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.
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.”