ISSll 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



540 



HONEY— PURE NECTAR. 



SHALL THE BEE-KEEPERS' UNION PROSECUTE ADUL- 

 TERATORS ? GENERAL MANAGER NEWMAN 

 SETS FORTH THE SITUATION. 



As there has been considerable said of late in 

 regard to the Bee-keepers" Union prosecuting 

 adulterators of honey, we thought that we 

 could do no better than to copy the article en- 

 tire, frojn General Manager Newman, on the 

 subject: 



The last issue of the Bee-keeperx' Review has "Adul- 

 teration of Honey " as its special topic. It is quite 

 exhaustively treated. There are some tliing-s, liow- 

 ever, wliicli we wish to comment upon, and we will 

 here give the g-istof the arguments. 



Byron Walker starts out by saying that "tlie Bee- 

 keepers' Union ought to prosecute adulterators." 

 On iiage li9 he adds: "What wc need is a Bee-keep- 

 ers' Uniou of at least .5000 members; then we c:in 

 compel these CDrporations to respect tlic laws enacts 

 cd for our protection." 



This is a jirdpcisition upon which we must entirely 

 disagree witli Mr. Walker. The National Bee-keep- 

 ers' Union was not created for such a purpose. It 

 was constituted simply for "defense," and not to 

 wage an aggressive wail'are against adultei'ation, or 

 any other moi"al or social evil! 



Remarking on this subject, the editor of the Re- 

 view, on page 138, says: 



" As I vuiderstand, a change in tlie constitution of 

 the l^nion would be necessary befoi'C money could 

 be used for tliis ]iiu'pose: l)ut, if the Union could 

 put an end to what adulteration tlieie is, and, wlijit 

 is of fiir more iniportame, eaiiviiice the public of this 

 accomplishment, I believe its usefulness would be 

 increased a thousand fold." 



Brother Hutchinson is quite right— a c?i/iTige in the 

 constitution would be necessary before it could un- 

 dertake any such superhuman task. More than 

 that, it must alst) change its executive officer. The 

 present General Manager could not consent to un- 

 dertake any such impracticability. 



While, perhaps, it should not, be publicly admitted, 

 it is nevertlieless a fact, that there is no sure " meth- 

 od by which the adulteration of honey can be de- 

 tected." 



Pure honey has veiy aflen been analyzed and pro- 

 nounced adulterated by cliemists in New Jersey, 

 Ohio, Illinois, and other States; and even the Unit- 

 ed States clieniist lias blundered in many ways when 

 endeavoiinj;' to enligliten the public on the matter 

 of honey - adulteration. Samples which we know 

 were gerniine, have been In-anded as either " adul- 

 terated," or "probably adulterated "— simi)ly be- 

 cause there is no reliable test ivv such analysis. 



Honey varies so much in its component parts that 

 no analysis of it can be reliable. That from the hill- 

 sides varies in color from that in the valleys. At- 

 mospheric conditions, soil, and climate, even change 

 the color as well as the body, flavor, and ingredi- 

 ents. 



In view of these facts, it would be a wild-goose 

 chase to stai't the Union after adulteratoi's— espe- 

 cially if there are as many as Byron Walker avers— 

 .several hundreds of retailers of such stuff in a city 

 no largei' than Detroit. The Union is in better bus- 

 iness, and should never leave that in order to delve 

 into the slums of abominable soijhistications. 



Let us build on the othei- wall. Produce honey of 

 such fine flavor, put up in sucli admiraljle condition 

 for niarkel, and properly labeled with the producer's 

 name and address, that a demand, will be created for 

 that honey, and the guarantee for purity shall be 

 the name of the apiarist, and not " a trade-mark," or 

 the indorsement of any society or periodical. 



There are plenty of laws on the statute-l)ooks in 

 Micliigan and other States, and the local bee-keepers 

 can attend to the matter of i)iosecution without tlie 

 aid of the Union. Let them follow the example of 

 Harmon Smith, at Ionia, Mich., as is shown on page 

 129 of the Review, in the following words: 



" Upon learning- that a can of adulterated honey 

 had been sent tt) a grocei' of his town, he went to 

 him and said, 'Tlie first pound of that .stutf you sell, 

 I'll pi'Oseente you.' The 'stutt" went back to the 

 mixer. 



" There was no blow nor bluster— no publishing of 

 the matter In the papers. It was a case of ' silent 

 influence.' " 



If such is done promptly, we .shall soon hear no 

 more about adulterated honey. 



Prof. A.J. Cook very wisely remarks, on page 124: 



"Thus let us spread the information that honey 

 stamped with the name and locality of the producer 

 is sure to be pure. Such knowledge will help, not 

 liinder our sales. 



"Again, if we have not laws against such adulter- 

 ation and fraud— Michigan has a good law— let us 

 have them. Let us see that any man who sells any 

 product under a wrong name is rendering liimself 

 liable to fine and iniprisoruuent. If he stamps his 

 pnjduct 'glucose and honey,' or ' maiuifactured 

 honey,' no one will be wronged, and he is welcome 

 to his profits." 



Then he adds these paragraphs, to the fii'St of 

 which we have i>re^iously made exceptions: 



" Having a good law, let us set the law to work 

 thi'Ough the Union, to stop the nefarious liusiness. 

 We had a gt)od chance in Detroit last winter. 1 

 would have the Union employ a good lawyer, and 

 have the matter inished to the bitter end. A few 

 convictions would not only stop the frauds, but 

 would educate the people to the truth that only 

 pure honey could be sold as such. 



"The Union, through its able manager, has done 

 right royal service already. There is here a grand 

 opportunity to win even brighter laurels, and to 

 confer, as I believe, a greater benefit upon the bee- 

 keeping industry." 



That " trade-mark " foolishness gets a black eye 

 from George K. Weller, on page 122 of the Bee-keep- 

 ers' Review, in these words: 



"The proposed ' trade-mark ' remedy would oidy 

 advertise the evil gratuitously; and unless a stand- 

 ard of excellence were agreed on, and every pack- 

 age examined by inspectors, the remedy would be 

 woj-se than the disease. 



" There is no way to prevent members of the trade- 

 mark federation from ' glucosing ' honey, if there 

 is mouej' in it, except through our statute laws, and 

 it would I)e no aid in enforcing them. It would be a 

 fine cover undei- which to dispose of inferior but 

 pure honey, creating a suspicion of adulteiation in 

 all who ate it."— 4//?erica(i Bee Jnurnal. 



CUTWORM MOTHS. 



PRf)F. COOK MAKKS US ACQUAINTRI) WITH TIIK 

 I'ESTS. 



Can you or Prof. Cook give in Gleanhstos the 

 history of the cutworm, and how to destroy 

 them'.' They have caused great damage in this 

 section this spring. Alfred Soper. 



Eau Claire, Wis., June 10. 



[Prof. Cook replies:] * 



There are several species of cutworms which 

 belong mostly to two genera of moths — Agratls 

 and Hadena. The moths are of sober color, 

 fly wholly at night, and so are called night- 

 fliers, or are said to belong to the family noc- 

 tuldas. These moths fly from July to Septem- 

 ber, and lay their eggs about grass-stems, 

 strawberries, or other perennial plants. The 

 eggs soon hatch; and the larvte, which are usu- 

 ally dirty white, gray, or nearly black, feed on 

 the plants. During the autumn they are so 

 small that they do no conspicuous damage. 

 The next May and June they are large and 

 plump; and if the grass was plowed for corn or 

 garden vegetables, like cabbages, tomatoes, etc., 

 they often do alarming damage. I have tried 

 several successful methods to withstand these 

 enemies. Wrapping the stems of tomatoes and 

 cabbages with sized paper, holding the same 

 with earth at the bottom, is a success. Tin 

 about trees and vines keeps the caterpillai's 

 from crawling up in the night and eating out 

 the buds. Planting tui'uips or other early veg- 

 etables often protects,j^(irchards.fc; For Held or 

 garden we may trap the worms by using mul- 

 lein or bunches of gra.ss. If these are put about 

 the field in bunches, the worms gather under 



