The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-23
INDIANA BEE-KEEPERs.
The Apiarists Elect Officers and Listen to an
Entertaining Address by Prof. Wiley.

| The Indiana State Beekeepers Association met
Yesterday afternoon at the rooms of the State
Board of Agriculture in its sixth annual session
The president, Mrs. Cassandra Robbins, of this
city, delivered an interesting address, detailing
| visits made to other associations and societies,
| and personal observations on bee culture and the
honey product. The attendance at the meeting
is large. A more intelligent, observing and
practical class of people, with clearer views or
better methods of presenting them, never as
sembled in this city.
| Officers for the coming year were elected as
| follows: President, Jonas Schol, Lyons
Station: vice-president, Charles F. Muth, Gin
| cinnati secretary, Frank E. Daugherty, Indl-
annapolis; treasurer, Mrs. E. Stout, Indianapolis
Professor Wiley, chemist of the agricultural
| department, Washington, delivered an address
on the composition of honey and its adultera-
tion He gave it's chemical composition. The
number of sugars found in honey are five; dex-
trose, cerulose, sucrose, mannite and dextrine.
The color and odor of honey are due to the char
acter of the flowers from which it is taken.
In Vermont honey is seen clear as pure water,
This honey justly celebrated, is taken from
white clover The golden aster would furnish
the honey different from those given by the
from the orange groves Of California delicious
| Tokay. Sometimes poisonous qualities are
taken from the flowers, and find their way into
| the honey. This is why some honey produces
dizziness and sickness. The soldiers of Cyrus
appear to have met with honey of this kind,
the facts of which are described in Xenophon's
Anabasis, "And there was in village near Trebl-
zonde a number of bee-hives, and as many
of the soldiers as ate of the honeycomb became
senseless, and were seized with vomiting and
diarrh@a, and not one of them could stand erect
Those who had swallowed but little looked very
like drunken men. Those who ate much were
like madmen, and some looked as if they were
dying. And thus they lay in such numbers as
on field of battle after defeat And the con-
sternation was great. And yet not one was
found to have died. All recovered their senses
about the same hour on the following day. And
on the third or fourth day thereafter they rose
up as if they had suffered from the drinking of
poison"
The professor gave report of ten samples of
alleged honey that he had examined He found
but one that was certainly genuine honey
made by artificial feeding is just as much adul-
terated as if it were made in a glucose factory.
Pure honey is gathered by bees from flowers
all other kinds are authorizations Some of the
honeys examined were made by mixing some
genuine honey with cane sugar syrup. and by
heating ordinary sugar with an acid This kind
of adulteration is very popular one because
certain books have said that honey adulterated
in this way could not be identified by an analy
SIS. But this is a mistake. The fact of the
twisting OF the plane OF polarization strong
ly to the left is sufficient to detect
the spurious character of these socalled honeys.
Another OF the samples is mixture of about
equal parts of invert syrup and starch glucose.
The entire absence of albumenods shows that it
contains only enough genuine honey to give it fla
vor and odor Another Of the samples can almost
be clasSed as genuine. | would not be able to
call it spurious before court, though the per-
centage of reducing sugar is lower than genu-
iSan hnrn 1rplN4 20 hnz Ia Sc
almost pure starch glucose. This alleged honey
was put up in glass vessels like ordinary jelly
packages. The center of these contained
piece of honey comb This honey was made by
pouring about six parts of glucose around
part of honey in the comb. Of the ten samples
analysed, only one is certainly genuine honey;
one is probably genuins; three are adnlterated
with glucose one with cane sugar, and four with
syrup of inverted cane sugar Perhaps honest
bee-keepers in this country have not heretofore
recognized the kind of competition with which
they come in contact. Milk is sold in our cities
deprived of half its cream; butter is
fabricated from beef fat and cotton
seed OIL; maple syrups are made
more than name All this illustrates the sub
lime patience of the American people, which is
so perfect that it might we'll be taken for Grim
inal indifference. Some men cultivate bees for
the love of it. They are not III jured by this
almost universal counterfeiting, but dare say
there can be found among you some mercenary
souls who dream Of profit as we'll as flowers and
bees, and here you are brought face to face, if
not with highway robbery, at least with mellifc
piracy.
Professor Wiley said the honey-bee is not the
only insect that secretes honey, and described
species OF ants and wasps that are honey pro-
ducers. He spoke strongly the subject
of food adulteratlon and as showing how
things were done in Europe, cited the case of
Mr.. Campbell in Glasgow, Scotland, who was
fined 92 for selling fictitious honey add
ing: 81 fear if we had in this country an adul-
iteration of foods and drugs act and it were en-
forced as against the innocent Mr.. Campbell in
Glasgow there would be great commotion
among our retail grocers"
The address gave rise to lengthy discussion
on the various points brought up and suggested.
To-day Mrs. L. Harrison, of Peoria, Ills, and
John Nav, of Des Moines, Ia, will be among
those who will address the association. Gov
ernor Gray has been invited to be present and
address the beekeepers
no DivOroo