THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



403' 



often to be found in supers, and 

 though it is generally supposed they 

 are there as consumers only, it by no 

 means follows that such is the case. 

 The old saying. ' Give a dog a bad 

 name,' etc., is fully carried out with 

 drones, and no one seems to seek for 

 or believe there are any good qualities 

 in them, yet, as many will doubtless i 

 be' able to substantiate, some of the 

 best results have been achieved in 

 hives wliose drones were at least 

 numerous. In that case the thought 

 has been, if the bees did so well with 

 that iuimense number of drones to 

 kee|i, what would they not liave done 

 without them V ignoring the possi- 

 bility that the drones may have as- 

 sisted in procuring the good results. 

 And is it not true that under the 

 present system with drone-traps on 

 during tlie honey harvest many have 

 cause to coniphuu that their supers, 

 tliough (illed, are left unsealed by the 

 bees y We liave hundreds of times 

 seen bees returned from the fields 

 give their honey to drones, and have 

 as often seen drones with their heads 

 in honey cells. Is it certain that the 

 drones in this case are not in a sense 

 honey-carriers V We know they have 

 no honey sacs, as have the workers, 

 but that will not make our suggestion 

 ridiculous. The bees prepare the 

 food for the nurseling bees in their 

 stomachs. May not drones prepare 

 honey for storage in a similar way 'i 

 They luive no honey sac to collect it 

 in, their duty lyingat home except on 

 special occasions at certain hours of 

 the day. Bee-anatomists who search 

 only for what they hope to find may 

 ))erhaps overlook truths that have not 

 been suggested. But let the influence 

 be what it may, we cannot believe the 

 drone to be "as useless as he is ac- 

 credited." 



Food Poisoning. 



In the Bee Journal of May 31st, 

 we gave an instance where cheese, 

 manufactured from milk produced by 

 cows that had been fed glucose meal, 

 had " rotted down in thirty days," 

 and gave a recital of some of the 

 dreadful consequences which would 

 result from the consumption of such 

 poisonous food. As proof that our 

 opinion was well founded, we reprint 

 the following telegram to the Inter- 

 Ocean, dated Adrian, Mich., .June 19, 

 1882: 



Since Friday evening last some 

 seventy-five people of tliis city have 

 been poisoned by cheese. "Whole 

 families have been suddenly seized 

 with violent vomiting and purging, 

 and in many cases severe illness has 

 resulted. In one case, that of .John 

 L. Smith, only the most vigorous 

 treatment prevented a fatal result, 

 while to-day several men who had 

 partaken of the cheese were so ill that 

 they could not attend their labors in 

 the Lake Shore and Peninsular car- 

 shops. The cheese was sold by several 

 grocers, but was the product of one 



factory on the 20th of May last. A 

 microscopic exiiniination shows the 

 cheese to be tilled with minute para- 

 sites, but the deleterious effects are 

 believed to have arisen from the 

 presence of an accidental or other- 

 wise dangerous substance. The affair 

 certainly demands an official investi- 

 gation, and the cheese should be sub- 

 mitted to a scientific analysis. 



It is not difflcnlt to anticipate what 

 an invstigation will demonstrate, nor 

 to place the blame for this extensive 

 poisoning just where it belongs. Glu- 

 cose is undoubtedly at the bottom of 

 it all. Unless some stringent repres- 

 sive measures are adopted by Con- 

 gress, poisoning will become as com- 

 mon as are now the lesser ills, our na- 

 tion • will become one of chronic dys- 

 peptics, and our successors will be 

 effeminate and perhaps imbecile. In 

 fact, it is difficult to enumerate the 

 evils which will result from the con- 

 stant consumption of poisons that 

 will cause clieese to " rot down in 

 thirty days," and imperil at one time 

 the 'lives of " some seventy-five citi- 

 zens " in one small community. Life 

 and health are no Ignger safe ; the 

 most substantial articles of food are 

 adulterated with deadly poisons, and 

 milk, the first food of nature, is drawn 

 from the lulder a poisoned stream. 



We have long lield that Congress 

 possessed the Constitutional right to 

 regulate the trallic in and manufacture 

 of food adulterations, as also, to re- 

 strict or prohibit the sale of adulter- 

 ated food. By a recent ruling of the 

 Court of Appeals, even State laws 

 can prohibit the mannfacture of de- 

 leterious food of any description. The 

 following extract from a late number 

 of the St. Joseph Herald, cites a case 

 in point : 



Missouri has a new law forbidding 

 the manufacture or sale in this State 

 of any imitation of butter, no matter 

 whether represented to be genuine or 

 not. The oleomargarine interest 

 made a desperate fight in a test case, 

 carrying it to the Court of Appeals on 

 the question of the law's validity. The 

 decision is th;it the prohibitory act is 

 Constitutional. " A statute prohibit- 

 ing the manufacture and sale of any 

 article of food made in imitation of a 

 wholesome article in common use,'" 

 says the court. " which imitated article 

 is so repugnant to the tastes and pre- 

 judices of our people that they will 

 not eat it when advised of its real 

 character, but only when cheated into 

 the belief tliat it is the genuine article, 

 in resembUuicc of which it is made, is 

 a statute fairly within the police 

 power of the State, not opposed to any 

 provisions of the Constitution of the 

 United .States, and the wisdom of 

 which is not to be called into question 

 in the judicial courts ; and this is so. 



although i)articular samples of such- 

 imitating articles may, in the opinion 

 of scientiiic men, be as wholesome 

 and beneficial an article of food as ^ 

 the original substance in imitation of 

 which it is made." The effect of this 

 decision will be the suppression of 

 several factories in St. Louis, where 

 the sale of imitation butter, made 

 from lard, beef fat, and other mate- 

 rials, has been extensive. 



The decision of the Court of Ap- 

 peals covers more ground than even 

 we had assumed. We had no doubt it 

 was Constitutional to prohibit the- 

 manufacture and sale of deieterious^ 

 articles, under any but their right 

 names, not only as a matter of com- 

 mercial policy, but as a sanitary- 

 measure;! the Court decided "A. 

 statute prohibiting the manufacture 

 and sale of any article of food made- 

 in imitation of a wholesome article in 



common use is a statute fairly 



within the police power ot the State, 

 not opposed to uny prorisions of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, and the- 

 wisdom of which is not to be called 



into question in the judicial courts 



although jxirticidar samjjles of such- 

 imitating articles may, in the opinion ■ 

 of scientific men, be as wholesome 

 and beneficial an article of food as; 

 the original substance in imitation of 

 which it is made." 



When an article has a tendency for 

 evil far in excess of any good whiehi 

 it can accomplish, and the principal, 

 use of which must be in a fraudulent 

 manner, if it is not a matter proper to 

 be legislated upon and prohibited, ex- 

 cept under special restrictions, then,, 

 surely, there is no cause for legisla- 

 tion, and Congress had better re-- 

 nounce all power to protect the peo- 

 ple. Glucose is as much a public 

 abuse as oleomargarine or suine, and 

 far more dangerous in its consump- 

 tion, because of the multiform shapes 

 in which it is imposed upon the public. 

 Congress must legislate upon the sub- 

 ject of food adulteration. 



1^ We have received the premiiim 

 list of the Thirtieth Annual State 

 Fair to be held at Indianapolis, Ind.^ 

 Sept. 2.5 to "0, 1S82. In it we notice'^ 

 $•25 as premiums for honey, $2 for 

 wax, and two diplomas for bee-keep- 

 ers' supplies. These amounts ought 

 to have been ten times as large, and! 

 more varied. 



^° Do not let your numbers of the' 

 Bee Journal for 1881 )x lost. The 

 best way to preserve them is to pro- 

 cure a binder and put them in. They 

 are very valuable for reference. 



