1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



]:)5 



Gault perpetual raspbcM-ry, that promises to 

 make such a sensation in small fruits next sea- 

 son, worth fl.OO each, or .•?10 00 per dozen, is 

 offered to anybody \v}>o will give two new 

 names at a dollar each. If old subscriptions 

 are sent in. however, instead of new ones, we 

 require /ou7' nam-^s instead of two. The differ- 

 ence is this: You probably know which of 

 your neighbors take Gleanings. Suppose you 

 go to them in December, and say, " Neighbor 

 H., you are probably going to take Glkamngs 

 next year?" He assents, and then yon say, 

 *' Let me send and get it for you, for I am mak- 

 ing up a club to get a raspberry-plant." In 

 doing this yon do not extend our circulation a 

 particle, for he was going to take the journal 

 any way: but the man who solicits and obtains 

 a new subscription frequently gets it into a 

 new neighborhood, and the new man in turn 

 gets it into other new neighborhoods. Almost 

 every periodical published makes a special 

 effort to extend its circulation in this way — 

 that is, if the publisher is a live man. Another 

 thing, the special low rates offered for new 

 names are for the first year only. The man 

 who has taken it once, if he wants it continued 

 is thereafter a renewal and not a new name. 

 Once more: If the observation made by friend 

 M. is just and fair, we must have one price on 

 our journal for everybody. The man who sends 

 in a list of ten names, and the man who sends 

 for Gleanings for ten years ahead, must pay 

 just the same as he who takes only a single 

 copy for a single year. If the editorial heads 

 are not level on the above question, we should 

 be glad to be righted. We can not, however, 

 afford to give space to a discussion in regard to 

 the matter without any new points being 

 brought out. A. I. R. 



SIMPLE JIETHOPS OF DETECTING GLUCOSE 

 ADULTEKATIONS. 



Bro. York, replying to our editorial on page 

 63, wherein we criticised Veteran for not mak- 

 ing his glucose test thorough, calls our atten- 

 tion to the fact that the directions that Veteran 

 went by differed from those that we had; that 

 Veteran's test was thorough, according to ?w.s 

 directions. And now I?ro. York asks how we 

 may be able to detect glucose by the taste, and 

 asks for a simple formula for detecting adulter- 

 ations in honey. Why. bless you, Bro. York, 

 we thought we did: but as we did not. perhaps, 

 make ourselves clearly understood, we will ex- 

 plain more fully 



THE TASTE TEST FOI{ GLUCOSE. 



Such glucose as is used in commerce has a 

 disagreeable, rank, metallic taste, very pro- 

 nounced; and one wlio has tasted such pure 

 glucose can easily recognize the stuff when 

 mixed in honey; that is, providing the propor- 

 tions are not less than 2.") per cent. This can be 

 done as easily as the good housewife can tell 

 whether salt has been put into an oyster-stew. 



In fact, we believe wc could tell quicker, our- 

 selves, glucose in honey than salt in tlie stew. 

 It is impossible for us, of course, to set forth in 

 language just how the glucose tastes in honey, 

 so we have sent to Bro. York a sample of the 

 finest glucose we could buy on the market— that 

 is. such glucose as is used commercially for 

 adulterating. It is called " Crystal A." the very 

 best. Now, if Bro. York will take a liberal 

 dose of this glurose. and, later on, get his better 

 half, or somebody else, to introduce, "behind his 

 back." proportions of }4, X, and K into various- 

 ly numbeied samples of honey, we think that, 

 when they are placed before him, togethei' with 

 samples of pure honey, he will be able to sepa- 

 rate " the sheep from the goats." 



We ought lo say. in this connection, that 

 there is glucose from which the rank, disagree- 

 able, metallic taste has been almost entirely 

 eliminated, and the use of which in honey 

 might not be detected. We have had small 

 samples here; but we can not get it for less than 

 .5 cts., and this would be more expensive than 

 sugar syrup. If this is true we have, there- 

 fore, practically nothing to fear from glucose of 

 this quality. It is only the rank disagreeable 

 stuff costing about 2^ cts., which we have sent 

 to Bro. Y'ork. that is used commercially. As to 

 Veteran's experiment with the use of alcohol, 

 we have to acknowledge that his formula was 

 not the same to which we referred. In looking 

 over the test which he followed, we find it to 

 be a sort of coriuption, evidently taken from 

 the alcohol test which we took from the Bienen- 

 Vater. That test reads as follows: 



Take a tablespoonful of honey to be tested; pour 

 it into a small bottle, and then add three spoonfuls 

 of pure spirit, and shake the Avhole tog-ether tlior- 

 oughly. In ubout a quarter of an hour there will 

 form in the bottle a cloudy, wliitish sediment : and 

 from this one may be sure the honey is adulterated. 



This, if carefully followed, will, we believe, 

 give quite satisfactory results. We did not 

 mean to say, on page 63, that all forms of adul- 

 teration can be detected; but we desired to con- 

 vey the idea that it was our belief that onUnn- 

 ry glucose mixtures of honey could be recogniz- 

 ed by the ordinary bee-keeper. The principal 

 and only adulterant of honey is probably glu- 

 cose. Sugar syrup is u-ed rarely if ever. 



In conclusion we would say that the only way 

 to detect glucose (that is. the commercial arti- 

 cle) in honey by the tdste is to get a small sam- 

 ple of the stuff' and learn how it tastes. If any 

 of our readers want to make the " taste test," 

 as above given, we will send a sample of the 

 "pure stuff" for 10 cts., to pay postage and 

 packing. 



P. S.— Since writing the above we have learn- 

 ed that a number of glucosed samples of honey, 

 together with otlu'r samples of pure honey, 

 were placed before Prof. Cook at the Los An- 

 geles convention, n-cently held in California. 

 The Professor recognized each one by the taste. 



