Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter.
CORRESPONDENCE.
[ Pure Liquid Honey in Glass Jars.]
CHAS. DADANT.
Under this heading I find an article from Mr. W. M. Hoge, who says that he has invented a way of preparing liquid honey so that it will not congeal. He adds that this discovery will be beneficial to bee-keepers, and he explains how we will profit by it. The tendency of honey to candy, for all the adulterators of honey, has proved to be a great impediment; while, for the producers, it is a good characteristic, for it is the best stamp that a bee-keeper can put on his product—a stamp that the adulterators are unable to counterfeit.
Now that the consumers at large begin to give their preference to candied honey, the adulterators, seeing their sales decreasing, try to invent some means to stop this result, and incite us to help them to continue their fraudulent practice.
Let us remember that the candying of honey is the best test of purity thus far; that, by preventing honey from candying, we lower it to the level of glucosed honey; and that, as long as liquid honey can be found on our markets, we will be compelled to compete with adulterated honey, for the profit of this adulteration will always tempt the unscrupulous dealers, while we will be unable to compete with them for the price.
A few years ago we could find liquid honey, in glass jars, in every good grocery. Three years ago I produced, at the Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa Convention, held at Burlington, Iowa, one of these bottles, bought in St. Louis, labeled “Pure Extracted Honey, from John Long, New York.” Mr. Hoge, who resided in New York at that time, probably knows “John Long.” This “pure honey” was analyzed by an expert chemist and found mostly glucose. These jars and tumblers are now of slow sale, for the consumers begin to have confidence in candied honey. We are, therefore, in a fair way for selling our product. Let us go on, and turn the cold shoulder to the advice of those who have, so far, caused more prejudice than profit to bee-keepers.
Mr. Hoge, who has visited the old continent, knows, as well as I do, that in Europe liquid honey is unsalable, for the consumers are accustomed to buying candied honey. Let us persist in our efforts to educate the people on this question, and we will drive all spurious honey from our markets.
Hamilton, Ill., Feb. 2, 1881.
For the American Bee Journal.
REV. W. BALLENTINE, A. M.
I see in the Bee Journal, under the above caption, a question from Mr. H. G. Colwell, of Columbus, Ohio, relative to the effects of honey eaten by the Grecian troops, under Xenophon, as they passed through Colchia in their famous retreat homeward. In regard to this, you propose a query, “Why did the ancient Colchian honey cause the above disorder?” I have frequently had my attention turned to this subject in reading Xenophon's Anabasis in the original, from which the extract by Mr. Colwell is taken. From the best sources of information at my command, the following seems to be the most rational.
The honey of Asia Minor in many localities appears to be gathered from the flowers of the order Apocynoceæ, or dog's-bane. Of this order, Prof. Wilson, in his botany, page 588, observes: “These plants possess active, and often suspicious qualities, residing in the white juice with which the order is pervaded, and in the seeds, which are often deadly poisons. The alkaloid strychnine, or strychinea, one of the most violent poisons, is the active principle of the Strychorea Nux-vomica, of India. It is sometimes administered as a medicine, but with doubtful success; a single seed of one species is sufficient to kill 20 persons. The order is generally emetic.”
In corroboration of this, I will give you the opinion of the celebrated Ainsworth, who traveled over the route of the Grecians, and took notes of all the localities and incidents recorded by Xenophon. He observes that “this fact of the honey of Asia Minor being, in certain places, and at certain seasons, of a poisonous nature, was known to all antiquity, and is very common at the present day, so much so, that I have known the peasants to inquire if we would prefer the bitter or the sweet honey, for the honey so qualified has a slight, but not unpleasant, bitterness, and is preferred by many, from producing, when taken in moderate quantities, the effect of slight intoxication. Pliny notices two kinds of honey, one found at Heraclea, in Pontus, and another among the Sanni or Mocrones. The first he supposed to be produced by a plant called Ægolethron, or goatsbane; the second by a species of rhododendron. Dioscorides, Diodorus, Siculus and Aristotle, all notice the honey of Heraclea Pontica. The celebrated botanist, Tournefort, ascertained on the spot, that the honey of bees feeding on the Azalea Pontica, as also on the Rhododendron Ponticum, possessed mischievous properties; but as the bitter and intoxicating honey is found in many parts of Asia Minor, where these plants do not flower, it is extremely probable that these peculiar properties are further derived from the flower of the Nerium Oleander, or common rose-laurel, the leaves of which are known to be acrid and poisonous. The natural family to which the rose-laurel belongs (Apocynaceæ) is distinguished by plants endued with dangerous and fatal properties, and these act on the nerves so as to produce stupefaction. Rhodoraceæ also possesses narcotic properties, but in a less marked degree.”
It appears from this, that the honey gathered by the bees from these poisonous plants, possessed some of the inherent qualities of the plants themselves, and operated like a narcotic or opiate on the nerves, producing stupefaction and intoxication. If you see proper you can give the above a place in the Weekly, with which I am, so far, very well pleased.
Sago, Ohio.
For the American Bee Journal.
[ Combined Summer and Winter Stand.]
H. L. PENFIELD.
The engraving shows a perspective view of a combined winter and summer stand, which I put up to accommodate 12 hives of the standard Langstroth pattern. It is constructed as follows: Put in the ground 9 oak posts 4 × 4 inches, for a frame to nail the 14 foot boards to—3 posts on each side, and 3 between these, set in the ground 18 inches. The ends are 9 feet wide, which I find gives ample room to manipulate the bees between the rows of hives, the operator being in the shade, and not in front of the entrance of the bees, which seldom bother me. The sides front east and west. The ends are open during the summer, and the north end boarded up in winter. We use millet hay for protection, filling in spaces between the hives, and over and under them, almost filling up between the rows, clearing away enough in front of the entrance for the bees to take a flight when the weather permits.