552 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Aug. 31. 1899. 



rUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



George W. York & Company, 



116 Michigan St., Gliicaoo, III. 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 



SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail Matter.] 



United States Bee- Keepers' Association. 



Org-anized to advance the pursuit of Apiculture ; to promote the interests 

 of bee-lfeepers ; to protect its members ; to prevent the adulteration of 

 honey ; and to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



AJombersIiip f ee— Sl.OO per Annam, 



Executive Committee— Pres., E. Whitcomh; Vice-Pres., C. -A.. Hatch; 



Secretary, Dr. A. B. Mason, Station B, Toledo, Ohio. 

 Board of Directors— E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; E. T. Abbott; C. P. 



Dadant; W. Z. Hutchinson; Dr. C. C. Miller. 

 Gen'l Manager and TuEAStjRER— Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



Flace and Date of Next JJJeeting- 1 



In Franklin Institute, 

 IS. South 7th Street, between Market and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia, 

 September 5, 6 and 7, 1899. Every bee-keeper is invited. 



VOL 39. AUGUST 31, 1899. 



NO. 



j,i. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthographv of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint .action of the American Philolog- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or "ed'* final to 'H" when so pronounced, except when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



The Sweet Clover Article, by H. R. Boardman, on 

 another pag:e, will well repay a close reading-. From iiow 

 on until cold weather is perhaps the best of all times to sow 

 sweet clover seed, as the ripe seed that drops from the 

 growing^ clover in the fall rarely fails to g-erminate. As 

 we have said before in these columns, had it not been for 

 sweet clover many bee-keepers would have no honey at all 

 in this year of only a partial crop in numerous localities. 



The Advice to Honey-Shippers, by Editor Root, on 

 another page, should be read and remembered. If heeded, 

 it may save thousands of dollars to bee-keepers. In the 

 world are many people who are trying to get something for 

 nothing, or get it fraudulently, and it behooves all who 

 have anything to dispose of, to see that they are dealing 

 with honest and upright business firms. There are plenty 

 of the right kind to do all the business that needs to be done. 



We endeavor to give annually, in these columns, about 

 the same suggestions as Editor Root has given, but he has 

 done it so fully and so well, that we concluded it would be 

 best to reproduce the principal portion of what he wrote on 

 this important subject. 



Honey will be worth money this year, if we may judge 

 from the general poor crop reports that have come in. It is 

 already bringing good prices, and those who have any to 

 sell will be paid well for bee-work this year. By some, who 



have had large experience, it is thought that honey prices i 

 will not likely go much higher, so if you can get a fair I 

 price for your honey now it may be well to dispose of it. 

 rather than risk waiting for higher prices. 



After Chicago Adulterated Honey. It will be news to 

 practically all of our readers when we announce that an 

 attempt was made awhile ago to stop the sale of adulter- 

 ated hone^- in this city. 



The latter part of last April, upon receipt of instruc- 

 tions from the United States Bee-Keepers' Association to 

 go ahead in the honey-adulteration cases, Attorney Herman 

 F. Moore {who was employed by the Association) and the 

 editor of the American Bee Journal proceeded at once to 

 collect samples of suspicious honey for purposes of prose- 

 cution. Nine samples were selected from the dozen or more 

 procured, on recommendation of Chemist E. N. Eaton, as 

 being clearly adulterated with glucose. 



Out of the nine, five were taken, and a complete chemi- 

 cal analysis made for use in court. Upon the advice of the 

 State's attorney's office, the cases were to be taken before 

 a justice of the peace, and Justice \V. T. Hall was selected. 

 Assistant State's Attorney, Fred L. Fake, was detailed to 

 assist Mr. Moore in preparing the evidence and conducting 

 the trials ; the intention being to try one case at a time, 

 and follow up with the remaining four if successful in the 

 first. 



Acting on the suggestions from the State's attorney's 

 office, criminal proceedings were begun July 1, against Nel- 

 son N. Blood, 448 W. Lake St., the complaint being made 

 by the editor of the American Bee Journal, who. accompa- 

 nied by Mr. Moore, had purchast the alleged honey from 

 Mr. Blood himself. 



Jtily 3, Mr. Blood was arrested, and gave bonds in $200 

 for his appearance July 10 for trial. 



July 10 the case of the People vs. Blood came up for 

 trial, and testimony was given by the writer, Mr. Moore, 

 and Chemist Eaton, for the people, and by Mr. Blood in his 

 own defense. The latter testified that he did not know it 

 was not honey ; that he had bought it from Weber Bros. 

 (wholesale grocers), who had sold it to him for honey ; that 

 he did not know anything about it. 



The case was continued for evidence and argument sev- 

 eral times. In the meantime Mr. Moore and the writer 

 called on Weber Bros., and subpoenaed Chas. Weber, after 

 questioning him closely. The subpoena ordered him to pro- 

 duce in court the records, books, papers and bills relating 

 to his last three sales of honey to Mr. Blood previous to 

 June 4, 1899, being the next day after we purchast the jar 

 of so-called honey at Mr. Blood's store. On the further 

 hearing, Mr. Weber testified that he had tasted the stuff, 

 and considered it good honey ; that he had purchast it from 

 Randall & Co., a commission firm on South Water street. 

 All of Mr. Weber's testimony indicated that he was work- 

 ing in the interest of his customer (Mr. Blood), so nothing 

 of value was gained from him that would aid us — except, 

 possibly, that we learned who did the adulterating. 



July 20, the arguments were completed, and Justice 

 Hall made his decision, discharging the prisoner. This 

 was indeed discouraging to the prosecution, as we all (in- 

 cluding the State's attorney) felt that under the law we 

 had clearly earned a favorable judgment, and according to 

 the facts as presented in the case. How Justice Hall could 

 render such a decision, in view of the evidence and the law, 

 was, and is yet, a great surprise to us. 



The turning-point possibly was this: The law says. 

 No man shall be punisht who shows to the court or jury 

 that he could not with iTasonahk' diligi-iice have known that 

 he was violating the law. Mr. Blood did not testify that 



