May 30, 1907 



465 



American l^e Journal 



to be distinguished by tlie taste. I 

 take it that that is the point of the whole 

 matter. If it is so thin, if it is so dis- 

 agreeable, if it is so strange, that any 

 of us bee-kccpers or honey-dealers can 

 distinguish it by the taste, you must not 

 sell it as honey. The labeling of this 

 honey-dew as honey is the danger- 

 point. If there is any question in your 

 mind you must put a label on it, "Honey 

 with Honey-Dew." It seems to me that 

 the pure food law has a whole lot of 

 eft'ects. 1 am not so sure that it in- 

 creases the sale of honey. I don't know 

 but it increases skepticism. When you 

 call on wholesale'grocers they say, "Is 

 that pure honey?" and even about comb 

 honey, "Your honey is pure, is it?" If 

 you have honey-dew, I would advocate 

 labeling it honey-dew, or not selling 

 it. Sell it if you can, of course, but 

 don't label it as edible honey. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think this is a vital 

 point. I have something right in mind 

 that bears on that point very closely 

 too. There is a town near Chicago that 

 I watched closely this summer and the 

 trees were just covered — once in June 

 and once in August — with this honey- 

 dew. It was on the leaves of the 

 maples, and the bees worked on that, 

 morning, noon and night ; all day they 

 stored that, and I know of a person 

 that is putting the honey up and selling 

 it. He is a bona-fidc bee— keeper, and 

 undoubtedly he thinks that the honey is 

 clover honey. I will wager any amount 

 of money that that honey hasn't a parti- 

 cle of clover honey in it. I think those 

 bees gathered that honey entirely from 

 the leaves of the soft maple. I tasted 

 it and it is not bad honey at all. It is 

 dark. I was in a town this year where 

 there was no clover honey or anything 

 else except that secretion off the trees, 

 and this man put that up and put it on 

 the market. It makes a very passable 

 honey. It is not as light as some, has 

 a peculiar taste to me, because I have 

 tasted a good deal ; but supposing that 

 honey is tested, I would wager that gy 

 percent of it would not pass the test. 

 What is the man going to do? He put it 

 up in good faith, put it on the market in 

 good faith. It suits his trade. He is 

 selling quite a lot. We bee-keepers 

 ought not to favor a law of that kind. 

 Supposing it is flavored a little with 

 basswood and so on. You can't tell. 

 People's tastes fool them. It seems to 

 me it is favoring something we ought 

 not to favor as a convention or as a 

 lot of bee-keepers. 



Dr. Miller — Just one point that Mr. 

 Wheeler raises: If we look at the law 

 of the State of Illinois, the honey defini- 

 tion is "material that the bees gather 

 from plants." That will cover honey- 

 dew. You will not get into any trouble 

 with the amount of honey-dew you get 

 in your honey, without specifying the 

 amount, and I do not beUeve there is 

 much trouble about adulteration. I take 

 the ground Mrs. Glessner does. What 

 the bees do without any adulteration on 

 the part of man would not be called 

 adulteration. There, of course, might be 

 such a thing as their getting something 

 that is not fit. I have tasted here in 

 Chicago honey taken from the nectar 

 of plants that I considered much worse 

 than any honey-dew. I do not remem- 



ber now what it was from, but it pro- 

 duced the effect on the mouth that eat- 

 ing Indian turnip does. The question 

 before us is whether this law is a 

 benefit to us or not. A fundamental 

 question upon w-hich that rests is. Did 

 the putting on the market of all this 

 adulterated stuff hurt us as bee-keepers? 

 1 think we Iiavc pretty well settled that 

 Karo corn syrup, and corn syrup of all 

 sorts, was a damage to us ; and when it 

 has come that they must put on the 

 label that it is so much glucose — you 

 don't see it printed glucose, because the 

 people would not stand glucose, but 

 they will stand "corn syrup" — but if on 

 the label there is such a percent corn 

 syrup, the people won't take that. But 

 I would give more for five words of 

 testimony from a man like Mr. Arnd, 

 who knows what has been done, than 

 for all the theories. 



Mr. Arnd— In selling honey to the 

 grocery trade, especially to the whole- 

 sale grocery trade, we are compelled 

 to sign an agreement that the honey that 

 we sell to them, that we bottle, is put 

 up according to the pure food law. 

 How are we dealers going to protect 

 ourselves so that we can sign these 

 agreements without testing? Don't you 

 think that the bee-keepers that supply 

 us with the honey ought to furnish us 

 with the same agreement, that the honey 

 that they send to us will stand the pure- 

 food test, and so right along the line, so 

 that the dealers, grocery men, the re- 

 tail men, and every one all along the 

 line, can go back to the original bee- 

 keeper if there is any trouble? I think 

 the dealers ought to have some pro- 

 tection, because we have to sign an 

 agreement that the honey that we furn- 

 ish the wholesale grocery houses is up 

 to the pure food test, and they have to 

 furnish the same thing to the retail 

 grocery trade. 



Dr. Bohrer — I wrote the question, and 

 what induced me to write it was, there 

 has been quite an effort among bee- 

 keepers (and I feel a deep interest my- 

 self in it) as to how to dispose of our 

 product, and I have become convinced 

 that one thing that caused slow sale of 

 honey was that the people were sus- 

 picious that both comb and extracted 

 honey were impure, and were an arti- 

 ficial product. All the advertising that 

 the bee-keepers have been able to do 

 up to the present time has been inef- 

 fectual. An organization sprang into ex- 

 istence in this city, I think it was, and 

 some money was paid in. I did not take 

 stock in it, did not become a member, for 

 the reason that I was not an extensive 

 producer of honey, having but few col- 

 onies; yet I felt an interest in the matter, 

 and hoped that something would come 

 of it; but I will be honest, I did not 

 have any faith in any good results grow- 

 ing out of it. 1 then believed, and I be- 

 lieve now, that what the people wanted 

 was a pure food law, and when the peo- 

 ple understand that no man dare to put 

 a label "Pure Honey" upon any package, 

 and put it upon the market and sell it, 

 when it is otlier than pure honey — that, 

 I think, will undoubtedly increase the 

 sale of both comb and extracted honey. 

 The people today believe that 4-5 of 

 everything that goes on to the market 

 in the shape ui honey is bogus; that it is 



adulterated; that glucose is largely fed 

 to bees, and that they store it in the 

 combs. .\ij longer ago than last winter 

 at our Stale bee-keepers' convention in 

 Kansas, 1 offered $500 to any man who 

 would bring 2 sections of comb honey 

 that was made of artificial comb and 

 filled with artificial honey. One man 

 said he had it at home, and brought in 

 2 sections. I appointed a committee im- 

 mediately, being President, and I asked 

 him to aid me m the selection of the 

 committee, so that no injustice should 

 be done and that he would get his $500. 

 The committee said: "These two sec- 

 tions are not alike at all, and if they 

 were manufacured by a machine they 

 would be just alike; they would have to 

 be." Well, he thought they were both 

 artificial, but one had been made by one 

 set of molds and the other in another 

 set! Then the question naturally arose, 

 How many molds would have to be 

 obtained in order to make each section 

 different? It can't be done. It is an 

 impossibility. When the people come to 

 understand this law, they will say: 

 "Here, it is more than any man dare do 

 to combine glucose with honey, perhaps 

 put 14 honey or 1-5 honey and the bal- 

 ance glucose, and label it honey and put 

 it on the market." If he labels it honey 

 and glucose, then that is another matter ; 

 but people want pure honey, both comb 

 and extracted. These side-issues and 

 questions as to what the Government 

 rnay ultimately define as honey and a le- 

 gitimate article to put on the market, 

 are not fully determined, but when peo- 

 ple learn the effect of this law, that glu- 

 cose cannot enter into a package of 

 honey, whether comb honey or put up in 

 sealed packages, buckets, jars or any- 

 thing; that they can buy honey and know 

 It is honey; that there will be a United 

 States officer to test it, and if it is not 

 pure, the man's brand being on the pack- 

 age lays him liable to arrest and pro- 

 secution, you will find that the men who 

 have been counterfeiting honey hereto- 

 fore will not want Uncle Sam to handle 

 them, because he does it without gloves. 

 I remember, a good manv years ago, I 

 think in 1871 or 1872, at' the Michigan 

 State bee-keepers' convention, a Mr. 

 Perrine was at that convention and said 

 that a great deal of honey was now be- 

 ing prepared and made salable by getting 

 the bees' comb honey and putting it into 

 a jar and then filHng it up. He said it 

 was not always honey. In your agri- 

 cultural papers and in your country 

 papers it says th<? sale of bogus honey is 

 shut down on by Uncle Sam, that it is 

 more than any man can do to put an 

 impure preparation on the market and 

 label it honey. 



Mr. Taylor— What was the fact last 

 year, Mr. Arnd, in regard to the crop of 

 honey? Wasn't it all sold? 



Mr. Arnd— Of course I don't know; 

 but I think the honey was pretty much 

 all sold. 



Mr. Taylor— You understand it was 

 pretty well cleared up before the pres- 

 ent crop came on? 



Mr. Arnd— I think so. Mr. Burnett 

 could tell you more. 



Mr. Taylor— How about this year? 

 Will it be cleared up? 



Mr. Arnd— I think so. I am not sure. 



Mr. Taylor— How can the law help 



