SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 787 



"White Clover Honey;" 1798, " Pure Honey ;" 1799, "Pure Honey;" 

 1803, " Pure Honey; " 1804, " Pure Honey," etc. 



Many samples of spurious honey were provided with labels indicating 

 that they come from California. The honeys delivered to commerce by 

 the bee keepers of California have been found almost always pure. The 

 very honesty of the California bee keeper is made a stock in trade 

 for his less scrupulous cismoutaue factor. 



ANALYSES BY W. U. RISING. 



The analyses of the samples of honey purchased in the markets of 

 San Francisco and vicinity are of peculiar interest both on account of 

 the magnitude of the bee industry in California and by reason of the 

 fact that the low price of the honeys in the home markets of the State 

 is a powerful safeguard against the practice of adulteration. It is a rule 

 of universal application which forbids fabrication when the price of the 

 genuine article approaches that of the constituents of the sophisticated 

 article plus the cost of compounding. 



In the whole number of samples purchased in open market by Mr. 

 Kising only the following were found adulterated, viz: Nos. 12, 15, 16, 

 18, 20, 23, 27, 65, and 140 ; in all, 9 or 18 per cent. This is a good show- 

 ing for California honeys in their own markets as compared with the 

 extent of their adulteration in other parts of the country. 



Sample No. 12 is included in the above list as an adulterated article, 

 but in justice to the label which represents it as made from orange blos- 

 soms it is only fair to say that no comparative study of a certainly gen- 

 uine honey from orange blossoms can be cited to show that sample in 

 question is abnormal. 



No. 19 had the same label as No. 12, yet the analysis of this sample 

 is quite within the limits of a genuine article. These two cases show 

 that a label is often used to catch the eye of the purchaser instead of 

 to describe the character of the goods to be sold. 



Sample No. 15 is quite without the limits of a genuine honey, but it 

 is difficult to state the character of the adulteration. It is probably a 

 starch sugar or glucose very rich in dextrose. Its label, " Pure Ex- 

 tracted Honey," has been used to cover a multitude of sins in the 

 trade. 



No. 16 is a puzzling sample. It may be a genuine sample of right- 

 handed honey. The only authentic instances, however, of a genuine 

 honey being right-handed are in cases where the bees have gathered 

 their stores from the honey dew of pine trees. It is possible that there 

 may be plants in California affording a saccharine exudation of a simi- 

 lar character. If not, the composition of the sample is peculiar. It 

 should perhaps be taken out of the adulterated list and marked doubt- 

 ful. Its label affords no clue to its origin. 



No. 18, without any distinguishing label, appears to be adulterated 

 with about 50 per cent of glucose. 



