i8 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' RBVIBW. 



ford to be without, it is thia book. 

 There is no point pertaining to bee cul- 

 ture, upon which this book does not 

 give the latest, fullest and most re- 

 liable information — well illustrated 

 when it is possible. As to some of 

 the particulars of the latest revision, I 

 cannot do better than to refer the 

 reader to the advertisement on the 

 back page of the Review, which I as 

 fully endorse as though I had written 

 it myself. 



■«««(«««««i(K 



THE PERCENTAGE OF WATER IN HONEY. 



Frank T. Shutt, M. G. F. I. C. chem- 

 ist, Dominion Experimental Farm, Ot- 

 tawa, outlined some important experi- 

 ments which he has been conducting 

 relative to the percentage of water in 

 honey under various conditions. His 

 first work was to lay the foundation 

 for experiments by demonstrating that 

 the method of determining the per- 

 centage of water In honey followed 

 by other chemists who have published 

 reports, is unreliable; because, to ex- 

 pose honey for a length of time to a 

 very high temperature causes it to 

 lose weight by decomposition of levu- 

 lose, as well as by evaporation. This 

 he explained to the Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation at Woodstock, Ontario, last 

 year. The method which he adopted 

 and found satisfactory is to expose 

 the honey on sand or pumice for a 

 length of time at a comparatively low 

 temperature (60 degrees C.) and in a 

 partial vacuum. He then experimented 

 with honey from uncapped, partly 

 capped, and capped comb, kept In glass 

 stoppered and cheesecloth covered 

 bottles in a dry, and in a moist, atmos- 

 phere. The results show that while 

 honey in an ordinary atmosphere lost 

 slightly, that kept In a saturated at- 

 mosphere gained considerably In 

 weight, due to absorption of moisture. 

 Where honey was exposed to a satur- 



ated atmosphere the normal percent- 

 age of moisture (about 15 per cent) In- 

 creased In one case to 31 per cent, and 

 in another Instance where the honey 

 was exposed, in a flat dish, It Increased 

 to 48 per cent. Throughout the ex- 

 periments, honey was found to have a 

 great affinity for moisture. That from 

 partly capped combs contains less 

 water than from wholly uncapped, but 

 more than that from wholly capped 

 comb. The percentage also varies with 

 the season. Honey containing more 

 than the normal percentage of water 

 not only Is thin and unattractive, but 

 readily ferment!. 



These results, together with the ex- 

 peperlence of our best bee-keepers, 

 show that honey should not be ex- 

 tracted until It is all, or at least partly, 

 capped. It should then be exposed as 

 little as possible to the air; and, unless 

 sealed perfectly, should be kept In a 

 dry place. If these simple rules be 

 followed It will keep Indefinitely. 



BUSY TIMES AT THE REVIW-OEEICE — 



SOME CHANGES THAT HAVE 



BEEN MADE. 



"Exceedingly busy," Is the only way 

 in which my life of the last few weeks 

 can be properly described. We have 

 been taking a stairway out of the of- 

 fice, and remodeling the latter to make 

 room for a cylinder press. The base- 

 ment has been remodeled, and an out- 

 door hatchway built, which allowed 

 us to use the basement for a stock- 

 room, and for setting up an engine, 

 and putting in shafting for running 

 the presses. This item Is written with 

 the noise of the puffy fusslness of a 

 gasolene engine coming up through the 

 floor, and the clank, clank, grind, 

 grind, of two presses going on in the 

 room where I write, yet I am like the 

 editor that I once read about. Some 

 one asked him If the noise of the 



