2/ 7Q 
The  Origin  and  Forination.of  Honey. 
Am.  Jour.  Pnarm. 
June,  1904. 
invert,  reading  of —  10  and  a  fraction  up.  In  Santiago  County  I  se- 
cured seven  samples  of  the  White  Sage,  the  lowest  reading  being 
—  12.8;  first  invert, —  1 6-6.  The  highest  reading  being —  18-7  and 
—  22  invert.  The  Black  Sage  showed  a  lower  reading,  —  6*0 ; 
second,  —  8.3.  The  Wild  Buckwheat,  in  the  hills  of  Santiago 
County,  showed  a  reading  of — 9  first,  —  12  second.  The  Prune 
Bloom,  near  Los  Gatos,  showed  also  a  low  reading  of  first, —  6-5  ; 
invert,  —  6-5.  Some  samples  of  the  Orange  Blossom  also  showed 
as  low  a  reading  as  —  5-4,  but  I  found  the  average  of  this  —  7. 
The  most  important  sample  secured  was  from  an  apiary  situ- 
ated right  in  the  midst  of  the  pine  forests  in  the  mountains,  to 
the  extreme  east  of  Redlands.  This  was  taken  from  different 
hives  and  showed,  first  reading, —  14 ;  second  reading,  —  23-2  ;  but 
the  lot  of  samples  showed  an  average  of  the  first  reading,  —  15. 
I  then  felt  I  had  sufficient  proof  that  the  parties  who  had  packed 
this  honey  had  adulterated  it,  but  wanting  to  exhaust  every  ave- 
nue of  proof,  I  visited  San  Francisco,  staying  there  a  considerable 
time,  employing  detectives  to  visit  this  large  packing  house,  and  I 
there  had  sufficient  proof  to  show  that  cane  sugar  and  glucose  had 
been  used  in  large  quantities  in  their  establishment.  A  most  sig- 
nificant fact  was,  while  this  packing  company  wrote  to  the  grocers 
in  the  East,  positively  denying  my  charges,  saying  the  honey  was 
strictly  pure,  I  never,  individually,  heard  a  word  further  about  it, 
but  the  very  next  season  I  received  a  sample  from  this  company 
with  the  price  of  the  analysis  accompanying  it,  and  found  the  re- 
sults showed  a  first  reading, —  17;  invert, —  21-6,  showing  that 
this  article  was  strictly  pure,  and  that  they  had  used  honey  from  an 
entirely  different  source  from  that  previousy  packed. 
On  my  return  the  Department  of  Agriculture  wrote  me  for  a 
copy  of  my  analysis,  and  I  received  this  extract  from  the  reply  of 
Chief  Wiley: 
"  The  remarkable  fact  is  shown  by  your  investigations  that  even 
honey  gathered  in  the  vicinity  of  the  pine  trees  is  strictly  left- 
handed.  The  honey  still  shows  the  peculiarities  that  led  me  to 
believe  it  an  adulterated  or  artificial  honey,  and  the  result  which  you 
have  obtained  is  entirely  corroborative  of  that  view.  I  believe 
that  under  pure  food  laws,  a  conviction  could  be  had  upon  the  evi- 
dence in  this  case,  especially  when  compared  with  all  the  other  data 
of  California  honeys  which  you  have  collected.    You  certainly  have 
