244 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 3, 



(6) 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 CHICAGO, ILL., AUG. 3, 1881. 



Journal of Chemistry on Glucose. 



International Congress in Italy. 



We have received the following very 

 kind invitation to attend the Italian 

 International Congres : 



Milan, Italy, July 1,1881. 



Honorable Monsieur : The In- 

 ternational Congress of Apiculture 

 will be held in Milan, on Sept. 15, 16 

 and 17, 1881, and the President of the 

 Central Association for the promo- 

 tion of apiculture in Italy, being de- 

 sirous of making the Congress the 

 most productive of good results,and at 

 the same time to subserve the inter- 

 ests of apiculture, by promoting the 

 progress and prosperity of the indus- 

 try, is very desirous of obtaining the 

 attendance of the most renowned 

 apiarists of the world. I have, there- 

 fore, the distinguished honor and ex- 

 treme pleasure of sending you this 

 most cordial invitation to attend our 

 Assembly. 



The Society would be extremely 

 pleased to have the honor of your at- 

 tendance, and would deem itself very 

 fortunate by your participation in the 

 discussion of the important topics and 

 interestingthemes that will be brought 

 before the Assembly. 



Should you. however, be unable to 

 attend personally, will you be pleased 

 to put your views on some topic of in- 

 terest in writing, and submit it to the 

 'Congress for discussion, by those who 

 will be in attendance. 



The Industrial Art Exposition will 

 be held in Milan, and will remain open 

 until the end of October. Railroad 

 fares will be much reduced, and many 

 other inducements will be offered to 

 attract visitors at that time to our 

 Congress. 



The President has the honor to pre- 

 sent you, Sir, his most cordial felici- 

 tations. A. Cadelin, Cor. Sec. 



We shall ever have occasion to re- 

 member our visit to Milan, Italy, and, 

 while memory holds its sway, we shall 

 never forget the pleasant hours we 

 spent with Count Barbo, the Presi- 

 dent of the Society, and also with 

 Count Alfonso Visconti de Saliceto, 

 the able editor of V Apicoltore, the or- 

 gan of the Society, and exceedingly 

 regret that our duties in connection 

 with the Bee Journal will not per- 

 mit us to accept their cordial invita- 

 tion to be present at the International 

 Congress. 



We have, however, promised to 

 send a letter to the Convention, in 

 French, on "Progressive Apiculture," 

 to be read and discussed by the noted 

 apiarists that will be present, and hope 

 that the Congress will be deeply in- 

 teresting to those present, and of vital 

 importance to progressive apiculture 

 the world over. 



O"l'rof. Vennor's weather predic- 

 tions for August are: First week. 

 pleasant days with cool evenings and 

 nights ; second week, hot, cloudy and 

 sultry days, with cooler nights; third 

 week, cooler weather, with storms in 

 Virginia, ending with hot, cloudy 

 weather and storms; fourth week, 

 sultry and windy weather, with heavy 

 storms on the lakes. St. Lawrence 

 river, and around New York ; fifth 

 week, cooler, with rains and frosts in 

 the North, and pleasant days with cool 

 nights further South, with indications 

 of returning heat. 



We are in receipt of the following 

 letter, relating to an editorial which 

 appeared in the Boston Journal of 

 Chemistry for July, 1881 : 



Mr. Editor : Allow me to call 

 your attention to an editoral in the 

 Boston Journal of Chemistry, on glu- 

 cose. I have ever been accustomed 

 to place almost implicit confidence in 

 Dr. J. R. Nichols, Editor of the Jour- 

 nal of Chemistry, as a reliable chemist 

 and assayer. He has for many years 

 manifested a deep interest in exposing 

 frauds and adulterations of articles 

 in common use, both as foods or med 

 icines. I was not prepared to see just 

 such a position as he takes on manu- 

 factured glucose in the July number 

 of his Journal. If what he says is 

 true, then it seems to me we may bid 

 farewell to the thought of ever bring- 

 ing honey — especially extracted honey 

 — into very general use. It cannot be 

 produced as cheaply as glucose from 

 corn. He thinks the glucose of com- 

 merce not particularly poisonous, but 

 only a swindle by selling it for more 

 than it is worth as a sweet. Please 

 tell us what you think of it. 



D. K. BOUTELLE. 



Lake City, Minn., July 6, 1881. 



As we have so often unmistakably 

 committed ourselves on the subject of 

 food adulteration, and, in fact, against 

 every artifice for obtaining money 

 fraudulently, we do not feel author- 

 ized in commenting at length upon the 

 article referred to by Mr. Boutelle. 

 As there are no new developments, 

 and the article is somewhat lengthy, 

 we must content ourselves with mak- 

 ing brief extracts from it. Dr. Nichols 

 states facts very frankly and fairly, 

 and evidently without any prejudice. 

 Were all as candid and honest as he. 

 the public would have but little to 

 complain of. He is, of course, very 

 guarded in his indorsements of glu- 

 cose, and, to prevent misconception, 

 in several places makes a prefix of the 

 word pure to glucose. Nor does he in- 

 timate that a majority, or even a con- 

 siderable portion of that sold is pure, 

 but the contrary. The introductory 

 paragraph is perhaps most objectiona- 

 ble, as it partakes more of sophistry. 

 It reads : 



Glucose is the sugar of the f utirre. 

 Oppose it as you will, it is daily in- 

 creasing in importance and in the 

 number of its uses. In climates where 

 the sugar-cane will not grow, and in 

 countries where the sugar-beet cannot 

 be cultivated with profit, there is a 

 wide field for glucose. Wherever corn, 

 grain or potatoes thrive, there glucose 

 factories will flourish. Glucose differs 

 as much from cane sugar as tallow 

 from lard, or butter from oleomarga- 

 rine. Both kinds of sugar are sweet, 

 although in a very different degree, 

 and for many purposes one can be sub- 

 stituted for the other without the con- 

 sumer being aware of the fact 



The uses of glucose are very numer- 

 ous, although it is seldom sold to the 

 public under its real name; but under 

 the alias of "golden drips," "sugar- 

 house syrup," " strained honey," and 

 even Vermont maple syrup, its sale is 

 very extensive. It is largely employed 

 by confectioners for making candies, 

 bv wine dealers for strengthening 

 wine, bv brewers to add body to their 

 beer. Dr. Kedzie, of the Michigan 

 Board of Health, reports that of 17 

 samples of table syrup tested by him, 

 15 contained glucose. Of 20 samples 

 analyzed in Chicago, only 1 was una- 

 dulterated 



We do not believe that pure glucose 

 is an injurious substance when properly 

 made, but to sell it under the name of 

 cane sugar, when it is but one-third, as 



swindle. That it pays to make it is 

 evident from the fact that there are 

 more than twenty glucose factories in 

 this country, turning out over one mill- 

 ion pounds per day. 



We are forced to disagree with Dr. 

 Nichols as to the desirableness of glu- 

 cose for any purpose, and think its im- 

 portance as a commercial commodity 

 is greatly magnified; and, like the 

 Doctor, we do not object to its manu- 

 facture and sale as swefe, but the fraud 

 and swindle all honest people object to. 

 But few persons will care to buy even 

 pure glucose, when they know it is but 

 one-third as good as sugar or honey, 

 and we cannot refrain from thanking 

 the editor of the Journal of Chemistry 

 for adding his testimony to the fact. 



Counterfeit Comh Honey. 



article going 



We find the following 

 the rounds of the press : 



Prof. H. W. Wiley, in the Popular 

 Science Monthly, records the amazing 

 progress of the glucose industry. 

 There are 20 immense glucose facto- 

 ries either built or in progress of con- 

 struction. Already a capital of over 

 $2,000,000 is invested in the business. 

 The daily consumption of corn for the 

 manufacture of glucose is about 35,- 

 000 bushels, and the annual amount 

 about 11,000.000. 



It is hard to find a table syrup 

 wholly free from this adulteration. 

 Glucose is said to be present in most 

 beer now brewed. The bee himself is 

 not as busy as the glucose manipula- 

 tor. The latter puts up a " honey" of 

 which the waxen cells are made of 

 paraffine, and the contents consist of 

 snow-white glucose. The fraudulent 

 comb and honey are handsomer than 

 the finest white clover " Vermont," 

 and can be sold at half the price, at a 

 greater profit. 



To the question, " Is glucose whole- 

 some V" the Professor replies : 



It all depends on the presence or ab- 

 sence of sulphuric acid, lime and cop- 

 per, which are apt to find their way 

 into the article through imperfect 

 chemical treatment. 



Prof. Wiley is greatly in error when 

 he asserts that artificial honey combs 

 are manufactured from paraffine, filled 

 with glucose, and sold as honey. The 

 story originated in the fertile brain of 

 some sensational newspaper corre- 

 spondent, where the Professor proba- 

 bly obtained the idea, and accepted it 

 as true, without investigating its pos- 

 sibility. As we have heretofore inti- 

 mated, It has never been accomplished. 

 The hoax has really done much harm, 

 as many unthinking persons, knowing 

 the prevalence of adulterations, have 

 become prejudiced by it. Referring 

 to this, we are in receipt of the follow- 

 ing from Mr. R. Mayerhoffer, Prague, 

 Austria : 



I have read an alarming paragraph, 

 published in the principal European 

 papers, that an ingenious Yankee has 

 constructed complete honey combs, 

 and well filled them with honey. The 

 capping of the cells must be a line 

 operation ! It is impossible for man 

 to accomplish this miraculous work of 

 the bee. I have read the Bee Jour- 

 nal, but have not found a notice of 

 the humbug. 



We have twice alluded to it, and de- 

 nied its practicability. 



(gjTThe Ninth Industrial Exposition 

 will be held at Cincinnati, O., Sept. 7 

 to Oct. 8, 1881. A large number of 

 premiums are to be awarded, consist 



Premiums for Apiarian Exhibits. 



We cheerfully give place to the fol- 

 lowing communication, as it touches 

 upon a subject which we consider of 

 vital importance to honey producers : 



Council Grove, Kan., July 25. 1881. 

 Editor Bee Journal :— The St. 

 Louis Fair Association offer premi- 

 ums to the amount of only $15.00 for 

 honey and beeswax, while for beer, 

 wines and tobacco they come down to 

 the tune of $450. Their honey premi- 

 ums are less than half the sum paid 

 by the Western National Association, 

 at Lawrence, Kan., in 1880, and yet 

 they are the centre, commercially, of 

 a very large extent of territory in 

 which' bee-keeping is profitable. 



D. P. Norton. 



There is, perhaps, no pursuit in the 

 country so general in its location and 

 so little understood by the great mass 

 of our intelligent population as scien- 

 tific bee-keeping ; indeed, the know- 

 ledge of most learned men extends 

 only to the facts that there are two 

 kinds of honey kept on sale in mostof 

 the stores, namely, comb honey and 

 "strained" honey — the former they 

 buy, because they relish it ; the latter 

 they abhor, because it does not taste 

 as honey did " when they were boys." 

 Many do not understand why this is, 

 and all have a distrust of liquid honey. 

 People should be educated to an ap- 

 preciation of the excellence and econ- 

 omy of all pure honey, and we know 

 of no place offering as good facilities 

 for a diffusion of that knowledge as the 

 Agricultural Fairs and Expositions. 

 For this reason State Vice Presidents 

 and local Societies should make ex- 

 tra exertions to secure the award of 

 liberal premiums at every Fair within 

 their jurisdiction ; should no premium 

 be offered, the more need for a cred- 

 itable display not only of comb and 

 extracted honey, but all the imple- 

 ments pertaining to the apiary, and, 

 if possible, a colony of bees; above 

 all, do not forget the extractor, and a 

 few combs of honey with which to 

 illustrate its use. The omission of the 

 premium is proof of the ignorance, on 

 the part of the executive committee, 

 of the importance of the bee-keeping 

 interest. 



All honest branches of industry find 

 it a profitable investment of time and 

 money to exhibit and advertise their 

 products, aird bee-keepers ought to 

 have discovered by this time that they 

 are not an exception to the rule. Lib- 

 eral premiums, of course, stimulate 

 competition, and competition devel- 

 ops superiority. Vice Pres. Norton 

 deserves commendation for his energy, 

 and he will give an impetus to pro- 

 gressive bee-keeping in Kansas that 

 will accomplish much good. 



' to ^S but i»8 of » ul ' ses of S° ld < S° ld and silver 



price of cane sugar, when it 



three cents a pound to make it, is a 



medals, etc. 



Sorely Tempted.— The following is 

 clipped from a late number of the 



Fanners' Review, Chicago : 



What are we coming to ? Dairy- 

 men are accused of buying oleomar- 

 garine, and now a Louisiana sugar 

 manufacturer is reported as having 

 come to the conclusion that glucose 

 will soon be largely used for mixing 

 with sugar-house syrup. lie offers the 

 excuse that people will be better satis- 

 fied with such a combination syrup 

 than with the pure article. 



We are sorry the Louisiana man can 

 not frankly tell the truth, and say that 

 he is unable to compete with the adul- 

 terators. We do not like his poor sub- 

 terfuge of an excuse. 



