674 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



October 27, 



the V cut Is nice and clean and good, you can make up your 

 mind that the wood is tough. 



A. I. Root — "Seconds" are a little different from the 

 cream-colored sections. If we have a lot of sections that are 

 of faulty wood, or don't work up as they ought to, we say 

 they will have to go into the " seconds." If there happens to 

 be a knotty place in the wood, or the wood is faulty, they 

 have to be sorted out and are called "seconds." That kind of 

 seconds should close up as well as " firsts." The kind that is 

 made from lumber that is not sound should be "second "and 

 not cream. We throw into the "seconds" those that show 

 some fault in the lumber or workmanship. In the past sea- 

 son we were unable to fill orders for " firsts," and we got some 

 of the other manufacturers to help us out. I do not remem- 

 ber where we got some of the sections ; but in some cases we 

 paid for " firsts " and they did not give satisfaction, and the 

 suggestion was made that we throw them into the " seconds." 

 We are going to try hard another season so that we won't 

 have to do that. 



Mr. Terry — I use sections for my honey almost entirely, 

 and a few years ago I could not get the white sections, and 

 had to take the cream-colored. I found them so poor that I 

 have not bought any since, and I wouldn't advise any man to 

 buy cream sections. Nobody could give them to me, if I could 

 buy snow-white sections, 



FLAVORS OP HONEY — WILLOW-HERB. 



Mrs. H. G. Acklin — We were talking about the different 

 flavors of honey this morning, and I was going to speak of the 

 willow-herb. I think it is as mild a flavored honey as you can 

 find. Willow-herb honey !is almost watsr-white, and I do not 

 think there is any time in the year when it is gathered that it 

 is strong. It really is a fall plant. It does not commence 

 blossoming until after the first of July. The honey-flow from 

 it is very great — almost as much as basswood. 



Mr. Stllson — This morning, when we were discussing the 

 different flavors of honey, there was a request that I should 

 get different samples of honey from the exhibit at the Exposi- 

 tion. I have brought 13 samples, which are numbered con- 

 secutively from 1 to 13, and whenever the tasting or guessing 

 committee has got through with the samples we would like to 

 have their report on the various kinds that are there repre- 

 sented. 



Mr. Masters — I would like to ask a question in reference 

 to this willow-herb. I do not know anything about it. If It 

 Is a good honey-plant I want to find out about it. 



Dr. Miller — That question can be answered pretty well 

 here. It is a weed that grows In places that have been burnt 

 off — fireweed, it Is also called — and, as a rule, you will not find 

 it growing elsewhere. It is not worth while to get the seed of 

 the plant, as it will not flourish unless you have a timbered 

 place that has been burnt off. Don't fool away your time try- 

 ing to cultivate the willow-herb. It flourishes only on the 

 burnt districts. In regard to these samples of honey, I con- 

 fess I do not believe I could be sure about them. Cleome and 

 alfalfa are there, but I do not believe I could tell the differ- 

 ence. If you want a committee to examine them and test 

 them it will be of service to us If they will do that soon, and 

 then let us have these samples Identified so that we can learn 

 something about them. I have very little knowledge about 

 these different kinds of honey. 



Dr. Mason — Does the willow-herb grow more than one 

 year on the same ground ? 



Dr. Miller — I think it does; but after a time that ground 

 will not produce the willow-herb. It does not grow continu- 

 ously. It grows only for a time on the burnt districts. 



Mr. Danzenbaker — In Michigan there are hundreds of 

 thousands of acres that have been burnt off where the plant 

 grows. The seed ripens In August and comes up in Septem- 

 ber, and next year it blooms. It begins about the first of July 

 to produce honey, and it will keep on until frost. It grows 

 from the seed, but it takes two years to bloom and produce 

 honey. 



Mrs. Acklin — I think Mr. Danzenbaker has about covered 

 the ground. I was going to say that It does not last on the 

 same land more than five or six years. Last year, on certain 

 land that had borne It before, there was only about half a 

 crop, and this year none at all. It begins to blossom at the 

 bottom of the stalk, and will continue to blossom from there 

 toward the top until the bottom has gone to seed. I certainly 

 think it is the finest honey there is produced. Of course, the 

 same plant does not grow for five or six years; I mean that 

 the same land will produce it for that same length of time by 

 re-seeding. 



ADULTERATION OP HONEY — DETECTING IT, ETC. 



Mr. Rauchfuss — In regard to this question of adulteration 

 I would say that In our State we have a law In regard to adul- 



teration of syrups and honey. It is not carried out, but that 

 is no fault of ours because we haven't got the necessary capi- 

 tal to go after them. A certain packing company complies 

 with the law in our State ; that Is, they will put a small label 

 on saying that It is SO percent corn syrup and 20 percent 

 clover honey. That is the way they put it on the market and 

 we can't touch them. They have a label which says " Honey 

 Compound" In large letters. ITl 



Dr. Mason — We have the same thing for sale in Toledo, 

 and it is labeled the same way. They comply with the law, 

 and we can't touch them. 



Mr. Rauchfuss — Several years ago we had a tasting com- 

 mittee at our convention. Prof. Gillett, from the Agricultural 

 College, brought some samples of honey markt with the num- 

 bers, and with a little glass rod In each for sampling it. Then 

 he gave us printed slips with the numbers on, and after the 

 numbers there was a blank space for us to fill out the name. 

 The blanks were handed to the president to report. It was 

 something very instructive, and it should be carried out here 

 if it is possible. 



Mr. Stllson — In regard to adulterated honey that has been 

 placed on the market in this city and State, there was one 

 firm here in the city that was putting up two grades of glu- 

 cose. One was put up in glasses and was markt "California 

 Honey." It didn't show a bit of honey in it ; It was absolutely 

 pure glucose. The other grade, put up by the same firm, had 

 a piece of comb honey In it, and was markt "Pure California 

 Honey," and it was one part honey and five parts glucose, but 

 a better grade of glucose than the first was. We had some 

 cases that we thought we could make stick here, and we were 

 expecting to try to prosecute him for obtaining money under 

 false pretenses ; but before the case was brought before the 

 courts the man who was doing the adulterating went to the 

 other world, and we haven't got his address, and are afraid 

 the sheriff couldn't find him to serve him with process, and so 

 the proceedings have been dropt. In our institute work the 

 people have been pretty thoroughly workt up on the matter of 

 adulterations. The way most customary has been to go into 

 the groceries in the different towns. We go into a grocery 

 and buy the articles there, and If we can get the merchants to 

 wrap up the packages which we buy in a parcel markt with 

 their grocery firm name, so that they cannot dispute its being 

 purchast in their town, and then hold the package up to the 

 audience at the proper time and show them the articles we 

 have purchast In their town, and give the manner of 

 adulterating; It works well. Last winter at one time In one 

 of the meetings there was a man got up and undertook 

 to deny that there was anything of the kind sold In their town, 

 and I reacht back and pickt up two samples I had lying on 

 the table, wrapt up in a grocer's paper, and come to find out 

 the grocer was the man who had got up in the back part of 

 the room and denied the sale of the adulterated article. 

 Pretty quick a man jumpt up in the back part of the room and 

 said, " Mr. Chairman, I know that is correct ; I have done the 

 mixing," and he gave the formula by which It was prepared. 



E. R. Root — There are three ways of detecting when 

 honey is adulterated with glucose. One way is to take what 

 you know to be glucose and taste It — take enough until you 

 get sick. From that time on I believe it can be detected every 

 time. That sample of glucose there on the table has a brassy 

 taste, and you can recognize it every time; I don't care how 

 much honey you put with it. Mr. York sent me a sample a 

 few years ago that didn't have that brassy taste. It was nice 

 in color, thick in body, but vile in flavor. Another way to 

 make the test Is to mix the sample with alcohol and stir it up ; 

 if it gets cloudy in 15 or 20 minutes It is glucose. Mix the 

 sample and alcohol about half and half. Mr. Whitcomb has 

 got a simpler test than any I have heard of yet. 



Mr. Whitcomb — Glucose will turn tea black at once ; 

 honey won't. 



Isaac E. Pierce — I should like to ask Mr. Whitcomb if all 

 grades of tea will do that ? 



Mr. Whitcomb — All tea contains tannin ; it is the tannin 

 In the tea acting on the glucose that turns It black. 



E. R. Root — Some years ago the president of a glucose 

 factory wrote me in regard to adulterating honey with glu- 

 cose. Of course, I encouraged him all I could, to find out all 

 I could about it. He sent me some samples, one of which was 

 very nice to eat; it was pleasant, and had none of that brassy 

 taste. But he said they could not furnish that unless we paid 

 a price away above the price of honey — out of the question. 

 The grades that could he bought for three or four cents a 

 pound were very poor indeed — vile stuff. All glucose that Is 

 used for adulterating honey has more or less of chemicals left 

 in it — sulphuric acid — and this test in tea shows the presence 

 of the acid in the glucose. If you could get a chemically pure 

 article of glucose I don't know that it would be particularly 



