796 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



he would not have located the origin of a white-clover sample in Cali- 

 fornia. He would have stuck to wild sage or orange blossoms, as in 

 8683, and left the clovers for .New England and New York, as was done 

 by the more considerate mixer of No. 8540. 



" Golden Rod Honey" is a most attractive name under which to sell 

 starch sugar, and the vendor of No. 8679 has pressed that name into 

 his service. 



While the honeys exposed for sale in Baltimore and Washington are 

 not so extensively adulterated as in a few other localities, yet it appears 

 that nearly one-half of the samples of liquid honey which may be bought 

 at random in these two cities is spurious. 



In regard to the weight of honey in each package a number of ex- 

 periments were made. The weights given below are seriatim, with the 

 exception of number three, which is omitted. 



Weight in grains : 



308, 411, , 280, 308, 400, 422, 300, 345, 434, 386, 364, 543, 165, 



255, 431, 285, 244, 393, 273, 391, 282, 301, 414. 



It will be seen that except in one instance the amount of honey in a 

 package does not reach one pound, viz, 454 grams. In one case there 

 was less than half a pound in the package, while in a number of cases 

 the actual weight of honey was only approximately three-quarters of a 

 pound. 



AFFIDAVIT HONEYS./ 



Five of the 6 samples of honey of guaranteed purity (Nos. 9009, 9010, 

 9011, 9012, and 9014) were bought in Gaithersburg, Md., by a represent- 

 ative of the Department, July 20. The country round Gaithersburg 

 is rather rolling, and is fairly well wooded with second growth pine 

 and hard wood. At the time of buying there were few field flowers 

 apparent, and the bees appeared to be at work mainly on the black 

 cherry trees which are numerous in this piece of country. These cher- 

 ries, which grew wild, were small and black, but very sweet. No at- 

 tempt had evidently been made to gather them anywhere, and the 

 ground underneath the trees was covered with decaying fruit. The 

 sellers of the honey did not know whence the bees derived their honey, 

 but thought it came from the woods. Sample No. 9014 came from a 

 bee tree in the woods, and was evidently the accumulation of several 

 years. It was black, dirty, and full of bee bread and dead bees. 



By reason of the fact that these five samples were right-handed they 

 have an unusual interest. They are the only samples of honey, known 

 to be genuine, which have shown right-handed polarization which have 

 been found in our investigations, now extending over a series of several 

 years. 



Does this dextro-rotation arise from the consumption by the bees of 

 the honey dew of the neighboring pine forest, or is it due to the wild 

 cherries? The true source of this phenomenon is at present unknown. 



One sample, No. 9015, was bought in another locality, and showed 

 the customary levorotation. 



