154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



have to dip a few sheets of odd size without the 

 counterbalance. 



This idea will be found to be exceedingly val- 

 uable to makers of foundation; and while it 

 may not be practical for the mass of our read- 

 ers, ii may be intcrrsling to know of the latest 

 mode of dipping. 



UTAH HONEY SAIT> TO HE ADULTERATED WITH 

 SUGAR 8YRUP. 



The following is a clipping that appeared in 

 the Cleveland papers, and we give place to it, 

 slangy heading and all. 

 don't monkey with the little busy bee's gkub. 



Whosoever supplies the busy little bees with 

 sug'ar or syrup, and sells the honey marie therefrom 

 by the bees, violates tlie law, accnidinp- to a de- 

 cision made by Prof . Smith, of the Case School of 

 Applied Science. On Saturday last. Justice E. H. 

 Bohm fined Frank Jankovski. a wholesale dealer in 

 the product made exclusively by the bees, $25 and 

 costs. 



Jankovski's place of business is located on Fra nces 

 St. Prof. Smith, who analyzed the honey, testified 

 that it contained 15 per cent of siip-ar and pyrup. 

 The honey oriffinallv came from Utah, and was sold 

 to Jankovski by a ChicaRO firm. 



Attorney W. *A. Babcock, for the defendant, will 

 appeal to the common-pleas court, claiming- that 

 Jankovski was iffnora.nt of the fact that the honey 

 was impure. Prof. Smith's statement has caused 

 considerable comment, and a flue point for the 

 lesral talent to decide is now on the tapis. Mr. 

 Smith says that, when sug-ar is fed to bees, their 

 owner expects that honey will be made therefi-om, 

 and tlierefore is as pruilty of violating: the law as 

 thoug-h the sugar were mixed in with a suoon. 



Mr. Jankovski has sent us a sample of this 

 honey, stating that it came from 8. T. Fish & 

 Co. The latter acknowledged sending Mr. Jan- 

 kovski this honey, but they insist that it is ab- 

 solutely pure honey from Utah. Samples have 

 been submitted to us, and we unhesitatingly 

 pronounce it pure, and just like the Utah hon- 

 ey that we have seen and tasted in Utah. See 

 our editorial on page 103. Sweet-clover honey 

 from Utah, when candied, is as white as lard. 

 When not candied, the honey looks almost 

 white, not unlike sugar syrup; and, indeed, in 

 flavor it gives one a suggestion of it. We do 

 not wonder, therefore, that consumers think 

 that this honey is sugared. 



We know nothing against Mr. Jankovski; 

 but, on the contrary, judging only from the 

 general candor of his letters, we believe him to 

 be thoroughly honest and reliable. We feel 

 very sure, from our dealings with S. T. Fish & 

 Co., that they are entirely straight. They have 

 been making an active light against adultera- 

 tion of all sorts, and are building up a good rep- 

 utation on strictly pure goods. 



Now, it looks to us as if Prof. Smith had 

 jumped a little at conclusions. Observing that 

 the honey candied as white as lard, and when 

 uncandied looked white, and tasted a little like 

 sugar syrup, he possibly wanted his chemical 

 analysis to show sugar. Again, it is well to ob- 

 serve that he found only 15 per cent of sugar 

 syrup. If any one is mean enough to adulter- 

 ate at all, he would not stop at 15 per cent, but 

 put in enough to make the operation pay. The 



result of the analysis is an absurdity on the 

 face of it. 



We can not now place our fingers upon the au- 

 thority; but, if we are correct, ptire bees' honey 

 may show anywhere from 3 to 12 per cent of the 

 same chemical qualities found in cane syrup; 

 that is, it is there from the flowers. In the sec- 

 ond place, we know the best chemists, while 

 they are perfectly sure they can detect any 

 quantity of glucose in honey, are not so sure 

 regarding small per cents of sugar syrup. Es- 

 pecially is this true when it is fed to bees or 

 passed through the process of "inversion," as 

 it is technically called. 



Finally, it looks as if Prof. Smith has been 

 reading some of the sugar-honey articles that 

 appeared a year or so ago in the bee-journals. 

 He is probably aware of the fact that some bee- 

 keepers consider the practice of feeding bees 

 sugar, to produce sugar honey, perfectly legiti- 

 mate and proper. The knowledge of this leads 

 him to suspect that the producer of the honey 

 above mentioned has been feeding his bees su- 

 gar syrup. We do not believe, from the general 

 characteristics of the Utah (or sweet-clover) 

 honey that any sugar syrup found Its way into 

 the honey, either through the bees or other- 

 wise. 



S. T. Fish & Co. feel that their good name is 

 at stake, and, we understand, expect to push 

 the thing a little further. We should at all 

 events like to see analysis of this honey from 

 Prof. H. W. Wiley, the Chief Chemist at Wash- 

 ington. 



charging old subscribers more for their 

 journals than we do new ones. 



Almost every season, especially after we 

 make some special effort to get Gleanings in- 

 troduced into new localities or new homes, we 

 are accused of making our old friends pay more 

 for their journal than we do entire strangers. 

 In fact, one friend writes as follows: 



It is unjust to charge a ten-year subscriber more 

 for j'our paper than one just commencing. 



Bates, 111.. Jan. :;0. J. R. Morrison. 



Now, from one point of view there is some 

 justice in the above charge; but I do think, 

 taking all things into consideration, that it is 

 not quite so bad, after all. It is true, we have 

 many old and tried friends who take our jour- 

 nal right straight along, year after year. We 

 recognize them as the main props in keeping 

 up our circulation— we always feel under ob- 

 ligation to them: and the very lirst announce- 

 ment on the inside of the first cover grants 

 special privileges to these main props in this 

 way: We send Gleanings two years for $1.80; 

 three years for $3.40; five for $3.75. You see 

 this makes the price only 75 cents to the veter- 

 ans. Now, aftei' having done this we frequent- 

 ly say to these same veterans, "If you will 

 show the journal to your neighbors we will pay 

 you liberally." Just one illustration: The 



