1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



689 



pliu'iiso is the only artii'lo tliat can bt> used as an 

 adulterant, (it a pmtlf. .Sufrar may possibly bo 

 ust'ii. but \vt> doubt it. 



.Saiui)lrs Xos. KM. 110. l:.'<). l'?7. 149 (soo bulle- 

 tin No. I'i of the Departuient of AKrieulture). 

 beariup the label of Clias. V. Mutli i<- Son. were 

 |)ronouiu'ed adult<>rated w itli ulueose. We knew 

 that the Muths would not adulterate. One of 

 three thiuffs iintst In- true; viz. (1): They have 

 unwittintrly boujxlit honey from parties who 

 adulterated: ("Ji Tlunr labels have been eoun- 

 terfeileti: i'.U or tlie oliemists may not always be 

 able to detect glucose adulterations. We in- 

 cline toward th(> probability of (I ) and (2). that 

 Muth \- Son have, as innocent parties, been im- 

 posed upon. In view of the [jossibility of (3) 

 beins true, we should like to see the experiment 

 of I'rof. Cook's tried once more by three other 

 chemists, and the results compared again. If 

 necessary we will foot the bill, providing State 

 or national funds can not be secured for the 

 purpose.— .\fter writing the above we read the 

 proof of the following, which is to the point:] 



PURE HONEY. 



SOMK BlIOTHEKLY WOKDS Fol! C. F. MUTH & SON, 

 BY FATHEK LANGSTROTH. 



Friend Root:—A\\ow me to give my reasons 

 for believing that pure honey and C. F. Muth iV: 

 Son have such a natural aflinity for each other 

 that they will never be found warring against 

 each other. 



When my patent on movable frames was ex- 

 tended, in i^i^ix I endeavored to sell brass trade- 

 marks, each having its own number, for 2r> cents 

 apiece — one to be put on every new hive made 

 under the extended patent. "Mr. Muth, who 

 was then just beginning his apiarian career, 

 purchased trade-marks for all the hives he 

 made for his own use or for sale, until my pat- 

 ent expired. He had no personal acquaintance 

 with me; but he believed that I had rights, and 

 was determined lo respect them. If the great 

 mass of bee-keepers who were benefited by my 

 hive had done the same thing I should have 

 been well rewarded for my invention. I had, 

 therefore, ample proof, more than twenty-five 

 years ago. from Mr. Muth's dealings with me 

 when I was too poor to defend my legal rights, 

 that he was an honest man: and his whole 

 course as one of the largest (if not the largest) 

 dealers in the United .States in pure honeys has 

 established for him a reputation for fair dealing 

 of which any business man might justly feel an 

 honorable pride. For the twenty-five years I 

 have known Mr. Muth I have been a frequent 

 visitor at his house, often spending days with 

 him, and have been familiar with all his meth- 

 ods of putting up his honey, which, indeed, have 

 always been open to the honey-world, as his 

 place of business has been a great rendezvous 

 where all bee-keepers might be sure of a hospit- 

 able reception. Jvow, if there had been any at- 

 tempt lo adulterate the goods in which he dealt, 

 how could it possibly have escaped the notice of 

 the hosts of bee-keepers who were welcome at 

 all times to inspect all his processes? or how 

 could it have failed, sooner or later, to have 

 been exposed by some of his many employes '.' 



The only adulterants of honey which could 

 ever be profitably used are sugar and glucose; 

 and as ^Ir. Muth deals in honey by the hun- 

 dreds of thousands of pounds, he could not pos- 

 sibly adulterate his honeys with either on so 

 large a scale as to make it profitable;, without 

 the kind of business he was carrying on betray- 

 ing itself by the sugar and glucose barrels 

 which he would have been obliged to handle. 

 The idea that Mr. Muth could adulterate, and 



yet escape detection, is too preposterous to be 

 entitled to the notic(> I have alr(>ady givim it. 



It is true. Mr. Muth deals largely in all kinds 

 of pun^ honey— good. bad. and indillcrent ; for 

 there is a large demand for all these kinds, (!ven 

 for the darkest and poorest, which is used in 

 the manufacture of printers' rollers— nothing 

 else being able to compete with it for such a 

 puri)ose. Tobacconists and brewers are also 

 large consumers of i)ure dark hom^ys, while the 

 ciioicest qualities are purchased for making the 

 famous honey-cakes which keep fresh for near- 

 ly six months. A single maker of these cakes 

 buys of the Muths a carload of choice honey- 

 some 20,0(X) to 24,(XK) pounds — every five or six 

 weeks I 



Enough has been said to show, not only that 

 Mr. Muth is not the style of man out of which 

 adulterators are made, but. apart from all mo- 

 tives of honor and honesty, he is a man of too 

 much good business sense to engage in falsifica- 

 tions which, sooner or later, would surely be de- 

 tected, and would end in the ruin of his exten- 

 sive business. 



But may not Mr. Muth be imposed upon by 

 those who have adulterated honeys for sale, and 

 thus become an innocent agent for imposing 

 their goods upon the public ? Now, as the only 

 way in which honey can be profitably adulter- 

 ated is by using sugar or glucose, such fraudu- 

 lent mixtures can never be imposed upon such 

 experts as Charles F. Muth & Son. Before I 

 lost ray exquisite sense of taste and smell I 

 could always recognize any honey with which 

 I had once become acquainted. 



For the last four years Mr. Muth has associ- 

 ated with himself in business his son, Augustus 

 G., who has been with him as an assistant ever 

 since he has dealt in honey, and who shares the 

 same honorable instincts with his father. 



Those who are personally acquainted with C. 

 F. Muth need no indorsement of his honesty by 

 me or any one else; but as his good name has 

 been called in question by those who do not 

 know him, I have felt that it was a duty which 

 I owed to my tried friend of so many years, and 

 to the bee-keeping public, to speak as I have. 



If any honey bearing the label of C. F. Muth 

 & Son has been found to be adulterated, I be- 

 lieve that either some mistake has been made 

 in the analysis or else it has been tampered with 

 by dishonest parties. Dr. C. C. Miller is confi- 

 dent that Muth's labels have been counterfeit- 

 ed by dealers who wished to dispose of their bo- 

 gus honey on the strength of his good name. 



I close as I began— pure honey and Charles F. 

 Muth & Son are words and things which have 

 always gone together, and which I hope will 

 very soon, with some suitable device which can 

 not be easily counterfeited, become the legal 

 trade-mark of a firm which has done so much 

 for the bee-keepers of this countrv by affording 

 a cash market for their products, and by setting 

 their faces as a Hint against all adulterators 

 and adulterations. L. L. Langstroth. 



Dayton, O., Aug. 2.5. 



SELLING HONEY. 



SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED. 



It has been said, that •'selling honey is a 

 science;" and. after doing a little in that line 

 every year "for about ten years. I am ready to 

 admit the truthfulness of the saying, and inust 

 also admit that I have not as yet quite master- 

 ed the "science." In selling honey, new obsta- 

 cles confront one's path continually; new 

 charges are constantly being made which must 

 be refuted, and, in order lo do so intelligently, 

 it is necessary not only lo know the constituents 



