New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-26
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
PURE COMB HONEY.
No Art Can Duplicate the Work of
Bees.

To the Editor OF The Tribune
Sir. A recent article in The Tribune upon the
subject OF the adulteration of honey has aroused
much interest among beekeepers. As member
Of that body Of American citizens, / have only
praise for all efforts that made to suppress
this practice However. there is always the danger
that newspaper articles attaching the adulteraton
Of honey viii convey impression to the general
public that al honey on the market mas oesh ooe-
tored in some way or other
NOW I want to say emphatcally that honey soio
.n the honeyconb. in wooden frames. or in sec
tions" IL is called in the trade is always apso-
lutey pure and the public can buy it with perfect
confidence And / viii tell you why this is So
All honey gathered by the ices is deposited IN
,tttle minute hexagonal cells After being evap-
Grated by action OF the bees wings to the proper
consistency so that will keep otherwise 1t would
eourl IL is capped by the bee with exceedingly
delicate wax Aims These are so delicate and the
arrangement o. their work seal these little cells
or rnina ,ure jars is fine that powerful micro
scope would be needed follow the process OF their
rnandibles while a work So exceedingly delicate
and fine are the walls of these cells that no dis
covery that has yet made has been aoie 10
duplicate this exceedingly delicate operation
Now these minute cells built on foundation.
usually made by the bees Of beeswaX but IN order
70 save the bees this work, which Is not so delicate
~ LAYING the foundation for these cells of beeswax
-nachines have been invented that roll out in sheets
pure beeswax and stamp these sheets the base
of these hexagonal cells. To show how very care
ful and accurate the bees are 10 cary out their
designs OF this work again and again different COM
-os.tons such as paraflne ceresin and other wakes
have been worked into these nat sheets before they
were stamped ard given TO the bees but they have
sn every case refused TO touch the wax SO adul-
terated So the foundation upon which these deli
cate cells built be absolutely pure as We'll
A foundation is not a building; therefore, wax
comb foundation, Of which hundreds Of tons are
Kold in the market every year to beekeepers is not
wax comb The use Of this wax comb foundation is
twofold First, it marks out in the little frames or
sections the position in which the apiarist wishes
work for the bees, which considerable time at
tbe height of the honey flow when the bees need
the tn t oeils. 'i''0 10 gamer '-s i''''' 60
At the present time it is demonstrated scientific
fact that it is impossible invent any machinery
or process that would be delicate in its work
g sealing that would adhere to the delicate edges
In such way as to seal me eeis +, great ouanti
Ties is an acknowledged fact but the adulteration
zone f shs Qq d lO[ dealer ed has again and again
tried 10 fool the public by taking some Of these
beer extracted by centrifugal force machinery put
ting 1t in the centre Of glass jar ana pouring me
sdIlterafed honey around it: and, ike the old lie
that is worse because it has little truth IN II,
go Is jar OF TSei1 fGo can he safeguaTded how
ever. from the adulteration OF the actual comb in
The lar and pouring out the honey. do it in such
careful manner as 70 detect ny close ooserya9on
whether the capping Of these cells has been ois.
turbed not. This can easily be seen with the
naked eye
A peculiar fact about honeyconlb is that nature
IS so accurate in her methods that wnether ne
bees be of Asiatic origin or from America o. the
Holy Land by the most accurate microscopic
measurement the cells will not vary a particle:
We have two classes of cells that the bees build
honey in. One is dTone cell and the other is a
worker cell. These vary of course, to some slight
degree but eli the worker cells are alike and all
the drone cells alike the drone Gals being
slightly larger in diameter
Trhe pure food laws of the various States have
been q great boon 10 the beekeeper and are weed
ing out gradually q large percentage OF the adul-
teration of all classes of honey. but where the in
dfviduals find thens selves imposed upon, the honest
apiarist would always advise their taking sample
10 a pure food inspector His name and address
IN any State can be found by writing 10 one of
the leading newspapers. All the costs and work
Of the examination would be borne by the govern
rnent Of the State.
/ am very glad TO add that the offer of two OF
our leading journals Of Loo for the discovery of
any process or machinery that could produce comb
honey in duplicate of that made by the bees has
as ret failed and in the writer's mind. ever will
fail to be secured. WILLIAM A. SELSER.
Jenkintnwn. Penn. March =. 1875.