324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



suflScient to more than meet their daily wants. 

 That bees will live and breed and do fairly well 

 on fresh grape juice alone, in a season of 

 drouth, I am certain. 

 Three Oaks, Cal. 



[Your testimony is very valuable, friend M., 

 and our only regret is that there are not more 

 such men as yourself who are willing to give 

 from their store of practical experience. 



It is pretty well settled now that bees do not 

 themselves puncture fruit, although we have 

 to admit that they often help themselves free- 

 ly to that which has been broken in handling 

 or which has been punctured by birds or other 

 insects. Although the bees do bother in raisin- 

 drying time, it is evident that friend Merriam 

 manages to produce raisins and honey simul- 

 taneously, without any very great inconven- 

 ience. This goes to show that the.:amageon 

 the part of the bees can not be very great. 

 That being the case, the honey-producer ought 

 to be able to make some reasonable and fair 

 compensation to the raisin grower in his own 

 immediate vicinity. If the damage is only 

 slight, a very moderate compensation would 

 sufBce. We shall hope to hear from friend 

 Merriam again.— Ed.] 



"CAN EXTRACTED-HONEY PRODUCERS AF- 

 FORD TO BE HONEST?" 



A TEXAS bug-kaiser's OPINION. 



By W. W. Somerford. 



I see in Gleanings, page 193, the question 

 raised, "Can extracted-honey producers afford 

 to be honest?" I say, yes— surely they can if 

 the chance for cheat and rascality lies along 

 the line of glucosing honey in order to get a 

 little more out of a crop; for unless they can 

 beat me selling honey in the way of getting a 

 good price, they would be left buying glucose 

 at the price it brings down here (taking it home, 

 and mixing the stuff in). Hauling, handling, 

 and paying freight on the stuff would more 

 than cost the little possible gain a chap might 

 get. 



My experience has taught me that people 

 who buy honey know just what it is. I used 

 to be so well up on peddling honey that I fan- 

 cied I could tell a would-be customer at sight. 

 Just one good look at his face generally told 

 me whether there was much chance to make a 

 sale or not. Then when the question comes 

 to an honest man, with an honest man looking 

 him square in the face, " Is your honey abso- 

 lutely pure?" what kind of stuff would a 

 fellow be who could face an honest man and 

 sell him glucose to take home to his wife and 

 family for an extra treat ? 



Peddling, I am sure, would be the only chance 

 for a fellow to make way with a honey and glu- 

 cose mixture; and as peddling is something 

 bee-keepers who produce honey in large quan- 

 tities won't generally do, except in drummer 

 style, there is not any danger of glucosed honey 

 being sold by beemen in quantities. I have 

 sold honey often by the barrel, to grocers who 



would conduct their mixing experiments (with 

 me present) before purchasing; and I am sure 

 there are not many honey-eaters who can't ea- 

 sily detect 25 per cent of glucose in ordinary 

 honey, taking ordinary glucose to make the 

 mixture. 



So, in conclusion, I will suggest, that, if a 

 man has energy enough, with sagacity enough 

 (mixed in) to sell glucosed honey at a profit, he 

 is amply qualified to go at and make a success 

 of some business that will pay him many more 

 dollars, and give him much more satisfaction 

 than he could ever get peddling out a fraud to 

 his neighbors. A good bee-keeper can make 

 1300 or $400 a month during the time he has his 

 bees to attend to, and it would take a hustler 

 with glucosed stuff to clear $100, or even S50 a 

 mouth. 



Navasota, Texas, Mar. 28. 



[I am glad you have answered the question 

 in the affirmative; but I do not believe I could 

 agree with all you say. I wish it were indeed 

 true that all glucose mixtures, if disposed of at 

 all, would have to be sold by the laborious and 

 disagreeable method of peddling. But I am 

 afraid many consumers are so gullible, and so 

 unfamiliar with the real flavor of pure honey, 

 that they get the glucosed honey without the 

 medium of a honey-peddler. They buy it right 

 in the open market because it is cheap and 

 " looks nice." 



1 once took the ground, as you do, that there 

 were not very many honey-eaters who could 

 not detect 25 per cent of glucose in honey. 

 While I now believe that ordinary commercial 

 glucose can be recognized in such quantities, I 

 know there is a rt?ie quality that could not be 

 certainly detected when used to the extent of 

 even 50 per cent as an adulterant. Generally 

 speaking, however, I believe it may be true 

 that one who knows the flavor of good honey 

 could detect the ordinary commercial glucose 

 even when only 10 per cent is used — at least, 

 that was my experience if I may call myself an 

 expert in glucose-tasting; for you may remem- 

 ber that, two years ago, I was able to detect, 

 almost unerringly, by the mere taste, glucose 

 mixtures of 10, 25, 33, 50, and 75 per cent, and, 

 in most cases, the approximate percentage of 

 adulteration, just by the mere taste. But the 

 glucose used as an adulterant was the commer- 

 cial article, the brassy metallic taste of which 

 is very pronounced, even in small percentages 

 of adulteration. — Ed.] 



FANCY COMB HONEY. 



AKE THE GRADING RUl.KS IN FORCE TOO RIGID? 

 By T. b\ Hingham. 



On page 45, present volume, I notice objec- 

 tions to the present plan of grading honey. An 

 old adage is, " He builded wiser than he knew." 

 That is the upshot of the present grading. 

 Said plan contemplates only the benefits ac- 

 cruing to the bee-keeper having honey to sell. 

 Nothing is best which is not good for all. 



The conditions which render the grades fancy 

 are not merely the looks and appearance but 

 the quality. It is true, that irregular thick- 



