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DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., NOVEMBER 16, 1881. 



No. 46. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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Novice and Glncose. 



Mr. A. I. Root copied the following 

 item into Gleanings for November, 

 page 530, from the Bee Journal of 

 Oct. 2(1, page 337 : 



To prohibit the use of glucose by law would be 

 about as proper as to compel hotel keepers to use 

 first-class meat in hash, or cheap boarding-bouse 

 keeper- to debilitate the batter. If persons wish to 

 buy and eat glucose, they have a right to do so ; we 

 would throw no obstacle in the way of buying it. 

 But we do object to their buying and eating it for 

 pure honev and syrup, or anything except what it 

 really is. If buyers inquire tor glucose, let them 

 have it ; if for lioney. .-ell them honey. 



Whereupon he remarks editorially 

 as follows : 



" Now, if that is not exastly where 

 I have always stood in the matter, it 

 must be I do not see things straight. 

 It looks tome just as if friend Newman 

 had come over to my position ; but 

 very likely it seems to him I have gone 

 over to his side. Never mind, so long 

 as we are agreed." 



It is very certain that Mr. Root does 

 not " see things straight," as lie terms 

 it. The Bee Journal has been very 

 outspoken in regard to adulteration, 

 and has strongly condemned the use 

 of glucose not only for adulterating 

 honey, butalso for feeding bees, while 

 Gleanings has not only advocated its 

 use for feeding bees, and sold it, by 

 tons, for that and any other purpose 

 the buyers wished to use it, but 

 Mr. Root has aided adulterators by 

 avowing that it was a " pure sweet," 

 "not bad confectionery," tliat it was 

 " excellent food," and that " basswood 



or clover honey" would be " improved 

 for table use by being mixed with the 

 first quality of glucose !" 



Can it be possible that Mr. Root can 

 honestly think, even for a moment, 

 that the Bee Journal has "come 

 over to my position," as he states in 

 the last number of Gleanings? The 

 idea is simply infamous ! 



We have no desire to color his lan- 

 guage, nor misrepresent his views, 

 and will therefore give the following 

 extracts from Gleanings, in proof of 

 the assertions we have made. Mr. A. 

 I. Root says : 



" It seems as if the Buffalo factory 

 improved on every ton of sugar (glu- 

 cose) they send us. It is now so 

 white and of such a pure sweet that it 

 is not bad confectionery, just as it is 

 broken out of the barrels. Both in 

 appearance and taste, it is slowly but 

 surely coming nearer and nearer to 

 very white pure candied honey. If 

 the flavor of basswood or clover honey 

 were added to it, and its candying 

 property corrected a little, it would be 

 almost, if not, quite, honey made from 

 Indian corn." — Gleanings for March, 



1880, page 118. 



Speaking of a jar with a small piece 

 of comb lioney inserted in liquid 

 (mostly glucose) sent him as a speci- 

 men of adulterated honey, he says : 



" If I had purchased the lioney, 

 1 am sure I should have been well sat- 

 isfied with it, although the contents 

 of the comb were different from the 

 liquid portion, and none of it was 

 crystallized. This was by no means a 

 proof that all was not pure honey, but 

 wlmlher it was or not I should pro- 

 nounce it both good and wholesome. A 

 pure article of glucose is excellent food, 

 and we should like it just as well as 

 honey, did it not lack the flavor of the 

 flowers ! " He then adds : " I really 

 think strong basswood lioney is im- 

 proved for table use by being mixed 

 with the first quality of glucose. It 

 is, I am sure, just as wholesome as 

 honey." — Gleanings for April, 1878, 

 page 110. 



Of the adulterated honey Mr. Root 

 says : " I am sure it is just as whole- 

 some as honey." Can he point to a 

 single sentence in the Bee Journal 

 that can be so construed as to give the 

 idea that in such a sentiment " we are 

 agreed ?" If not, then he has done us 

 a very serious injustice to say that we 

 are agreed, unless he is ready to repu- 

 diate his own language. 



He still further asserts that he has 

 been eating it for mouths, aye, years, 

 and here is the proof : 



" The light yellow grape sugar that 

 we have been using, I find almost as 

 pleasant as maple sugar, and I have 

 eaten it freely for months." — Glean- 

 ings for March, 1878, page 87. 



" 1 feel just as safe in feeding it 

 (grape sugar) or eating it myself, as I 



would in eating the corn meal from 

 which it is made." — Gleanings for Nov., 

 1878, page 365. 



And in his catalogue of supplies for 

 the apiary, on page 14, he says : 



" I know that the Davenport grape 

 sugar is good and wholesome, for I 

 have used it for years." 



Has the Bee Journal ever said 

 that glucose or grape sugar was "just 

 as good as honey," for any purpose V 

 Certainly not ; but Mr. Root, editor of 

 Gleanings has said so, and, therefore, 

 we are not agreed, unless Mr. Root 

 has changed his views ! He says: 



" For comb building, brood and 

 queen rearing, during a dearth of 

 honey, it is an excellent and cheap 

 substitute for either lioney or sugar." 

 In the same article he says: "So 

 far as I know " it is "just as good as 

 honey." — Gleanings for Nov., 1878, page 

 372. 



As still another proof that Mr. Root 

 does "notsee things straight," hecon- 

 tradicts himself point blank by saying 

 that " grape sugar cannot be used for 

 adulterating honey." This is his lan- 

 guage : 



" I do not think it (grape sugar) 

 could ever be used to adulterate honey 

 without utterly ruining it for table 

 use."— Gleanings for March, 1878, page 

 87. 



" I have favored the use of grape 

 sugar for feeding bees, and nothing 

 more. I have done this with the un- 

 derstanding that grape sugar cannot 

 be used for adulterating honey; its 

 bitter taste would render this impos- 

 sible, aside from its invariable habit 

 of hardening in the cells almost im- 

 mediately after it is fed to the bees." 

 —Gleanings for Feb., 1879, page 41. 



In the last paragraph he again con- 

 tradicts himself. He has said he has 

 been eating it, and knows it is " good 

 and wholesome," that honey would be 

 improved by being mixed with grape 

 sugar, and that the adulterated lioney 

 was " both good and wholesome," and 

 now in the last paragraphs quoted he 

 says that " grape sugar cannot be used 

 for adulterating honey," and that, he 

 has " favored the use of grape sugar 

 for feeding bees and nothing more !" 



If a witness in court should thus 

 contradict his testimony, he would be 

 committed for perjury or be adjudged 

 insane, and hisevidence be ignored by 

 the jury; but of course we shall not 

 say such an unkind thing of Mr. Root. 



It will be remembered that Messrs. 

 Dadant and Muth, in several articles 

 in the Bee Journal for 1878, very 

 severely criticised Mr. Root's position 

 on glucose, and Mr. Root replied in 

 the following language : 



" Our friend Dadant is doubtless 

 sincere in what he says of grape sugar, 



but, for all that, I think him very 

 much mistaken. I have eaten it in 

 large quantities just as I would maple 

 sugar, and have fed it to our bees for 

 over a year, without a single bad fea- 

 ture showing itself, so far as I know. 

 It has been used largely all over our 

 land, and is now quite an article of 

 commerce. I do not know what kind 

 of grape sugar they used in France, 

 but I am sure that that made by the 

 Davenport Glucose Co. is wholesome 

 and free from the impurities men- 

 tioned No doubt friends Dadant, 



Muth and. perhaps, Newman too, are 

 sincere. I cheerfully forgive them 

 all."— Gleanings for Oct., 1878,p«fye326. 



Iu the Bee Journal for July 13, 

 the Rev. L. L. Langstroth gave a mas- 

 terly rebuke to Mr. Root for advising 

 the use of grape sugar for feeding 

 Dees, and for winter stores, showing 

 that it was certain death to them. 

 This convincing argument caused Mr. 

 Root to confess as follows : 



" The first experiment I ever made 

 with it (grape sugar) for wintering, 



caused the death of two colonies 



They did not have the dysentery, but 

 simply starved on heavy combs of solid 

 grape sugar." 



Mr. Root then agreed to discontinue 

 his advice to use it for wintering pur- 

 poses, and it is very generous in him 

 to forgive us all for our efforts to con- 

 vert him— but it is exceedingly ungen- 

 erous for him now to say that we have 

 "come over" to his " position." 



Here is a matter that concerns every 

 bee-keeper. Mr. Root makes the fol- 

 lowing libellous assertion : 



"Grape sugar is now almost as 

 staple an article with bee-keepers as 

 foundation."— Gleanings for May, 1880, 

 page 230. 



Staple for what ? It cannot be for 

 feeding, because Mr. Root says his 

 bees " simply starved on heavy combs 

 of solid grape sugar." But one infer- 

 ence can be drawn by the general 

 public, and that is that bee-keepers 

 have been persuaded by the reckless 

 assertions that grape sugar is " pure," 

 " wholesome," " a pure sweet," "just 

 as good as honey," and that " bass- 

 wood honey is improved for table use 

 by being mixed with the first quality 

 of grape sugar," and "just as whole- 

 some as honey." Can it be wondered 

 at, that Mr. Roofs own words are fre- 

 quently quoted by glucose peddlers, 

 to establish a prejudice against honest 

 bee-keepers ? Is it a matter of sur- 

 prise, that the uneducated consumers 

 always regard extracted honey with 

 suspicion? Who is most guilty, the 

 bee-keeper and vender who have been 

 tempted to " improve for table use," 

 or him whose writings teach by impli- 

 cation that it is not wrong to defraud 



