198 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



fairy-land couldn't stop one little honey-producer 

 from adulterating- all tlie honey he might be fool 

 enough to attempt to adulterate in 300 years. 



After reading the above we can not see that 

 we have misinterpreted, on page 104, Mr. Hed- 

 don's views. Our comment on the same will be 

 found on that page. We are sorry to take any 

 more space; but perhaps we ought to say, in ad- 

 dition, that bee-keepers are not so stupid as not 

 to be able to "read between the lines." We 

 may say, further, that, if the change in the 

 constitution of the Bee-keepers' Union, for the 

 purpose of enabling that body to prosecute 

 adulterators of honey, is both unwise, and 

 amounts to nothing, because it is unable to cope 

 with theevii, as Mr. Heddon tries to make us 

 believe, why does he raise such a furore about 

 it? Is he afraid "it is loaded " and might go 

 off? If he isn't, then why does he prejudice our 

 pursuit by referring to it? Again, he says, 

 " All the Bee-keepers' Unions this side of fairy- 

 land can not stop one little honey-producer from 

 adulterating.'' We presume Mr. Heddon would 

 be very glad to have every one believe that. 

 That being the case, glucose-mixers could go 

 right on unmolested, because, forsooth, nobody 

 would touch them. To defend — that is to make 

 it easy fo'' glucose-mixers to pursue their busi- 

 ness unmolested — is almost as bad as to adul- 

 terate itself. 



We regret exceedingly the necessity and duty 

 that compel us to criticise such utterances from 

 a bee-keeper — heretofore one of the foremost in 

 our ranks; but we do not see how we can con- 

 scientiously let such a thing go unchallenged. 



SOME MORE SENSATIONAL FALSEHOODS. 



The following is a clipping that appeared in 

 the St. Louis R''.piihlic, of Feb. .5th. Along 

 with it is a cheap picture of a man dressed like 

 a baker, handling some suspicious-looking tools 

 with which he is making some artificial comb 

 by hand, filling it with glucose, and capping 

 the whole over. Here is the clipping: 



To those wlio liave a taste for honey on their 

 breakfast flapjacks, it has been a constant source of 

 wonder as to where and how the immense quantity 

 of honey sold In grocery stores and confectioners' 

 shops is produced. That the busy bee is not respon- 

 sible for the production of the major part of it is a 

 fact that was demonstrated before the eyes of a 

 Republic reporter last week. Ordinary wax is prt>ss- 

 ed into a long- flat sheet, and indented with cells, 

 and these cells are filled with a cleverly constructed 

 mixture of sugar, water, syrup, and glucose, with 

 just the least touch of i^urc honey to give tlie body 

 a flavor. In the hands of the uninitiated it would 

 readily pass for "comb" honey, and in its appear- 

 ance and flavor it so closely i-esembles the real arti- 

 cle as to confuse the best of apiarists at times. 



We challenge the St. Louis Republic to fur- 

 nish the proof of its alleged bogus honey. We 

 venture the assertion that the Republic report- 

 er never saw the operation he pictures out, 

 except in his own fertile imagination. If he 



will produce the proof that artificial combe 

 honey is made so that "in its appearance and i 

 flavor it so closely resembles the real article as i 

 to confuse the best of apiarists at times," we i 

 have IKXJO waiting for him. In fact, we have j 

 for years back, as our readers know, broadly < 

 advertised, and are not only able but willing to j 

 pay that sum to any one who will furnish us j 

 samples of bogus comb honey that can not be | 

 told from the genuine. Many and many a time 

 we have written personal letters asking these 

 sensational reporters to produce the proof and , 

 get their money; but we never succeeded in 

 getting another word about it, and the reporter 

 for the Republic is probably one of the same 

 ilk. Now, unless the Republic can furnish the 

 proof, before our next issue, or apologizes, it 

 will stand before bee-keepers as one that is try- 

 ing to give currency to a falsehood. 



It may be well to suggest that the reporter 

 possibly saw sheets of foundation made in a 

 foundation-mill, and, jumping at the conclusion 

 that these sheets would be elaborated by 

 machinery without the help of the bee, into 

 perfect comb, filled with glucose, and capped 

 over, he immediately tries to flame it before 

 the world. 



One thing more. Our stenographer, who is 

 also a printer, calls our attention to the fact 

 that the clipping in question, with its cheap 

 picture, is what is known as " boiler-plate mat- 

 ter" — that is, it emanated from a place where 

 sensational news items are set in type, and 

 stereotyped, and sold by the column to hun- 

 dreds of papers at a cost that is insignificant 

 That being the case, this slander will probably 

 go the rounds through all the American papers. 

 This is what has given such a hold on life to 

 this same stupid story for the last dozen years. 



We do not believe in concealing cases where 

 we hnow there is actual adulteration of extract- 

 ed honey with glucose; but we do not propose 

 to go to the other extreme, and keep still, where 

 our industry is maligned in this fashion. 



15AIN COME TO GRIEF. 



The notorious Bain, of Zanesville, O., and 

 surrounding postoffices — he who pushed the 

 black-pepsin fraud and ever so many other 

 frauds under various aliases (see page 890, 1893) 

 — has finally been fined $M)^) and sent to prison 

 for three years for using the U. S. mails for 

 fraudulent purposes. I wonder if the other 

 black-pepsin people will take warning. If 

 they do not, they had better be sent along with 

 Bain on the double-quick. When Bain was 

 shut out from the mails of Zanesville he open- 

 ed up again at New Concord, and at postoffices 

 at different places as near Zanesville as he 

 could make it without patronizing the Zanes- 

 ville postoffice. A. I. R. 



VENDERS OF COUNTERFEIT MONEY. 



Every little while these circulars come to us 

 from some of our subscribers. Each one is ac- 



