1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1063 



THE ANALYSIS OF HONEY. 



To what Extent may we Depend on it ? the 

 Definition of Honey. 



BY WILLIAM A. SELSER. 



It is a blessed thing that the advancement 

 in scientific research has made it possible to 

 detect, not only the adulteration of honey, 

 but the doctoring of it with acids and chem- 

 icals, as well as to discover in many cases, 

 by analysis, if the bees have gathered the 

 nectar from any source other than what the 

 government defines honey to be— "nectar 

 from flowers." 



Within the last year new States have been 

 added to the list of those passing pure-food 

 laws; and these laws have been made so 

 stringent, not only regarding adulteration, 

 which is adding in quantity to honey some 

 substances other than those gathered by the 

 bees, but they also attach a penalty to doc- 

 toring honey with any substances whatever, 

 in the slightest degree. So it is very irn- 

 portant for the bee-keeper to realize that, if 

 he does any thing to his honey except heat- 

 ing it in the regular way, heavy penalties 

 are attached to the sale of it by the pure- 

 food laws of the different States. 



Honey may be pronounced pure by the av- 

 erage chemist, and yet if only a few drops 

 of phosphoric or salicylic acid are added, or 

 the least quantity of glycerine or other sub- 

 stances which are well known to help keep 

 extracted honey from candying, it is a vio- 

 lation of the pure-food law. 



In order to set at rest throughout the 

 United States in various courts of law what 

 honey is, the Bureau of Chemistry in the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington 

 has defined honey as follows: "Nectar gath- 

 ered by the bees from flowers, and deposited 

 in wax cells." Therefore it follows that 

 what is often called honey, fed from granu- 

 lated sugar taken up by the bees, deposited 

 in cells and capped over, is not honey. It 

 also follows that honey-dew deposited in 

 cells, and capped over, is not honey, nor is 

 juice gathered by the bees from the grape, 

 peach, or any other fruit or any other sub- 

 stance whatever, though taken into the 

 stomach by the bees, and taken into their 

 honey-sac and chemically changed, and de- 

 posited in cells, pure honey. This has been 

 a most marvelous revelation of recent oc- 

 currence. For years I have made a special 

 study of analysis of all kinds of honey in 

 their relation to the pure-food law, and I 

 have demonstrated beyond a question that 

 there is often honey put on the market that 

 the bee-keeper feels he had nothing to do 

 with in adulterating, which would be thrown 

 out by the pure-food inspectors as adulter- 

 ated. 



A gentleman from Conshohocken, Penna., 

 brought the writer a sample of very pretty 

 good-bodied honey which he said his bees 

 gathered from grapes when they were punc- 

 tured by other insects, or burst open from 

 being overripe. The writer impartially put 

 this honey through severe tests in the labo- 



ratory, and discovered conclusively by anal- 

 ysis that it was not pure honey. I was 

 greatly surprised to know that, in the read- 

 ing of the polariscope, the results indicated 

 this condition. 



In 1902 I visited some of the large apia- 

 ries of Mexico, Texas, and Southern Cali- 

 fornia, as well as Colorado and other points. 

 I took from the hives personally what I was 

 confident was the honey gathered from the 

 various sources, and I found in every in- 

 stance where the bees had gathered the va- 

 rious honeys from the blossom of the flower 

 or plant that the analysis showed pure hon- 

 ey. I very carefully filed for reference the 

 various results from the different honeys. I 

 also visited a section in the mountains of 

 Redlands, Cal., to get some honey supposed 

 to be gathered from the sugar maple, but I 

 found that the bees do not gather enough at 

 the time of storing surplus from this to get 

 a sample, as had been reported previously 

 by some that they would do, but that some 

 samples of honey sent from California, that 

 were reputed to be gathered from this sec- 

 tion, were adulterated and mixed by the 

 honey companies putting it up, who tried to 

 shield themselves behind this pretext. 



The question has come up repeatedly by 

 the laity, that, if bees gather any thing 

 from any source, and it undergoes a chemi- 

 cal change in their honey-sac, and is depos- 

 ited in cells, and capped over by them with- 

 out the aid of man, could we declare it adul- 

 terated? I would answer, most emphatical- 

 ly, " Yes," and the court refers back to the 

 government definition for the answer in de- 

 ciding the case. Therefore I say, chemical- 

 ly speaking, honey-dew is not honey. I ad- 

 vise all bee-keepers who know their bees 

 are working on honey-dew not to put it up 

 in any way so that it may be marked pure, 

 as it would be a violation of the pure-food 

 law if sold in the various States having 

 such laws. 



Recently there has been honey that was 

 absolutely pure, excepting the addition of a 

 small quantity of phosphoric acid to prevent 

 its granulating, which the pure-food inspect- 

 ors of Ohio have thrown out as adulterated, 

 and as an infringement on the pure-food 

 law. While the addition of the phosphoric 

 acid was in very small quantities, said to be 

 only a few drops to the gallon, yet it was 

 discovered by chemical analysis, and declar- 

 ed to be a violation of the pure-food law. 



Prof. H. W. Wiley, Chief Chemist of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, at Washington, has 

 had a number of vigorous young men fed on 

 the various preservatives, salicyhc acid with 

 the rest, to discover how much damage to 

 the linings of the stomach these various 

 preparations do. There is no question in 

 the writer's mind that they are very injuri- 

 ous, and Prof. Wiley so states. Just the 

 extent of their damage, and the result of 

 his experiment, are on file in the Depart- 

 ment, but the writer is not familiar with 

 them. 



It has certainly been a boon to the bee- 

 keeper, at least those who wish to do an 



