e (|)ee-Keepeps' fveViecu 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR, 



W. Z. HUTCHlNSOfl, Editor & Pnop. 



VOL, IV, FLINT, MICHIGAN, JUNE, 10, 1891. NO. 6, 



The special topie of this issue is 



"Adulteration of Honey" 



That of the next issue 'vuill be 



" Bee- Escapes. " 



Producers Can't Afford to Adulterate Hon- 

 ey. — Chemists Can Usually Detect Adul- 

 teration. 



PBOK. A. J. COOK. 



V'N DISCUSSING this question there are 

 rjT two or three points that should not be 

 ^ he lost siyht of. 



1st. There is no small amount of this ne- 

 farious business carried on. Often in the 

 smaller towns, and always in the large cities, 

 it is easy to tind adulterated honey on the 

 market, often in large quantities. This is 

 always in liquid form, as comb honey can 

 not be adulterated. 



2nd. This work is not doue by bee-keepers, 

 but by unprincipled vendors in our cities. 

 No bee-keeper could afford to do it, as with 

 the present low price of honey the profit is 

 so slight that a profitable business must be 

 at the same time a mammutli i)usines8. The 

 bee-keeper could not do tliis without speedy 

 detection. Detection would mean ruination 

 to reputation and business. 



3rd. Adulteration may be accomplished by 

 either mixing glucose — grape sugar of com- 

 merce — or our cane sug.ir with the honey. 



As both these products are now cheaper than 

 honey, either can be used in this way at a 

 slight profit, and with large sales, may make 

 a very profitable business. Thus the outlook 

 for adulteration is too promising to please 

 either the right-miuded or the honey pro- 

 ducers. Except that bee-keepers step to the 

 front and throttle the business, as I believe 

 they may, we may expect to see it waxing 

 strong and more and more mischievous and 

 damaging to our pursuit. 



4th. As I have often said, it is, in my opin- 

 ion, impossible at the present stage of scien- 

 tific research to surely detect adulteration in 

 all cases, and as impossible to prove that 

 every pecial sample is pure. Thus the best 

 chemist may say that a sample of pure, gen- 

 uine honey is adulterated, or that some sam- 

 ple of adulterated honey is pure. Yet, in 

 many cases, indeed most cases, he could pro- 

 nounce positively in the matter. You, Mr. 

 Editor, could not in every case detect au- 

 tumn from summer honey, yet in nearly 

 every case you could decide with no hesita- 

 tion and with no doubt. 



Honey adulterated with cane sugar could 

 be detected in nearly if not quite every case. 

 As nearly all commercial glucose contains a 

 little sulphuric acid, and often some of the 

 lime used to clarify it, in nearly every case 

 the chemist could say at once of honey adul- 

 terated with glucose, this sample is adulter- 

 ated. 



Thus, while an occasional sample might 

 he beyond detection, so many would be ea- 

 sily determined that, practically, this point 



