894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



them. This is not a boast, but to call atten- 

 tion to the fact that so many children are 

 deprived of the chance to develop their 

 minds and bodies as they should by pure 

 food, air, and surroundings. I am the ' ' bee- 

 man" on our place— never have less than 30 

 colonies. The children all take an interest 

 in them. 



The other trees you see in the picture are 

 almonds. The crop is now ripe for this sea- 

 son, and the two families are harvesting 

 them. The men knock them off the trees 

 and the children sort the hulls out after they 

 are brought in on big sheets which were 

 spread under the trees to catch them as they 

 are knocked off. Fig and umbrella trees 

 make the shade for the hullers. 



Fruit, berries, alfalfa, and nuts must have 

 water for irrigation to do well here; but 

 with plenty of water every thing does well. 

 My bees gather honey every month in the 

 year; but we do not have such big flows of 

 honey as others tell about, for we have not 

 such big fields of alfalfa. 



A large system of irrigation is just com- 

 pleted within two hours' drive of our home, 

 where thousands of acres of alfalfa are be- 

 ing sown. 



We, as pioneers in the irrigation business, 

 can recommend this new district as on the 

 right principle for homeseekers. It is called 

 a Wright District, and is very similar to the 

 public-school system. 



Very few men care to engage in apiculture 

 in this part of the State, owing pai'tly to 

 the small acreage we have had of alfalfa; 

 but when we have more alfalfa this will be 

 an ideal locality, owing to rains always sup- 

 plying the intermediate crops of blossoms. 



Oakdale, Cal, Aug. 8. 



[The picture seems to afford ample proof 

 that honey is a healthful food. If it were 

 more generally used instead of candy and 

 syrups of doubtful source and character, 

 there would be less need of doctors. — Ed.] 



IS CANDYING A PROOF OF PURITY IN HONEY? 



About 200 people within the last five years 

 have learned from me that candying in hon- 

 ey is the proof of purity, and in my last 

 Gleanings I le?rn that it is not. I got my 

 information from supposedly good bee-men, 

 among them being one practical apiarist 

 from Germany. Now, what I want to know 

 is: Did you ever publish a denial of the 

 much-believed theory above mentioned? and 

 if not, why not, seeing that it was no secret 

 to you? And what rule, if any, can I give 

 the curious to go by in buying or using hon- 



ey to know if it is real? or will they have to 

 have it analyzed, or keep on not knowing 

 what they are buying? What is the cost of 

 having a sample analyzed? Where is the 

 best person to send it to? A. Lawson. 

 Discovery, B. C. 



[Some years ago I conducted a series of 

 experiments to prove or disprove the state- 

 ment that glucose would prevent the granu- 

 lation of honey. Samples of honey were 

 prepared, some containing 10 per cent, some 

 30, and some 75 of glucose. The ten-per- 

 cent mixture granulated first, and so on in 

 the order of the strength of the glucose; 

 and, last of all, the mixture containing 75 

 per cent candied, but in a way that was very 

 different from the candying of the pure 

 clover honey. It was streaky in appearance, 

 and looked like ordinary pure honey that is 

 just beginning to candy. I wish with you 

 that it were true that candying were a sure 

 proof of purity ; but if we rely on that state- 

 ment we are going to make matters worse; 

 for glucose-mixers can then (as they are al- 

 ready doing) point to their product and say 

 that it candies as does ours. When such 

 mixtures are put alongside of your honey, you 

 have to compete with what is supposed to be 

 pure honey, at very much less price than 

 you can affoi'd to sell it; and yet you have 

 no means of proving by the candy test that 

 such honey is not pure. The mixers of glu- 

 cose have been making a strong handle of 

 the claim that only pure honey would gran- 

 ulate; that their honey granulates, ergo their 

 honey is pure. 



Did we ever publish a denial of that much- 

 believed theory that candying is a proof of 

 purity ? Yes. repeatedly ; and it is high 

 time that bee-keepers were disabusing their 

 minds of this heresy, as it will do them harm 

 in the manner I have cited. 



How can any one know pure honey from 

 adulterated? If he has ever tasted the or- 

 dinary commercial glucose a number of times 

 so he knows its brassy twang or flavor, due 

 to the only partial elimination of sulphuric 

 acid used in its manufacture, he can recog- 

 nize it quite well when mixed anywhere 

 from 25 to 50 per cent with pure honey. I 

 think I can detect it almost every time. I 

 have been put to the test by my friends, and 

 have recognized the adulterated article eve- 

 ry time, and I do not claim that my taste is 

 extraordinarily sensitive either. I will admit 

 this, however, that a chemically pure glu- 

 cose I could not detect, because the sulphu- 

 ric acid has been entirely eliminated ; but 

 the ordinary commercial article, such as is 

 used for adulterating, could be readily told. 



Then thei"e is a difference in the way in 

 which the glucose mixtures will candy as 

 compared with pure honey~a difference I 

 can not readily explain. 



Is there any other way in which you can 

 enable your grocer to determine whether 

 the honey is glucosed or not? Here is a 

 way, although it may not necessarily prove 

 to be reliable. If honey is put up in small 

 packages by a packing-house that makes a 



