428 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



course the bag should not reach quite to the bottom or sides of the hive. The- 

 feeding should be done as early as the last of September, so that the bees maj 

 have time to cap the cells before the weather is too cold. 



3d. Any impotent queens or any not first-class, should be superseded early in 

 the season. If the bees stop gathering in Aiigust, feed sparingly, as described 

 above. One-half pound daily ^vill suffice. Again, if storing be very rapid in 

 August and September, as it is likely to be where fall bloom is plenty, the 

 honey must be extracted, so that the queen may have a chance to deposit eggs. 

 Brood rearing would have entirely ceased in all my colonies the present season 

 as early as August had I omitted to extract. As it is there is brood in nearly 

 all of them to-day — October 18th. Those apiarists about here who have not 

 extracted may look for spring dwindling the coming spring. 



4th. Immediately above the bees there should be placed a quilt made of good 

 factory, and still above this, if the hives permit, as in most cases they Avill, there 

 should be placed a factory bag filled loosely with chaff. This may be from six 

 to twelve inches in thickness. 



So sure am I that the above methods will succeed without fail, that I sell nij 

 bees in autumn, warranting them to winter if I can oversee the preparation. 



A. J. Cook.. 



THE COMPOSITION OF HONEY. 



READ BEFORE THE MICHIGAN CONVENTIOX, HELD AT L^V^TSIXG, M^VRCH, 1877: 



Honey is one of the oldest things under the sun. At one time it was proba- 

 bly the only form of sugar known, and to-day is one of our most delicious arti- 

 cles of food. Does it not seem strange, then, that in this scientific age so little 

 is known of its real composition, or the changes it undergoes? 



Honey is composed of grape and cane sugar, together with water, acid, and 

 waxy matters. If honey be burned completely, a grayish colored ash remains, 

 Avhicli amounts to about fifteen per cent of the original honey. In this ash I 

 succeeded in obtaining reactions for silica, lime, and iron. There is also a 

 small quantity of potash and phosphoric acid in honey. To estimate the quan- 

 tity of these present, I took two portions of "cap" honey, free from pollen and 

 Avax, and burned them to a coal-like mass. In one, I extracted the potash with 

 muriatic acid, and in the other phosphoric acid with nitric acid, and estimated 

 them in the usual manner. The following are the amounts obtained : Potash, 

 .06 per cent; phosphoric acid, .08 per cent. These substances would naturally 

 be present in honey, as they are found in soils, and circulate in the juices of 

 plants. 



There are many things connected with honey, about which at the present 

 time but little is known. The following are a few : 



1. Has honey a definite composition? Is there any difference between the- 

 relative amount of sugar in honey made from buckwheat, basswood, clover,, 

 golden-rod, brown sugar, etc., or between the relative amounts of cane and 

 grape sugar? Probably this question can only be answered by comparing the- 

 analysis of different kinds of honey. 



