VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST 1, 1883. 



No. 31. 





Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 



Detecting Glucose Adulterations. 



We have received from the Rev. L. 

 L. Langstroth, the following letter 

 concerning the recent discovery of 

 the new phase of the glucose abomi- 

 nation : 



Oxford, O., July 20, 1883. 



Friend Newman :— I enclose you 

 what I hope will prove a good way of 

 detecting glucose adulterations. I 

 have the promise of some glucosed 

 maple sugar bought in the open mar- 

 ket, which will be soon tested. We 

 propose to move all along upon the 

 enemies' lines. I am aware that these 

 exposures must, for a time, to a cer- 

 tain extent, injure the honey trade; 

 but they are necessary, and in the end 

 will help it. If bee-keepers kept 

 silence, where would these frauds 

 stop ? The good old Ameuican Bee 

 Journal has done mucli honest work 

 in this matter. IIow long will it 

 take to excite a State or the whole 

 country if a President, or even a Sen- 

 ator or Governor is to be elected, so 

 that vast sums can be raised for 

 election expenses, and yet the people 

 rest almost passive upon the immense 

 frauds of adulterators, who are often 

 destroying health and even life ! It 

 is hard to move us in this matter, but 

 the steam of a righteous indignation 

 is making, and its power will be felt. 



Please correct the only important 

 error of the press in my last com- 

 munication. 1 said, "for we do not 

 believe that this company is a sinner 

 above all others," etc., and the types 

 made me say, " we do believe," etc. 

 Mr. McCord and myself do not wish 

 to make personal attacks upon any 

 one, or to single out any one concern. 

 If any of the many glucose manu- 

 factories feel agrieved by our ex- 

 posure, it conuot lie helped." Again, I 

 challenge them, or any of their ad- 

 vocates, to name for what legitimate 

 purposes the immense quantities of 

 glucose products are used. I ask 

 them if they dare to say to what uses 

 they are actually put. We wish " the 



truth, the whole truth, and nothing 

 but the truth." 



L. L. Langstroth. 



The letter referred to by Mr. Langs- 

 troth, with the method of testing 

 honey, syrups, etc., by Prof. B. F. 

 Marsh, of the Miami University 

 Training School, is as follows : 



Oxford, O., July 18, 18S3. 



Dear Sir :— In answer to your re- 

 quest that I should indicate some easy 

 method by means of which impurities 

 in glucose, syrups, etc.. could be de- 

 tected, I submit the following. 



The impurities most common in 

 manufactured glucose are calcic sul- 

 phate, known as sulphate of lime, and 

 sulphuric acid. Calcic sulphate is in- 

 soluble in alcohol. If, therefore, a 

 drop of glucose containing any of the 

 above salt be thoroughly mixed by 

 shaking in a glass vessel with four or 

 five tablespoonsfuls of strong alcohol, 

 a white precipitate of calcic sulphate 

 will appear and make the solution 

 milky. The above test is generally 

 all that is necessary to detect the 

 presence of the sulphate of lime. It 

 may be necessary, sometimes, to add 

 a drop or two of sulphuric acid to the 

 solution before the precipitate will 

 appear. 



For the detection of sulphnrie acid, 

 a drop or two of the suspected glucose 

 is to be placed in a glass vessel and 

 dissolved in two or three tablespoon- 

 fuls of water. Add a few drops of 

 chloride of barium to the solution, 

 when, if sulphuric acid is present in 

 considerable quantity, a white precip- 

 itate will appear and make the solu- 

 tion milky. This test will generally 

 be all that is necessary to inmcate the 

 presence of sulphuric acid in glucose. 

 When the acid is present only in mi- 

 nute quantities, it will be necessary to 

 add to the solution of glucose and 

 water, a drop or two of dilute chlor- 

 hydric or muriatic acid before adding 

 the chloride of barium. In making 

 the tests, rain water should be used. 

 It is hardly necessary for me to add 

 that pure honey contains no lime or 

 sidphuric acid. There is, however, in 

 all pure honey, a slight trace of formic 

 acid which is secreted by the bee ; but 

 this acid will not interfere with the 

 tests which are indicated above. 

 With great respect, I am. 



Yours Truly, 15. F. Marsh. 



Rev. L. L. LANGSTROTii,Oxford,0. 



It will be remembered that the 

 glucose manufacturers wrote to Mr. 



McCord that " tliey feed it [glOfcose] 

 very largely in California, and make 

 money out of it." Mr. Wm.Muth- 

 Rasmussen has sent us the following 

 very emphatic denial of the accusa- 

 tion : 



Mr. Editor :— I have just read 

 Mr. Langstroth's article with your 

 comments on page 341, AiiERiCAN 

 Bee Journal. 



Allow me to say, that during my 14 

 years' experience in the bee business 

 in California, I iiave never seen 

 glucose, nor have I among my large 

 number of bee-keeping acquaintances 

 found any who ever had. I know of 

 bee-keepers, who in seasons of drouth 

 bought honey in San Francisco to feed 

 to their bees to save them from star- 

 vation. They paid 7 cents and freight* 

 for honey which they had sold the 

 previous year for 5 cents. Others 

 bought grapes at the vineyards and 

 hauled load after load to the moun- 

 tain apiaries to save the bees. I 

 never heard of grape sugar being 

 used for that purpose, though it is not 

 impossible. But the assertion, that 

 '• they feed it (glucose) very largely 

 in California, and make money out of 

 it," I shall not hesitate to pronounce 

 in the meaning it is intended to con- 

 vey, as an umnitigated lie. 



I doubt that glucose or grape sugar 

 either can be found in this State out- 

 side of San Francisco. I believe it is 

 used there by packing firms, as it is 

 but a short time since I saw in one of 

 the stores here a small can of honey 

 which had been there for 6 years, and 

 was still liquid. The "honey" was 

 rather dark, of inferior flavor, and 

 thinner than good honey ought to be, 

 still it was labeled " Orange Blossom 

 Honey," " Warranted Pure." Two 

 bare-faced lies on each can. Every 

 one fainiliiir with southern California 

 knows that bees never get orange- 

 blossom honey to amount to anything. 

 The orchards are too far from the 

 apiaries, and the orange tree blooms 

 in the winter and early spring, when 

 bees never fly far in search of food. 



The price of honey in California is 

 governed by the price in tlie eastern 

 States, deducting freight, commission 

 and other incidental expenses. Any 

 one can, tlierefore, by looking at the 

 quotations in the bee papers see that 

 a man is not liable to grow rich by the 

 bee business here You cannot, Mr. 

 Editor, more than I regret that 

 another drawback should be added to 

 the often precarious living of the 



