1^88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



661 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN REGARD TO THE HONEY 



BUSINESS. 



On page 567 of our issue for July 15, we copy a 

 report from the Microscopic Society of St. Louis 

 and at the close of it 1 tooli the responsibility of 

 saying that the report was not true, that, out of 

 several hundred samples of honey, the majority of 

 them were adulterated. The editor of the St. Louis 

 Journal of Agriculture, in his issue of Aug-. 1i, admits 

 that I am right about it, and makes a handsome 

 apology. The blunder all rests on a reporter who 

 was present at the meeting of the Microscopic Socie- 

 ty. Of course, as the report was only a sensational 

 one the papers took it up and copied it. The editor 

 closes with the following: 



The real fnrts now developed show how im.aginatlve a re- 

 porter may lie, and I iiither show that an exjjert microscopist 

 has been uiuihle to detect an\ evidenre of adulteration in any 

 one of 20 specimens cd' honey iniliscriniinately collected iti St. 

 Louis, all of which is to the credit of lioncv-l>roduecrs and of 

 retail dealers in St. Louis. We are pratilied at so pleasant an 

 outcome to the matter, whicli liad its orit^in in a j^ricvons mis- 

 statement of facts on the part of a reporter. We thank hioth- 

 er Root for his kindly allusion to the Journal of Agriculture, 

 and will further thank him if he will give this statement a 

 place in Gleanings. 



Perhaps we should add, that the original false 

 statement was inserted unbeknown to the editor of 

 the Bee Department at all, in the Journal of Agri- 

 culture. It occurs to me right here, that the chief 

 editor of any paper or publication ought to have 

 perfect knowledge of every word designed for 

 print, before it gets into bis paper. 



MISTAKEN REPORTS ABOUT THE ADULTERATION 

 OF ARTICLES OF FOOD. 



In a line with the excellent article from Prof. 

 Cook in this issue, page 640, we take pleasure in 

 copying the following from the report of the Dairy 

 Commissioner of New Jersey: 



CANNED GOODS. 



Several reports of sickness, said to have been caused by can- 

 ned foods, were investigated during the year It was my prac- 

 tice to follow up inimediately all rumors oi' rejioits published 

 in the journals, and sume pci ^cm was commissioned to make a 

 searchinj^ inquiry" as soon as possible. The i-esult of these in- 

 vestigations showed that, in every instance, the report was 

 without foundation in fact. As an instance of the unreliabili- 

 ty of these nimors, I may mention the report printed in near- 

 ly all the papers, to the effect that a gentleman living in the 

 southern part or the State had been made seiiously ill by eat- 

 ing canned corn. Investigation showed that the person had 

 had no corn whatever, and that his illness was in no way due 

 to food. 



CANDIES. 



Investigations have been made into the composition of some 

 of the candy sold in this State, and the results, so far, have 

 been satisfaetoi-y, proving that little dangerous or poisonous 

 material Is sold. In May a report appeared in the Hoboken 

 papers that children had been poisoned by eating candy, and 

 steps were immediately taken to ascertain the truth of the re- 

 port. Portions of the candy were obtained and sent to Prof. 

 A. R. Leeds, for analysis. His report showed that the candy 

 did not contain any poisonous substance, but the trouble was 

 probably due to the feeding to a child large quantities of 

 candy. The attending physician subsequently stated that 

 •' the illness was due to the nicclianieal stojipage of the bowels 

 by eating the paper surroujidhig the candy.'' 



The coloring materials now trsed in the manufacture ot can- 

 dy are rarely poisonous. 



I have for a long time been satisfied that most of 

 the talk about poison in canned goods, and also in 

 candies, was more of a sensational scare than any 

 thing else. It was a sort of nice thing for the news- 

 papers to pass around, with the pretense of warn- 

 ing the public against terrible dangers. I am glad 

 to know that it is not true, that any one in our land 

 would put any thing into candy made specially for 

 children, that would do them harm. This fallacy 

 has become so widespread that it seems almost fol- 

 ly to attempt to correct it. A runner for a whole- 

 sale grocery was here a few days ago, who flatly 

 declared that granulated sugar was on the market, 

 adulterated to such an extent that more than half 

 was something besides sugar. The sugar they sold 

 at their house was all pure and genuine, of course. 

 I tried to convince our friend that he was mistaken, 



and that there was no sweet substance known that 

 would dissolve in water, and at the same time 

 closely imitate granulated sugar, but I had to give 

 him up. 



CHOICE NEW COMB HONEY. 



We have ,iust secured some choice comb honey in 

 1-lb. sections, put up in !i4-lb. single-tier cases, from 

 our neighbor W. H. Shane, of Chatham. He is the 

 man who alivays gets a crop of honey, whether the 

 season is good or poor. He will have about 2000 

 lbs. this year. With the present outlook for honey, 

 we feel .justitiod in starting this at 31 cts. per lb. in 

 single-case loLs; 30H cts. in lots of 5 or more cases, 

 and we may advance in the near future. 



A. I. ROOT, Medina, t)hio. 



ITALIAN BEES AND QUEENS. 



One untested queen, 75 cts. ; three for S52.00; for 

 more thtm three, 60 cts. each. Tested queens, $1.35 

 each. H. G. FRAME, 



5-15 d Nortli Manchester, lud. 



J. C. Frisbee, Suffolk, Ya., 



tt'tiiit.s Voii)' Atlilress for his Order- lila i>h' 

 for Your Onlrr. to be Delivered Ne.rt 



BEES, QUEENS, HIVES, 



AND ALL SUPPLIES, CHEAP. 



Address as <ihove. ltj-1.5db 



DADANT'S FOUNDATION FACTOR?, WHOLE- 

 SALE AND RETAIL. See advertisement in 

 another column Sbtfd 



Black and Hybrid Queens For Sale. 



For the benefit of friends who have black or hybrid queens 

 which they want to dispose of, we will insert notices free of 

 charge, as below. We do this because there is hardly value 

 enough to these queens to pay for buying them up and keep- 

 ing them in stock; and yet it Is oftentimes quite an accommo- 

 dation to those who can not afford higher-priced ones. 



Hybrid queens, four for $1.00. 



Wm. Barth, Petersburg, Mahoning Co., O. 



I will have some 13 or 14 black queens about Aug. 

 10, which I will mail in my Safe cages for 35 cents 

 each, with no other guarantee than safe delivery. 

 A few hybrids at 50 cts., in same cage. 



S. A. Dyke, Pomeroy, Ohio. 



Very prolific hybrid queens at 30 cts. each, or 1 

 Will kill them. J. H. Johnson, 



Middaugh, Northampton Co., Pa. 



I have 6 hybrid queens, extra layers, to dispose of 

 at 40 cts. each. Samuel Seitz, Clarence, N. Y. 



I have about 30 choice hybrid queens, mostly mis- 

 mated Italians, which I will sell at 30 cts. each, or 

 four for *1.00. By return mail. 



Jno. M. Kale, Newton Falls, O. 



Three or four hybrid Italian queens for sale, in 

 Peet's cages, at 35 cts. each. Send money when you 

 receive queens. G. Wiedehhold, 



Yonkers, Westchester Co., N. Y. 



I am Italianizing my neighbors' bees as fast as 

 they let me, and shall have black and hybrid queens 

 to sell as I get them. I hate to kill them, therefore 

 1 will send them to any address, C. O. D., for 35 cts. 

 for blacks, and 30 cts. for hybrid. 



F. P. HiSH, Henton, Shelby Co., 111. 



We have 25 mismated Italian queens ready to 

 send by return mail, at 40 cts. each, or 3 for $1.00. 

 These queens have been reared this season. They 

 are nearly pure, but not up to standard of purity. 

 We guarantee safe arrival, or money will be cheer- 

 fully refunded if not satisfied. Address 



Hillside Apiary, Douglas, Putnam Co., O. 



