112 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



REMARKS ON TABLES. 



The temperature at wLicli the direct polarization is taken is given, so 

 that if any great difterence in the two temperatures should occur it can 

 be at once noted. Since the temperature has amarked influence on the 

 la}vo-rotatory power of invert sugar it should always be taken into ac- 

 count in expressing the data of the work. In order to secure results 

 which are strictly comparable, some definite degree of temperature should 

 be chosen at which all the polarizations should be made or to which they 

 should be reduced. I am now having an instrument constructed which 

 will enable me to make all such j)olarizations at any selected tempera- 

 ture. 



The percentage of reducing sugar is calculated for dextrose, and the 

 numbers, therefore, must be taken with this understanding. In thelast 

 column of each table are found thepercejitages of such sugars in terms 

 of total solids. This gives a much better idea of their relative amount 

 than if they were expressed in percentages of the weight of the sub- 

 stances examined. 



In the polarizations the numbers given are divisions of the cane sugar 

 scale of a large Laurent shadow polariscope in which 16.2 grams of pure 

 sugar in a volume of 100 cubic centimeters will produce a right-handed 

 rotation of 100. The sucrose was cnlculated from the two polariscopic 

 readings (before and after inversion) by the usual formula. 



Tahlc No. I. — In all these samples, as indicated by the analyses, starch 

 sirux) (glucose) was largely used as an adulterant. 



In No. V very little real honey could have been present. The sample 

 was coinposed almost exclusively of starch-sirup and of sucrose, which 

 had been added to give it sweetness. 



In the other cases the sucrose which was found by analysis was doubt- 

 less originally jjresent in the honey part of the mixture, since, had it 

 been added as an adulterant more of it would have been found. The 

 characteristics of each sample, as well as of all of them collectively, can 

 be seen by studying the table. 



Tahle Ko. II. — The mean percentage of sucrose present in these sam- 

 ples, as determined by double polarization, is 11.79, and by reduction 

 14.58, with the exception of No. II, to which sucrose was undoubtedly 

 added. I cannot think that any sucrose was added b}" producer or 

 dealer, on account of the small percentage of it found. In such cases 

 it is proper to suppose that the bees had ;iccess to flowers whose nectar 

 was rich in sucrose, or that had been fed a solution of that substance. 

 The use of solutions of sucrose as bee food is not unusual. 



Tallc No. HI. — These sixteen samples are grouped together on ac- 

 count of their great lievo-rotatory power. For the first polarization this 

 amounts to 1G.75 divisions and for the inverted liquids to 18.10. It is 

 possible that this great deviation to the left may have been due to the 

 entire absence of dextrine or sucrose in the honeys, or that it might have 

 been produced by the bee food being rich in sucrose, which suffered a 

 nearly complete inversion in the body of the insect. 



It would be quite improper to definitely assert that invert sugar-sirup 

 had been added as an intended adulterant. I think it quite i:»ossible 

 that bees having access to sucrose food might at one time produce a 

 honey like that in Table No. II and at another like that in Table No. III. 



Table No. IV. — These honeys all appear to be genuine, although it is 

 hard to draw the line between such samples as Nos. 31 and 32, and those 

 found in Table No. III. The mean reading to the left is 7.40 divisions 

 before inversion and 11.11 afterwards. The mean of undetermined 



