1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



381 



SULPHURIC ACID CAN NOT BK ELIMINATED 



FROM COMMERCIAL GLUCOSE OR THE SO- 



CALLKD CORN SYRUP, SAID TO BE 



" BETTER THAN HONEY." 



In our last issue reference was made to 

 the statement, now going^ the rounds of the 

 press, that John D. Rockefeller would give 

 half a million of d. liars for a process by 

 which all the sulphuric acid could be re- 

 moved from corn sjrup or glucose. At the 

 National Bee-keepers' convention which met 

 in Chicago in August, 1900, a paper was 

 read by Mr. Thos. W. Cowan, editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, one of the leading sci- 

 entists in all beedom, on the general sub- 

 ject of the chemistr}' of honey and how to 

 detect its adulterati >n. From this paper I 

 make two or three extracts that go to show 

 why Mr. Rockefeller makes his offer so very 

 large. The following are the extracts: 



starch or corn s> rup, known commercially as glu- 

 cose, differs iu almost every lespecl from tiouey. It 

 ihrowsilown abundant precipilaus with lead and ba- 

 rium solutions, and often wiih alcohol. It dots not 

 ferment completely, but leaves about one-fifth ot its 

 \ve:ght as uiifermentable gummy residue, and exani- 

 iiitd by the polariscope, it turns the ray of light pow- 

 ei fully lo the right. 



Glucose IS prepared on a large ?cale from corn 

 sta.ch. The iranslo mation isu-ually etiecttd by boil- 

 ing with dilute sulphuric acid. The excels of acid is 

 removed l>y treating the solutions with chalk, and fil- 

 tering The filtered so iitions are evaporated to a syr- 

 upy consis ency, and sent imo the market under the 

 name.'' of k1 'Cose, earn syrup; or to dryness, the solid 

 product being known iu commerce as grape sugar. 



II ill the trcHiment of starch wi h sulphuric acid the 

 transformation is not complete (and this is usuallly the 

 case;, the product i.s a mixture of dextrose, maltose, 

 and I extriiie. It is generally quite easy tj recognize 

 the acid whi.h has been used to couveit starch into 

 glucose. In the laboratory it is quite possible to make 

 pure glucose, and remove every trace of acid ; but 

 commercially it is practically impossible by subse- 

 quent pr. cipi ation ol the product lo get rid of this 

 acid, and, as a coiLseqiience, it appears in the honey 

 which is adulterated with it ; and uy andiug to a clear 

 solution of honey coutaming such glucose a solution of 

 barium chloride a white tuibidilyat once makes its 

 appearance, varsing in density witn the quality ol the 

 coin syrup present aud the state of its purity. 



Note that Mr. Cowan says that, " in the 

 treatment of starch with sulphuric acid, the 

 transformation is not complete; . . that 

 it is generally quite easy to recognize the 

 acid which has been used to convert starch 

 into glucose." And, again, " In the labo- 

 ratory it is quite possible to make pure 

 glucose, and remove every trace of acid; 

 but commercially it is practically impossi- 

 ble.^^ Italics are mine. Thousands of dol- 

 lars have been expended in the attempt to 

 remove every trace of the acid from the 

 commercial product, but so far without suc- 

 cess. 



Note again that Mr. Cowan, despite the 

 statement of the venders of these cheap corn 

 syrups, to the effect that they can not be 

 distinguished from honey, says: " Corn 

 syrup, known commercially as glucose, 

 differs in almost every respect from honey " 

 — italics mine again. Yet I suppose there 

 will be millions of copies of aavertisements 

 in all the leading papers, that will tell you 

 a certain brand of corn sjrup " is honey," 

 and "is better than honey" — two state- 

 ments that are somewhat contradictory to 



say the least. How can any thing be bet- 

 ter than itself? The seconel quotation is a 

 plain acknowledgment that the stuff is not 

 honey. 



It will not be long before the public will 

 learn this brassy taste, and will associate 

 it with sulphuric acid that is found to do 

 damage to the stomachs of the ignorant and 

 unsuspecting, to say nothing of the innocent 

 children who are given the stuff because it 

 is ''cheaper than honey." Verily, has it 

 come to pass that the "almighty dollar" 

 must coine between us and our children? 



//"Mr. Rockefeller is offering half a mil- 

 lion dollars for a process by which he can 

 eliminate the sulphuric acid frtm his corn 

 syrup, we hope the papers of the country 

 will herald the fact from New York to San 

 Francisco, and from New Orleans to Port- 

 land. Let the dear people understand just 

 what they are getting; then if they buy it 

 with a full knowledge of what is in the 

 stuff they will have no one to blame but 

 themselves if they have " disordered stom- 

 achs." But methinks they have too much 

 respect for their health. A wise man says 

 3'ou can fool a part of the people all the 

 time, but not all the people all the time. 



We do not need to worry ab ait those big 

 flaming advertis' ments of corn syrups "bet- 

 ter than honey." The people will not be 

 fooled long-. 



KEEP MORE BEES — IS THE ADVICE GOOD? 



In the American Bee Journal for March 

 31 appears an article from our friend G. 

 M. Doolittle on this subject. Among other 

 things he says: 



Not long ago I saw a statement in print from quite a 

 nott d bee k eper. that it look 200 lbs. of honey to car- 

 ry a colony ot btes through a single >ear. This is a 

 greater consumption of stores than I had believed pos- 

 sible. My estimate has been that 100 lbs. is sufficient 

 for all the needs of any single colony during a year, 

 and so to be on the conservative side I will call my es- 

 timate, or half of what the wi iler gave, as ihe amount 

 needed to keep one culouy ol bees one ytar, as the 

 right amount. Then the queslion which Cumes to us 

 is this Which is the cheaper, a little extia manipula- 

 tion, or the extra colonies, hives, etc., and the honey 

 that tl ey c nsume? 



Suppose that 100 colonies produce an average yield 

 of 50 pounds each of .-urplus hont y for iheir keeper, 

 and by so doing secure all the neclar in a given field, 

 year by year This will make 5000 pounds of sm plus 

 as the apiaiist's share of the field, while each of the 

 100 colonies will use JOO pounds each, or 10.000 pounds 

 as a whole, as their share lo iarr> them through Ihe 

 year. Thus we fail to secuie to oursehes only a one- 

 third share of the honey irom our field, by employing 

 an extra number of colonies 



On ihe other hand, if w e employ the management or 

 economy plan, which many of our best tarmeis do, 

 and the plan adopted almost univeisally by our Eng- 

 lish friends— thrtt.of securing the same amount of prod- 

 uce off of one acre of land that i any of our Americans 

 do from thiee or four acres — we snail fii d our question 

 stated thus: 15 000 pounds is the product of our field; 

 50 colonies are all that are needed with good manage- 

 ment to s cure this whole yield. Then ."(O colonies 

 must use 5000 pc unds of this for their support, thus 

 leaving 10 (K)0 pounds for the manager. Ntne but the 

 most prejudiced can help ^eeing from this that the 

 manager gels 5000 pounds of honey for his manipula- 

 tion and uses little if any more lime than he would 

 use on the hO without manipulation: hence from the 

 standpoint of overstocking a field, the management 

 plan is 6000 pounds ahead of the oiher plan of keeping 

 an extia number of colonies, and proves that Mr. 

 Townsend's doctrine is not correct. 



