810 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 20 or more apiarists 

 who help to make " Queries and Replies so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest heginners.— Ed. 



Detecting Honey Adulteration. 



Do you know of an easy or simple way 

 of trying extracted honey, to find out 

 whether it is mixed with anything be- 

 sides honey ? If so, I would be pleased 

 if you would give me the recipe as soon 

 as possible. The reason I would like to 

 know of such a recipe is this : 



About three weeks ago I saw an 

 article published in our local paper, on 

 trying extracted honey to discover 

 whether it was mixed with other stuff or 

 not ; it is this : 



Take twice as much alcohol as you 

 want to take honey to try ; put in a bot- 

 tle and shake the whole well, and if no 

 sediment goes to the bottom of the bot- 

 tle, it is pure honey, for pure honey 

 would all dissolve in alcohol and no sed- 

 iment would settle to the bottom of the 

 bottle if it was pure honey. 



I have tried the directions twice, but 

 failed altogether, as the honey would 

 not dissolve at all, and settled to the 

 bottom of the bottle after I had shaken 

 it well. I have sold a lot of extracted 

 honey in the town where the paper is 

 published, and if my customers would 

 try it, and find it as I did, they would be 

 disappointed, and blame me for mixing 

 other stuff with the honey, but I have 

 sold nothing but pure honey. 



If you do not know of any way to tell 

 adulterated honey, you would do me a 

 favor if you would send this to some one 

 who could answer it, if you know of 

 suih a person, and have others try the 

 recipe which I send with this letter, al- 

 though it is in the German language. 

 Probably I did not have pure alcohol, or 

 did not understand exactly how to make 

 the experiment. M. R. 



Raven Stream, Minn. 



Answer — No, we don't know of an 

 easy way of detecting adulteration in 

 honey, and don't believe there is any. 

 The thing has been much discussed, and 

 until lately the best chemists, with the 

 best apparatus at hand, seemed unable 

 to say for a certainty whether a sample 

 of honey was pure or adulterated. 



It seemed rather strange that so easy 

 a plan of determining the purity of 

 honey should all at once come to light in 

 your local paper, and in order to find 

 what would be the result of such a trial 

 the recipe was sent to one of the veteran 

 bee-keepers so that it could be tried on 

 honey that he knew for certain was ab- 

 solutely pure. Here is what he reports : 



" I took some white honey of excellent 

 quality, drained from a section, so that 

 I know there could be no possible ques- 

 tion as to its purity. Then I got from 

 the druggist some alcohol about which 

 he said there was no question as to its 

 purity. But instead of taking just 

 twice as much alcohol as honey, I took 

 four times as much, for of course the 

 more alcohol the more readily the honey 

 would dissolve, If it "would dissolve at 

 all. I shook it thoroughly, and have 

 shaken it occasionally during a lialf 

 day, but the only result that I can see is 

 that the alcohol looks a little milky. 

 The honey all stays at the bottom. Ac- 

 cording to that test I have never pro- 

 duced a pound of pure honey in my 

 life." 



Your paper will no doubt be very glad 

 to make the proper correction, for such 

 things are copied from one paper to an- 

 other, and of course they have not the 

 time to test everything. The only won- 

 der is how such an absurdity ever got 

 started. 



**A Motlei-ii Bee-Farm and Its 



Economic Management," is the title of a 

 splendid liook on practical bee-culture, by 

 Mr. S. Simmins, qt England. It is 5%x8>^ 

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 nicely illustrated, and bound in cloth. It 

 shows -'how bees may be cultivated as a 

 means of livelihood; as a health-giving 

 pursuit ; and as a source of recreation to 

 the busy man." It also illustrates how 

 profits may be " made certain by growing 

 crops yielding the most honey, having also 

 other uses; and by judgment in breeding a 

 good working strain of bees." Price, post- 

 paid, from this office, .f 1.00 : or clubbed with 

 the Bee Journal for one year, for SI. 60. 



Capons and Caponizing, by 



Edward Warren Sawyer, M. D., Fanny 

 Field, and others. It shows in clear 

 language and illustrations all about 

 caponizing fowls; and thus how to 

 make the most money in poultry-raising. 

 Every poultry-keeper should have it. 

 Price, postpaid, 30 cents ; or clubbed 

 with Bee Journal one year, for $1.10. 



