688 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1.5. 



a honey-yielder. preceded by the most wretched 

 spring I ever knew, made the first end of the 

 season one long to be remembered; while at 

 present and for some time preceding this 5th of 

 September the bees are just rolling in the honey 

 from buckwheat and cucumbers, and crowding 

 the queens. 



Excluder zinc is reported by some as fail- 

 ing every now and then. I wish we could be 

 told just what kind, for there are differentrsized 

 perforations in use. I got two different times 

 from Medina, and both kinds let about one 

 queen in si.x pass through the perforations. 

 Then I got another kind from there a year or 

 so ago. and I have never known it to pass a 

 laying or a virgin queen. Can the editor tell 

 us what kind I have, and whether it is the same 

 as others fail with? 



HONEY ANALYSES AND ADULTERATION. 



THOSE .50 SAMPLES SUBMITTED BY PROF. A. .1. 



COOK ANALYZED BY LEADING CHEMISTS; 



GLUCOSE EASILY DETECTED; SUGAR- 



S^'RUP MIXTURES NOT SO EASILY 



RECOGNIZED. 



I have preliminary reports from each of the 

 three able chemists who have kindly consented 

 to aid us in the important work of detecting 

 adulteration, and arriving at some standard 

 which shall enable us to determine when honey 

 is pure. I can as yet give on;y a preliminary 

 report; but I can give enough to show that the 

 work is important; and as I am being pressed 

 for a report I send the following: 



I sent over 50 samples to be analyzed. I sent 

 samples of honey from various sources, some 

 gathered very rapidly, some slowly, some gath- 

 ered from honey-dew, some made by mixing 

 honey with one-third or one-fourth glucose; 

 some which the bees stored from pure cane 

 syrup very rapidly— 23 lbs. in one night— and 

 extracted the next morning, and the same ex- 

 tracted after it was capped over. These were 

 all sent by number, so that I alone knew just 

 the source of each. 



Each chemist detected the honey that was 

 adulterated with glucose, and placed with this 

 a sample of plant-louse honey. Thus, as glu- 

 cose will be the common adulterant we may 

 feel that this is practically satisfactory. If 

 from 50 samples taken from very varied sources, 

 only one (and that honey-dewy, that never 

 could be sold as honey) was found which could 

 not be distinguished from glucose, we see the 

 chemists can detect this most common adulter- 

 ant, and enable us to prevent the worst form of 

 adulteration. It is interesting to note that 

 Prof. Wiley— See Bulletin No. 13. p. 798— speaks 

 of pine-tree honey (this is undoubtedly honey- 

 dew) which was like honey adulterated with 

 glucose. The honey-dew which I sent was not 

 from pine-tree aphis, however. I also sent two 

 other samples oi honey-dew— one from oak- 

 galls, and the other from larch aphis, which 

 were pleasant to the taste, and pronounced by 

 the chemists as genuine honey. 



The honey which was simply cane sugar 

 rapidly stored— and, of course, as we know par- 

 tially digested by the bees— was pronounced 

 adulterated with cane sugar. But with these 

 were included samples of the finest honey I 

 ever saw— one from basswood. one from white 

 clover, very fine, and one from horsemint, all of 

 which I secured because they were gathered 

 very rapidly. Thus we see the chemists can 

 notsurely detect adulteration with cane sugar, 

 if the bees are required to digest or invert the 

 sucrose. If the chemist puts the best quality 

 of white clover and linden honey with honey 



stored from pure cane syrup, it stands to reason 

 that we could feed our bees a syrup made of, 

 say, one-third honey and two-thirds cane syrup, 

 and the chemists could not detect it; nor could 

 the consumer. I had each member of my class 

 of 40 in entomology taste of the honey from the 

 cane syrup. All pronounced it fine, and not 

 one suspected, even when asked, that it was 

 any thing but genuine honey jarocured from 

 the ordinary source, and normal in every way. 



Thus we have proof of what I have long be- 

 lieved, that our best honey, if gathered rapidly, 

 can not be told from honey stored from pure 

 cane-sugar syrup. 



Three samples, one white clover, one golden- 

 rod, and one white sage, all fine and rapidly 

 stored, are regarded as suspicious, as they de- 

 port themselves as do honeys with an abnormal 

 amount of invert sugar. Three other samples, 

 one smartweed, one black mangrove, and one 

 horsemint, all peculiar in that they were very 

 rapidly gathered, act as pure invert sugar — 

 that secured by artificially reducing cane sugar. 

 Thus six samples, all certainly genuine, and 

 very excellent, would be pronounced as suspi- 

 cious, though possibly not condemned as im- 

 pure. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



1. We see, then, that the chemist can detect 

 honey adulterated with commercial glucose 

 from all genuine honey, except some from 

 honey-dew. which is so rank that it would 

 never go on to the market. 



2. The chemist can not tell honey — even the 

 very best — from that secured by feeding a syr- 

 up made of pure cane sugar. 



3. Honey that is very rapidly gathered de- 

 ports itself just as does that secured by feeding 

 pure cane syrup; and so, if it be desirable to 

 detect such adulteration, the chemist must 

 revise his methods, as he is not as yet able to 

 do so. 



4. Cane-sugar syrup fed to bees is inverted, 

 and, when stored, is so like our best honey that_ 

 chemical methods can not detect it. 



5. Cane-sugar syrup, unless fed to bees, could 

 be easily told. The bees, by digesting the syrup, 

 change it as they do the nectar which they 

 gather from flowers, which is also cane sugar. 



0. We know that honey is largely adulterat- 

 ed; but almost always, if not always, by feed- 

 ing glucose. This can be detected. Thus we 

 can successfully fight this evil. Prof. Wiley 

 will help us. Let us declare the battle on. 



7. I urged at the Detroit convention, in 1S90, 

 that the Bee-keepers' Union wage this warfare. 

 It has done grand service. It can do this work. 

 As a member and officer, I vote that it assume 

 this added responsibility, and win yet grander 

 laurels. Why not? It can crush the evil. 



8. Bee-keepers do not adulterate. Dealers — 

 wholesale dealers— do this. If bee-keeping 

 dealers have done it, they, with all of their kin, 

 should be exposed and punished. If we will, we 

 can down the enemy. / vote aye. 



Ag'l College, Mich., Sept. 3. A. J. Cook. 



[The results of the above analyses are indeed 

 most valuable. If it Is indeed true, that glucose 

 adulteration can be readily detected, it is a grim 

 fact that will make evil-doers tremble: for the 

 courts of the various States will accept the evi- 

 dences of competent chemists in regard to adul- 

 terations, we believe; and all any one has to do 

 is to have certain samples of doubtful honeys 

 analyzed by proper chemists, and submit the 

 results to the Bee-keepers' Union, or such a un- 

 ion as will take cognizance of such cases. Glu- 

 cose of the best quality can be bought in car- 

 load lots for about 2 cts. per lb. ; granulated 

 sugar, for not less than 5 cts. Practically, then, 



