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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



table on page 804, which is headed, 

 " Honeys apparently adulterated with 

 inverted sucrose." On page 805, in 

 describing this table, I use the following 

 language : 



"These 16 samples I have grouped 

 together on account of their great lev- 



orotatory power It is possible that 



this great deviation to the left may have 

 been due to the entire absence of dex- 

 trine or sucrose in the honey, or that it 

 might have been produced by the bee- 

 food being rich in sucrose, which suf- 

 fered a nearly complete inversion in the 

 body of the insect. 



" It would be quite improper to defi- 

 nitely assert that invert sugar syrup 

 had been added as an intended adulter- 

 ant. I think it quite possible that bees 

 having access to sucrose food might at 

 one time produce a honey like that in 

 Table No. 2, and at another like that in 

 Table No. 3." 



At the same time I received these 

 samples of honey from Mr. Muth, he 

 gave me other samples which were pro- 

 duced by himself, described on page 803, 

 viz. : Sample No. 39, donated by C. F. 

 Muth ; sample No. 40, donated by C. F. 

 Muth ; and sample No. 43, donated by 

 C. F. Muth. On page 805 I say of these 

 samples : 



"These honeys, obtained directly or 

 indirectly from well-kmown apiarists, I 

 have every reason to believe to be pure. 

 If they contain any adulteration it has 

 been added by artificial feeding, and not 

 intentionally. It will be observed that 

 these honeys are strongly levorotatory, 

 and indeed so much so, that some of 

 them might have appeared in Table No. 

 3." 



Now, Mr. Editor, I do not have the 

 honor of your personal acquaintance, 

 but I leave it to you to say whether or 

 not any fair-minded man in reading my 

 report would dare to say that I had 

 pronounced the honeys in Table No. 3 to 

 be adulterated ; or would Mr. Muth, if 

 he had access to the facts of the case, 

 have said in his letter that "the best 

 Mr. Wiley could say of the samples was 

 that they were adulterated, and that one 

 was probably pure." 



This old story that I pronounced gen- 

 uine samples produced by Mr. C. F. 

 Muth, to be adulterated, has been going 

 around through the bee-papers for many 

 years, together with a vast amount of 

 personal vituperation ; I think it is 

 about time for such publications to 

 cease, and thus I call attention, through 

 your columns, to the facts itvthe case. 



I also beg to correct another expres- 

 sion in Mr. Muth's letter, viz. : The ref- 



erence to the machine which is used for 

 the conversion of corn-starch into glu- 

 cose. This reference to the machine 

 was not made by Prof. Scovell, as Mr. 

 Muth supposes, but by myself in discuss- 

 ing Prof. Scovell's data. 



In the samples of honey purchased in 

 the open market in the East, none 

 bearing the label of C. F. Muth & Son 

 was found. 



The adulterated samples of Muth's 

 honey were analyzed by Professors 

 Weber and Scovell, and the comments 

 on the analyses were made by myself. 

 You allude to this same reference as 

 " undignified," and perhaps it is so, but 

 when I saw the enormous frauds which 

 were practiced on the community by 

 selling glucose as pure honey, and es- 

 pecially under the name of well-known 

 apiarists, I felt that some drastic meas- 

 ures were necessary to correct the fault. 

 I, therefore, sometimes may have in- 

 dulged in the use of language not alto- 

 gether proper, but if so I am ready to 

 make any necessary apologies. 



I am sorry to say that if Mr. Muth 

 continues to depend upon his own taste, 

 he will probably continue to sell adul- 

 terated honey to the end of time, labeled 

 "absolutely pure," as I do not believe it 

 is quite possible to discriminate by the 

 taste, between the pure and the adul- 

 terated article. I, however, am no ex- 

 pert as Mr. Muth is, ami hence cannot 

 express any positive opinion on this 

 question. Mr. Muth claims that he is 

 no adulterator ; will he now acknowledge 

 in a suitable way, that he is no mis- 

 quoter of facts, by acknowledging the 

 error which he made in his letter to you? 



I am only too anxious to join Mr. 

 Muth and all others who are disposed to 

 put an end to honey adulteration, and 

 it was for this purpose that Bulletin No. 

 13, Part 6, was prepared. I heartily 

 endorse the sentiment expressed by 

 Thurber, Whyland & Co., in favor of 

 national legislation to prevent the pos- 

 sibility of such frauds as are indicated 

 in Part 6. All the bee-keepers them- 

 selves ought to join most heartily in this 

 movement, for if the adulterated honey 

 could be kept out of the market, the 

 price of the pure article would certainly 

 be very much increased, and their busi- 

 ness become all the more profitable. The 

 bee-papers also should help this along, 

 but, strange to say, instead of .doing so 

 they have devoted an immense amount 

 of space to the personal abuse of the 

 writer ; denouncing his methods and his 

 honesty, and questioning his veracity 

 and his capacity, and denying absolutely 

 that any adulteration of honey is prac- 



