MARKETING HONEY. 519 



to honey as it contains only about twenty-five to thirty per 

 cent of saccharine matter. 



False assertions have been made at different times concerning 

 the possibility of manufacturing comb honey, filling it and 

 sealing it over by machinery. It is hardly necessary to say 

 that this is entirely impossible and if it ever became possible, 

 it would be readily detected, as human hands could never 

 make the variety of shapes that are achieved by the bees. No 

 two combs are alike, when built by the bees, even if they 

 have been built on comb foundation. 



' ' So widespread was this falsehood, that in our journal of 

 jSTovember 1, 1885, page 738, I offered $1,000 to anybody who 

 would tell me where such spurious comb-honey was made. Na 

 one has ever given the information, neither has one ounce of 

 manufactured comb-honey ever been forthcoming. It is a me- 

 chanical impossibility, and will, in my opinion, always remain 

 so. * * * I hardly need add, that the above slanderous re- 

 port in regard to bogus comb-honey was very damaging to the 

 bee-keeping industry. It probably obtained wider credence 

 because one Prof. Wiley, some years ago, started it by what he 

 termed a 'scientific pleasantry.' " — A. I. Root. 



838. The granulation of honey was objected to by many 

 consumers, at first, from the prejudiced idea that granulated 

 honey had been mixed with sugar. It has ceased to be an 

 objection, for, in our neighborhood, nearly all honey consu- 

 mers now know that good ripe honey generally granulates in 

 cold weather. But, now and then, a person is found who 

 wants liquid honey, or comb honey, thinking that no other is 

 pure. 



We were told that the judges at an agricultural exposition 

 refused to give a premium to a bee-keeper for his honey, be- 

 cause it was spoiled by granulating. These competent judges 

 probably think that water is spoiled by freezing, for granu- 

 lated honey if carefully melted (834), is as good as before 

 hardening. 



839. "We have always found an easy sale for extracted 



