HONEY AND ITS ADULTERATIONS. 



The samples of honey described in the report were liquid or strained 

 honey or coinb honey packed in glass jars. The examination did not 

 extend to comb honey in frames. 



Perhaps there is no other article of food which has been so gener- 

 ally adulterated in the United States, during the last twenty years, as 

 honey. The ease with which sophistication could be practiced, the 

 cheapness of the material used, and the high price of the genuine prod- 

 uct have presented temptations which the manufacturer, producer, 

 and dealer have not been able to withstand. 



As long as honey was sold wholly in the comb, the difficulties in the 

 way of successful sophistication were so great as to practically pre- 

 clude its practice. The popular impression to the effect that comb 

 honeys are adulterated was probably produced rather by ingenious 

 attempts to manufacture the spurious article than by the commercial 

 success of the enterprise. Artificial comb honey has been regarded as 

 a possible article of commerce by many scientific men. 



Many samples of comb honey containing only glucose have come 

 under my observation, but in all these cases the comb, presumably 

 after the separation of the honey by a centrifugal machine, had been 

 placed in glass bottles and the glucose then added. I have never yet 

 found a sample of comb honey, sold in the frame, which was artificial, 

 except in the use of comb foundation. 



Mr. C. O. Perriue secured letters patent, No. 176347, issued April 18, 

 1876, for a device for storing comb honey in glass jars. His idea was 

 to have these vessels made a part of the hive and to be filled by the 

 bees. Cylindrical comb foundations are to be inserted in the jar in its 

 central portion so that the cells may have equal depth on all sides. The 

 packages are to be placed in the hives over suitable openings to allow 

 the bees to enter. 



The true friend of the apiary interests of the country is not he who 

 shuts his eyes to patent adulterations, but rather he who recognizes 

 facts, even if unpleasant, and who, having seen the enormity of the 

 extent of honey adulteration, supports the labors of those who seek to 

 detect and prevent it. 



In this connection, it is only just to say that the fact of the extensive 

 adulteration of honey in the last four or five years has not been sulli- 

 cieutly recognized by that part of tlxe agricultural press devoted to 



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