JOUKNAli OF HOKTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 29, 1877. 



that bees make honey, but that they gather a sweet matter — 

 nectar — from flowers, and that this matter is transformed into 

 honey; and my only aim in writing this will be to try to raise 

 an interest on this too much neglected question, which is of 

 great utility in apiculture and might have in practice very im- 

 portant consequences. 



Some apiculturists and naturalists suppose that honey has the 

 same composition as the nectar of flowers, and in many European 

 bee-books it is stated that the bees merely gather the honey and 

 deposit it without alteration in the cells, where it loses water. 

 In the presence of the confusion and contradiction existing at 

 present on the matters gathered and produced by bees, it is 

 necessary, in order to arrive at a decision, to make a chemical 

 and physiological statement of the production and composition 

 of honey. In nearly all the flowers in which fecundation is 

 accompanied (accomplished), by the intervention of insects, 

 there are organs, named by botanists nectaries, secreting a sweet 

 matter generally known as nectar. From this nectar gathered 

 bees produce honey. Now we see that nectar and honey are 

 two distinct things and of a different composition, and that the 

 bees cause the nectar to undergo a chemical transformation to 

 convert it into honey. 



Mr. Braconnot has chemically analysed the nectar of over 

 thirty species of plants of twenty-five different families, and 

 has found them to be about a constant composition. He says 

 that the nectar is always identical with itself. It is a colourless 

 and limpid liquid of a density little more than that of water. It 

 does not generally contain traces of acid, it is a neutral body, 

 and blue and red litmus paper is without action on it. He re- 

 presents the composition of nectar as follows: — Cane sugar (or 

 saccharose) 83, nncrystallisable sugar 10, water 77, total 100. 

 He found no trace of mannite nor glucose. Now ib will be seen 

 that honey contains an excess of glucose, some mannite, and 

 very little or no cane sugar. Lowitz was the first (in 1792) who 

 found out that the sweet crystallisable matter found in honey 

 was not cane sugar. Proust in analysing some candied honey 

 has shown the identity of this cryataUisable sugar with grapa 

 sugar, which he discovered in the fruit-glucose. Gailbert has 

 placed in evidence the presence of a large proportion of uncrys- 

 tallisable sugar, to which he gave the name of " sugar of honey." 

 Later Guibourt has found some mannite in honey. MM. Dn- 

 bruujant, Rogers, and Callonx have completed by their analysis 

 the preceding researches. Mr. Calloux gives the following as Means, 

 the composition of field honey : Glucose, 4.510; nncrystallisable 

 sugar ormellose,30 4; water, WS: mannite, 1'9; waxymatter,0 6; 

 nitrogenous and acid matters, 2 G: total, 100 



We see by the analyses given above that honey is a mixture 

 in variable proportions of a certain number of definite organic 

 compounds. In its most complete state it contains glucose, 

 unoryetallisable sugar, mellose, some water, mannite, cane sugar, 

 an acid, a greasy colouring matter, and some nitrogenous matter 

 which comes from pollen. Mellose or uncrystallised sugar is a 

 liquid sugar which does not crystallise ; mannite is a body which 

 " ; naturally found in manna. As it has been ascertained that 



economy.— Paul L. Viallon, Bayon, Ooula, La.- 

 Bee Journal.) 



■{American 



OUB LETTER BOX. 



Baeleymeal for Fo^^tls [A. TF/itfi?t'r).— The meal and ground oata i-e- 

 qnire to be made into a crumbly paste with water. 



Flagged Floor (C. S/iic/dl.— Cover it 3 inches deep with sand. Feed the 

 three weeks-old chickens with Indiau meal crumbly moisteaed with milk, and 

 egg boiled hard and chopped fine. 



Stewabton and Carr Hives (St'(>/iid).— Each frame or bar, body as well 

 as supers, ot a well-made Stewartou has in ita centre a groove to receive a 

 narrow embossed was sfeeet, which keeps the combs perfectly straight. The 

 Carr hive is too cramped and small for practical bee-keeping. Your guide 

 comb throuKh inefficient attachment had given way when the swarm was in- 

 troduced, hence the cross- wrought combs. The desertion was probably due to 

 the demise of the queen without a successor to take her place. The combs 

 can yet be utilised with perfect success by inverting each bos after the sliiea 

 have been withdrawn and severing any attachment to the bos sides. The 

 outer square can then be removed, leaving the frames and combs in a piece. 

 Each comb can then be cut off close with a sharp knife and attached to bars 

 of frame with hot was, or be placed in the frames and kept in position with 

 two strips of thin bandbox on either side, tacked to the ends of the frame, till 

 the combs be fiiedby the bees, when they can be removed.— A Kenfrewshire 



BEE-KEErER. 



Stewaeton HrvES (C. JR. 5.).— Stewarton hives are made by Mr. James 

 Allan, Cabinet-maker, Stewarton, Ayrshire. 



^1 



METEOROLOGICAXi OBSERVATIONS. 



2l8t.- 



EEMAEKS. 

 Snow lying on the walls and walis for a short time in the morning, but 

 soon melting; very fine afternoon, but very cold all day. 

 22ud.— Strong white frost ; very fine till noon, then doll and f 

 with very bright £ 

 Ight. 



.. J showers, 



1 for a short time between them ; wet evening and 



23rd —Foggy early, bat bright ot nine, with white frost, which contmned on 



the walls till ten, then again foggy; fair ia afternoon, bnt not bnght. 



2-lth.— Mnch warmer, very bright early, and a pleasant day j bnt rainy in the 



evening and night. 

 2.">th. — Fine morning; cloudy afternoon and wet evening. 

 2lith.— Moderately fine morning, bnt showery afternoon, 

 mannite is a product of the viscous fermentation of complex ' 27th.— Very bright aboat noon, but soou clouding over, followed by ram, 



Bacohariue mixtures, we see that it is not necessary the bees 

 have gathered the natural mannite, but that it might have 

 formed itself subsequently in honey. Mr. Zinuermann has ob- 

 tained mannite by combining hydrogen with glucose. I will 

 mention, nevertheless, that mannite is most generally met with 

 in mountain honey. The presence of a free acid has been found 

 in honey. It is by the influence of this acid, supposed to be 

 identical with the acid substance found in bees, that the trans- 

 formation of cane sugar, of nectar into mellose and glucose, 

 might have been caused. 



It is an established tact that, if a diluted acid is made to act 

 upon cane sugar, grape sugar is formed. It is natural to suppose 

 that an analogous transformation under the influence of the acid 

 principle known to exist in bees has changed the cane sugar of 

 the nectar into nncrystallisable sugar. It is natural to come to 

 the conclusion that the bees gather the nectar from flowers, and 

 that this nectar in the bodies of bees, under the influence of 

 agents not well recognised, undergoes a change and comes out 

 in a state of honey. Glucose does not exist in nectar, but is 

 found in large proportion in honey. I have fed some bees with 

 a thin syrup made of twenty-five parts of crushed sugar and 

 seventy-five parts of water, and, after it was capped by the bees, 

 extracted it ; and though it was perfectly neutral when fed or 

 given, it had then a slight acid reaction, and contained a large 

 proportion of uncrystallised sugar but a small proportion of 

 crystallised cane sugar. I fed the bees also with a syrup made 

 of equal parts of sug.ir and water coloured with cochineal, and 

 after it was capped extracted, and it was very much lighter in 

 colour. 



After the experiments and chemical analysis given above I 

 have no doubt that it will be easily seen that the bees effect a 

 real chemical change in producing honey from nectar. This 

 process is one which appertains to animal chemislry — is a species 

 of assimilation — an elaboration and excretion, of which we have 

 BO many instances in the cell functions of glands in the animal 



which at times fell heavily. ..... a 



Bain more or loss almost every day, generally m the latter part of tha day. 

 The second hall of the week warmer than the first, and the mean temperatare 

 of the whole week nearly the same as last week.— G. J. SvMONS. 



COVENT SARDEN MARKET.— MiKCH 28. 

 Q0OTATIOS3 remain the same as last week. 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants 1 sieve 



Black i do. 



Fins dozen 



FUberts lb- 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Graoes, hothouse.... lb. 10 



Lemons 1*100 6 



Melons each 



I Nectarines dozen OtoO 



Oranges %!■ 100 8 12 



Peaches dozen 



1 Pears, kitchen.... dozen 



dessert dozen 3 12 



PineApples lb. 16 4 



I Plums i solve 



Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb. o 



Strawberries oz. 16 2 



Walnuts bushel 5 8 



ditto ¥■ 100 1 9 a 



VEaETABr.BS. 



8. B. 



• 109 8 10 



Beans, Kidney fHOO 



Beet, Red dozen 



Broccoli bundle 9 



Brussels Sprouts...! sieve 8 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots banch 4 



Capsicums IS^IO) 1 6 



CauUflowel dozen 2 



Celery bundle 1 6 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 G 



Cucumbera each 9 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 8 



Garlic lb. 6 



Herbs bunch 3 



Horseradish bundle 



Lettuce dozen 1 



Leeks bunch 4 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard Si Cress punnet u a 



Onions bushel 



pickling quart 4 



Parsley.... doz.bnnehee 3 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart S 



Potatoes bushel 2 6 



Kidney do. 8 



New lb. 9 



Radishes., doz. bunches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 6 



Salsafy bundle 9 



Scorzonera bundle 1 



Seakale basket 2 



Shallots lb. \ 



Spinach buBhel s o 



Tomatoes 4 sieve 



Turnips bunch 4 



Vegetable Marrows 



