before heating with 

 an acid. It has a small content of ash and nearly 21 per cent, of water. 



Sample No. 4 is either adulterated with cane sugar, or else the bees which made 

 it were fed on solution of glucose. But a honey made by artificial feeding is just as 

 much adulterated as if it were made in a glucose factory. Pure honey is gathered 

 by bees from flowers ; all other kinds are adulterations. Samples 5, 6 and 8 are 

 adulterated honeys, made by mixing some genuine honey with invert cane sugar 

 syrup, made by heating ordinary sugar with an acid. This kind of adulteration 

 is a very popular one, because certain books have said that a honey adulterated in 

 this way could not be identified by an analysis ; but this is a mistake. The fact of 

 the twisting the plane of polarization strongly to the left is suflBcient to detect the 

 spurious character of these so-called honeys. 



No. 9 is a mixture of about equal parts of invert syrup and starch glucose. 

 The entire absence of albuminoids shows that it contains only enough genuine 

 honey to give it a flavor and odor. 



No. 10 can almost be classed as genuine. I would not be able to call it spuri- 

 ous before a court. Yet the high percentage of ash is a suspicious circumstance. 

 The percentage of reducing sugar also is lower than a genuine honey ought to have, 

 especially when it is considered that the content of water is not high. 



Sample No. 1 is almost pure starch glucose. The most curious sample was 

 found in No. 2. ThLs honey (?) was put up in a glass vessel, like ordinary jelly 

 packages. The center of this contained a piece of honey comb. The analysis No. 

 2 was made by squeezing the honey from this comb and mixing it with the glucose 

 that filled the rest of the glass. Analyses Nos. 11 and 12 were made on another 

 sample of this honey. No. 11 is an analysis of the syrup in the glass, and No. 12 

 of the honey in the comb. The external syrup is almost pure starch glucose, while 

 the honey in the comb is almost pure honey. This honey is therefore made by 

 pouring about six parts of glucose around one part of honey in the comb. To re- 

 capitulate: Of the ten samples analyzed, one is certainly genuine, one is probably 

 genuine, three are adulterated with glucose, one with cane sugar, and four with 

 sj'rup of inverted cane sugar. 



Perhaps honest bee keepers in this country have not heretofore recognized the 

 kind of competition with which they come in contact. 



Milk is sold in our cities deprived of half its cream, butter is fabricated from 

 beef fat and cotton-seed oil, maple syrups are made in Bufl"alo, and honey is not any 

 longer much more than a name. 



All this illustrates the sublime patience of the American people, which is so 

 perfect that it might well be taken for criminal indifference. 



Some men cultivate bees for the love of it. They are not injured by this al- 

 most universal counterfeiting. But I dare say there can be found among you some 

 mercenary souls who dream of profit as well as of flowers and bees, and here you 

 are brought face to face, if not with highway robbery at least with mellific piracy. 

 28 — Agriculture. 



