588 



GIvEANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



sampling honey mixed with it, and left you 

 afflicted with ' ' a horribl}- nasty taste ' ' that 

 clung to you for days. I have known people 

 nauseated for daj-s from sampling butter at a 

 show-fair where all the butter was considered 

 good. It is unfortunate that this article is be- 

 lieved to be largely used in adulterating honey 

 in the United States. The practice is a fraud 

 that ought to be stamped out, and I am pleas- 

 ed to learn that 3-ou are making progress in 

 that direction. I believe that glucose, when 

 properly refined, is not detrimental to health, 

 and I am slow to believe that those who are 

 engaged in its production are scoundrels. It 

 is an extensive industry in your country. 

 There is a line of steamboats running from 

 Gladstone to this port that bring in tens of 

 thousands of barrels of this "stuff" during 

 the summer, and as man}- bags of grape sugar 

 made from the same source. This is all 

 through freight going to Britain and Europe. 

 If it is used only as an adulterant the fraud 

 must be widespread. One thing is certain — 

 bee-keepers can not stop its i^roduction by 

 calling it, and those engaged in producing it, 

 ugly names. Perhaps your -oeople have great- 

 er reason to feel sore over this matter. Honey 

 adulteration is not practiced here to any ap- 

 preciable extent. Out of several hundred 

 samples analyzed by the Dominion chemist 

 last year, only twelve were found to be adul- 

 terated. 



Owen Sound, Can. 



[In your first quotation you wholl}- misun- 

 derstood me. The quoted sentence standing 

 by itself might admit of the interpretation 

 that 3'ou have given it; but when placed in 

 connection with the other sentences it will be 

 seen to convey quite a different impression. 

 "The article (namely, glucose) that is ordi- 

 narily used for purposes of adulteration is 

 hardly fit to put into the stomach of a pig. ' ' 

 I have reproduced the quotation, but have put 

 in parenthesis the exact meaning I intended 

 to convey. Your argument is all for naught. 



You still fail to furnish one iota of proof 

 to the effect that glucose is a legitimate article 

 of commerce. If you will show me one legit- 

 imate use to which glucose is put, outside of 

 its use as an adulterant, I will give you a 

 chromo. It is possible that it is used in the 

 manufacture of liquors; if so, it should be 

 classed along with them. — Ed.] 



MARKETING HONEY. 



The Problem of Candied Honey ; the Policy of Re- 

 placing Candied Honey with Liquid, Con- 

 demned ; Some Valuable Hints. 



BY. J. A. BUCHANAN. 



I believe I stated some time ago that I 

 would have a short talk on this subject. It is 

 one that is continually bobbing up. Articles 

 of interest embracing many facts and some 

 theory have been appearing in Gi,E.\nings 

 for some time, especially the talks by Mr. 

 R. C. Aikin. It is true, that bee-keepers who 

 produce alfalfa, basswood, and other kinds 



which soon granulate, will ever have trouble 

 unless a way shall be discovered to prevent 

 candying. 



We have handled immense quantities of al- 

 falfa honey, but have given it up on account 

 of its ready disposition to candy. Mr. Aikin's 

 si;ggestion to put up the honey in small cans 

 of 1, ,3, or 5 lb. sizes, and retail or wholesale 

 in this way, letting it candy when it may, de- 

 pending on the printed instructions as a means 

 of information and education whereby the 

 consimier may learn to liquef}- his own honey, 

 will do with only a very few people, as I test- 

 ed this very plan some years ago. 



Some four or five years ago I visited grocers 

 in different towns and cities, on the hunt for 

 bargains in honey that had been put up this 

 way which had stuck on their hands, and, be- 

 ing candied, it was not wanted, but looked 

 upon with suspicion by both grocer and buy- 

 ers. I found in one store several hundred .S-lb. 

 cans of candied white-clover honey, and 

 bought the lot at 5 cts. per can, and the gro- 

 cer was glad to get it out of the way. This 

 honey was labeled with plain directions for 

 restoring to the liquid form. It is surprising 

 how few persons there are who will read in- 

 structions in the management or use of any 

 article. 



Some of the worst abuse I ever got in my 

 life came from retailers and customers upon 

 finding the honey I had sold to them had can- 

 died, or " gone back to sugar," as they put it, 

 as well as firmly believed. We now handle 

 only such grades of honey as will not candy, 

 are or very slow to do so. 



As to the matter of taking up all jars, cans, 

 or glasses, and replacing with freshly liquefied 

 stock, I can think of nothing more distasteful 

 than such everlasting foolery and waste of 

 time; not only so, but, worst of all, this re- 

 liquefying will soon destroy both color and 

 flavor. I have known several parties who 

 once put their honey on the market in this 

 wa3^ I did so myself, but it's too puttering a 

 business to keep up continuously. 



In localities where the hone}- crop is not 

 large, bee-keepers can find customers for all 

 they produce, with little trouble, and at satis- 

 factory prices; but the case is different where 

 there are great quantities and no good home 

 demand. In this case it appears to me it 

 would be quite as well to wholesale and let it 

 fall into the hands of those who make a busi- 

 ness of handling honey by hunting up con- 

 sumers. By the time this class pays freights, 

 stands all losses, bears all expenses of travel- 

 ing, taking orders, delivering, etc., he will 

 find, these slow times, that his profits will all 

 be taken at any ordinary bank, if not all, to 

 defray expenses. 



Just let every producer do his level best to 

 sell in his home market all he produces, at 

 the best price possible to obtain, going at the 

 business with a determination to sell, and I 

 am sure there will be no very large quantities 

 find their way into the hands of city commis- 

 sion houses. 



I have often bought bee-keepers' crops of 

 honey and stepped into the towns right around 

 them, and in a few davs' work have doubled 



