664 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



largely of an inferior product, which, as 

 ostensible honey, lessens general appre- 

 ciation of honey, and thus gives the 

 "black eye " to one of the most whole- 

 some and delicious of all our food pro- 

 ducts. 



Some of the "Pure Strained Honey" 

 which Mr. Walker bought in the Detroit 

 markets, and which was being made and 

 sold by the carload in that city, and 

 brought into our State convention to be 

 tested, was as tasteless and insipid as 

 so much glucose tinctured by a trace of 

 real honey. Ought such a state of 

 things to continue? I say by all that's 

 good and just, Emphatically, No ! 



Again, this fact of adulteration is no 

 secret. The public are aware of this 

 wide-spread adulteration. Rightfully 

 they distrust this product. Are they 

 illogical, when they conclude that a man 

 who will lie — sell a thing for what it is 

 not — will or may also impose upon the 

 public an article that is unwholesome 

 and unfit for food? Thus, whether they 

 are correct or not in the conclusion, the 

 effect upon the honey market is most 

 serious. 



That starch-glucose — the most com- 

 mon adulterant — is a safe food, is cer- 

 tainly a grave question, which bee-keep- 

 ers at least will answer in the negative. 

 They see their bees reject this sweet if 

 any other is to be had, and experience 

 shows that it is not safe for bees as a 

 winter food. Thus we may believe that 

 the distrust felt by the public is not 

 wholly a whim. 



We thus see that this enemy is of no 

 mean proportions. We see that it men- 

 aces the success of every bee-keeper, and 

 it follows that bee-keepers should unite 

 in one grand successful effort to utterly 

 squelch it — to drive it from among us 

 forever. I have not a doubt, but if we 

 are united and determined we can do 

 this. 



" For right is right, as God is God, 



And right must ever win ; 

 To doubt would be disloyalty. 



To falter would be sin." 



The analyses made the past season 

 prove beyond any question that all arti- 

 ficial mixtures of syrup and honey can 

 be detected. Thus we are able to locate 

 the evil, in all cases, when this fraud is 

 practiced. Most, if not all, of the States 

 have well-equipped chemical laboratories 

 in connection with their experiment 

 stations, where such analyses will be 

 made free of charge, and so it will be 

 practicable and easy for any one to in- 

 vestigate any suspected sample, and see 

 whether it be spurious or genuine. 



In addition to these State stations, 

 the Government Department of Agricul- 

 ture has a Division of Chemistry most 

 ably manned ; and the head of this 

 division promises fullest aid to help the 

 bee-keepers in their effort to stop this 

 iniquitous adulteration. We are sure, 

 then, that we may find any adulterated 

 product, and can find who the manufac- 

 turer is, and just where he carries on his 

 nefarious work. Thus we are already 

 in possesion of one of the most important 

 weapons whereby this valuable work is 

 to be accompished. 



We next need good laws which shall 

 make it a serious misdemeanor — shall 

 we not say crime ? — to manufacture and 

 sell as honey, some artificial product, 

 the real value and make-up of which 

 shall be kept from the public. This 

 crime must be severely punished, by 

 both fine and imprisonment. Many of 

 the States have, already, such laws. The 

 law in Michigan — see Act No. 254, Laws 

 of 1881, Sec. 4— is as follows: 



No person shall mix any glucose or grape- 

 sugar without distinctly marking, stamp- 

 ing or labeling the article, or the package 

 containing the same, with the true and appro- 

 priate name of the article, and the percentage 



in which glucose or grape-sugar enters 



into its composition ; nor shall any person 

 sell, or offer for sale, or order or permit to be 

 sold, or offered for sale, any such food, into 

 the composition of which glucose or grape- 

 sugar has entered, without at the same 



time informing the buyer of the same, and 

 the proportions in which such glucose or 

 grape-sugar has entered into its composition. 



Sec. 5. — Any person convicted of violating 

 any provision of any of the foregoing sections 

 of this Act, shall be fined not more than fifty 

 dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail 

 not exceeding three months. 



Sec. 6.— It is hereby made the duty of the 

 prosecuting attorney of the State to appear 

 for the people, and to attend to the prosecu- 

 tion of all complaints under this Act in all the 

 courts in their respective counties. 



Other States, as Massachusetts, New 

 Jersey and New York have similar laws, 

 as has also Ontario. 



It seems to me desirable that every 

 State should have such a law, so framed 

 as to be most serviceable in the good 

 work of entirely preventing this iniqui- 

 tous business. Perhaps a United States 

 law, which would be effective throughout 

 the entire country, would be possible and 

 desirable. Why should not this subject 

 be brought up at all the State conven- 

 tions, and at the National convention, 

 and an ideal law be written out by some 

 such capable person as R. L. Taylor, 

 who is at the same time a bee-keeper, a 

 lawyer, and a legislator ; and a plan 

 formulated to secure its enactment in 

 all the States, and, if possible, by the 



