THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
185 
purchased cheaper than pure honey, an op- 
portunity is afforded the unprincipled manu- 
facturer or dealer to put upon the market a 
spurious article, and so make a profit that 
otherwise would not come within hia province. 
This, beside defrauding the purchaser, does 
injury to the legitimate trader, who supplies 
honey pure and simple, by bearing down his 
market by an in j ust and fraudulent competition. 
This is truly a land flowing with milk and 
honey, and the latter should be seen upon 
every breakfast table as well as the former, 
and may the day soon come when honey as an 
article of diet is looked upon as a necessity, 
not a luxury. Both, as food and medicine, it 
should take a prominent place in all households, 
especially where children are. But at the 
present time, how few households are able to 
possess themselves of a sample of pure honey, 
while the market is flooded with a spurious 
article, so that a purchaser, unable to dis- 
criminate, is supplied with imitations, made 
up from cheap and unwholesome materials. 
A sample of pure honey will always call for 
another dip in the same jar when procurable ; 
but honey, like all other things, has its pro- 
ductive value, and the beekeeper well knows 
what he must obtain to pay him for his time 
and trouble spent in putting his honey on the 
market. The production and gathering of 
honey by the bee is no more a. free gift of nature, 
than the growth of fruit, and requires time and 
attendance to secure it. Hence it is very unfair 
to be brought into competition with an article 
called by its name, but which, being made from 
waste products, can be produced at much less 
cost, beside stuffing the market. Under such 
circumstances the beekeeper finds the gather- 
ing of honey unreinunerative, and allows to go 
waste good and wholesome food. The various 
Legislatures of the United States have placed 
a firm hand on this evil by suppressing the 
spurious article, andrecognising the production 
of honey as at least one of the minor industries 
have helped to encourage it, to the benefit of 
the home consumption as well as to the export 
returns, honey and wax taking no mean place 
in the yearly export figures. 
it may safely be asserted that hundreds 
of tons of honey yearly go to waste in these* 
colonies which might be gathered and stored 
to the benefit of producer and consumer, but | 
the market requires clearing of base imitations 
and the public afforded an opportunity of 
knowing w hat good, pure honey is ; the demand 
will then quickly grow, and with an increased 
demand and larger capit al invested, prices w ill 
be regulated, and before long honey will be 
looked upon as a staple article of food, and be 
within the purchasing power of even the 
poorest, when butter is not to be thought of. 
It might perhaps be in place here to describe 
the difference between pure honey and the 
bogus article, as the unwitting purchaser runs 
just the same risk of being deceived ns in 
buying shoddy cloth. 
Pure honey will demonstrate itself to be 
good and palatable by taste, having a sweet 
and pleasant aroma, which is more than mere 
sweetness. When taken into the mouth it 
immediately assimilates itself with the saliva ; 
any production of which sugar or glucose is 
the foundation, has a soft, clammy feeling, as 
if gum or mucilage were present, very different 
to pure honey, which rapidly stimulates the 
flow of the saliva. Flavor it has none, unless 
imparted by other means. Sweetness it may 
have to some extent, but such a sweetness that 
does not ask for more to follow. In appearance 
it generally has as sleek look, much like mu- 
cilage and about its consistency, being made 
somewhat thick tosimulate the genuine article. 
When honey arrives by ripening or by the 
effect of cold to a similar consistency, it quickly 
granulates, so that one of the surest proofs of 
the purity of honey is found in its granulation, 
a state in which it is pretty generally rejected 
by the purchaser in error, supposing that its 
condition suggests the presence of sugar. 
Such honey may be quickly reduced to its 
original condition by standing in a vessel of 
water and bringing to a gradual heat until 
melted. It will rarely afterwards return to 
the* granulated condition. 
By the use of the frame hive and the honey 
extractor a sample of honey may be obtained 
which, for appearance, is exceedingly attractive 
to the eye, and being free from all admixture, 
is as good as it looks. May the day soon come 
when all frauds are banished from our midst 
and the really good and wholesome article, 
pure honey, be upon every table. — Yours, 
Tasman. 
Corinella Apiary, Middle Brighton, 
May 30, 1888. 
USE OF CARBOLIC ACID TO 
PREVENT ROBBING. 
No. 01. — As observations from any beekeeper 
are always read with interest, will you kindly 
give the following publicity. A few years 
ago I objected to the use of carbolic acid for 
quietening bees, but during this last season I 
have formed a different opinion on that subject. 
Frequently I had been troubled with robbing 
bees in the extracting room, and soon as I 
lifted the sash to allow the marauders to escape, 
Others endeavoured to get in. Now, this last 
season , I sprinkled a sohition of carbolic arid on 
to the window sill and about the door of the 
room, and I was no more troubled with robbers. 
After the frames had been returned to the hive, 
robbing commenced there in right earnest. I 
took a goosefeather and dipped it into a bottle 
containing carbolic acid solution and touched 
the entrance of the hive and brushed the joint 
of the super with it, and in a very short time 
the robbing ceased altogether. 
Although our yield of honey in the 
Hamilton district has not been so good 
as we anticipated, yet the autumn has 
been and still is splendid; ail the hives 
