746 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



sifting over the flowers while the bees are at work, or to some tamper- 

 ing with the product after the bees have finished with it. 



Sucrose. The amount of cane sugar varies from nothing to 8 to 10 

 per cent, according to quantity of cane sugar in the nectar and the ex- 

 tent of inversion to which it is subjected in passing the organism of the 

 bee. 



Reducing sugar. In a pure honey there should be a large percentage 

 of reducing sugar measured as dextrose. This reducing sugar should 

 consist of dextrose and levulose naturally existing in the nectar. When- 

 ever the dextrose is in excess of the levulose it points to its artificial 

 addition in the form of the glucose or grape sugar of commerce. The 

 total quantity of reducing sugar, measured as dextrose, should gener- 

 ally fall between the limits of 60 and 75 per cent, although there are 

 many cases where these limits may be transgressed. 



Pollen. Some idea of the purity and source of honey may be derived 

 from a microscopic examination of the pollen grains which it contains. 



HISTORY OF ADULTERATION. 



Some points in the early history of honey adulteration may not be in- 

 appropriate in this connection. 



HISTORY AND RESULTS OF THE ADULTERATION OF HONEY.* 



About twenty years ago I sent 6 or 7 barrels of extracted honey to Mr. Perrine, a 

 dealer of Chicago, at 17 cents a pound, aud some time after saw at a grocery in Ham- 

 il t on 1 or 2 dozen small glasses containing liquid honey, sent by the same Hrm, at 16 

 cents a pound. This adulterating business was a paying one, the glucose added 

 being sold at 16 cents a pound, with a profit of about 11 cents per pound. 



Nine or ten years later, in St. Louis, I saw comb honey in small glass jars filled 

 with liquid glucose, sold by Messrs. Thurber & Co., of New York, cheaper than 1 

 asked for my extracted. I bought one of these bottles and exhibited it at a meeting 

 of beekeepers held at Burlington. 



It was at about the same time that Mr. A. D. Root invented his comb-foundation 

 machine. The announcement of this new step in bee culture gave to many people 

 the idea that it produced comb and we could dispense altogether with bees, espe- 

 cially when it was hinted that paraffin could be used instead of wax. Yet paralliu 

 was soon discarded by those who used it, not only because the bees objected to 

 it, but on account of its low melting point, for the smallest addition increased the 

 ductility of the wax and the comb dropped in a mess to the bottom of the hive. 



Having obtained Mr. Perrine's present address from Mr. H. C. Bau- 

 nard of Chicago, I wrote him for information on this subject, and re- 

 ceived the following courteous reply : 



RIVERSIDE, CAL., August "iQ, 1690. 



DEAR SIR: Your esteemed favor of June 3, inclosing letter of introduction from my 

 friend, Mr. H. C. Bannard, is at hand. 



In regard to the adulteration of honey as practiced in the United States, all I know 

 is what I did myself. 



* Charles Dadant, American Bee Journal, August 15, 1888, )>. f>:t?. 



