ltJ2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



sion of the cane sugar are directly connected with 

 each other; whereas, it is not so. The comma 

 is placed therein order to prevent the repetition 

 of what the "functions of the glands" are. 

 The passage referring to the tunctions of the 

 glands in my book reads thus: "The produc- 

 tion of a secretion to assist digestion, to convert 

 the cane sugar of nectar into the grape sugar of 

 honey, for the elaboration of wax, etc." The 

 commas cut up the paragraph into different 

 sentences: and you see from this that the 

 meaning is quite different, and I can not see 

 how it can be adduced in support of Prof. 

 Cook's theory at all. As the italics do not exist 

 in the original, they go for nothing in the quo- 

 tation. 



The next point I should like to touch upon is, 

 whether sugar syrup stored by bees in the 

 combs is converted into honey. To this I have 

 no hesitation in saying it is not; and this not- 

 withstanding what the chemists and the bee- 

 keepers mentioned by Prof. Cook affirm. Now, 

 what does the experiment our friend alludes to 

 prove? Simply this: That the 23 lbs. of syrup 

 given to the bees was turned into invert sugar, 

 and not into honey at all; and that even that a 

 certain quantity of the cane sugar, viz., 8 per 

 cent, remained unaltered, there being 67 per 

 cent of glucose. Honey does not contain any 

 cane sugar at all, but is composed of about 

 equal parts of dextrose and levulose. Besides 

 these, honey contains formic acid, essential oils 

 derived from the plants, and small quantities 

 of other saccharine substances, which combined 

 give it the peculiar aroma and flavor. Remove 

 these and the characteristics of honey are gone. 



To go fully into the chemical properties of 

 honey, glucose, etc., would make this article too 

 long; but I should like to point out that, not- 

 withstanding what the chemists quoted by 

 Prof. Cook say as to the analysis of this .syrup- 

 fed production, it is possible to determine with 

 certainty pure honey from any such spurious 

 imitation. This may be done by means of the 

 polariscope, combined with previous dialysis, 

 by the method of Dr. Hjenli. 



I stated that honey is composed of dextrose 

 and levulose. The crystalline portion of honey 

 twists a ray of polarized light from its ordinary 

 straight path toward the right, and is on that 

 account called dextrose; the non -crystalline 

 portion turns it to the left, and is, therefore, 

 called levulose. The great hulk of honey con- 

 sists of about equal quantities of these two 

 sugars. There are a few exceptions, such as, 

 for instance, conifer honey. The rotation of 

 levulose to the left is greater than the rotation 

 of the same quantity of dextrose is to the right: 

 therefore when found in about equal quantities, 

 as in pure honey, the polarized ray is twisted to 

 the left. All other sugars turn the ray to the 

 right, so that, whatever saccharine admixture 

 is made to honey, it is thus readily detected. It 

 is specially marked in the case of" starch syrup, 

 or commercial glucose, so that it is very easy to 

 detect even a small admixtureof this substance, 

 which, in addition, contains also maltose. Cane 

 sugar can also be detected in the same way, as 

 it is strongly dextro-rotary. Conifer honey has 

 a peculiar composition, in that it contains a 

 larger proportion of dextrose; consequently the 

 ray of polarized light is turned to the right. 

 Until recently is was difficult to distinguish 

 with certainty conifer honey from adulterated 

 honey; but Dr. Htenli's researches have given 

 us an infallible and easy method, not only of 

 determining this with certainty, but also the 

 exact proportion of adulteration of pure honey 

 with glucose or any other sugar. This is done 

 by dmlysis previous to polarization. It has 

 been found that, after dialysis of a certain 

 number of hours, the deviation of the ray of 



polarized light to the right or to the left remains 

 stationary, and that all pure honey will turn 

 the ray to the left, even if it turned it to the 

 right previously, as it does in conifer honey; 

 but that any admixture of glucose or cane 

 sugar would always turn it to the right, not- 

 withsianding the dialysis. 



Now, as regards caile sugar given to bees and 

 stored by them in combs, the following was the 

 result: The solution of cane sugar before it 

 was given to the bees turned the ray of light to 

 the right -t- 105°. After being sealed in the 

 combs for 6 weeks it was + 6.5°; and the same 

 after 8 months in the combs. But after a 

 dialysis of 10 hours the deviation to the right 

 was reduced to -f- 9°; and after 20 hours it was 

 further reduced to + 7°, and at this it remained 

 stationary. Normal honey has an average 

 deviation of — 30° to the left. This experiment 

 is very interesting, because, during the time the 

 bees were being fed they were also collecting 

 small quantities of honey, which, mixed with 

 the sugar syrup, reduced the deviation of the 

 ray of light to the right to -|- 65°. But even 

 this admixture of honey, whatever the quantity 

 might have been, could not alter the dextro- 

 rotation of the ray which remained stationary 

 at + 7°. 



It will, therefore, be seen that sugar syrup, 

 stored by the bees in the combs, is not converted 

 into honey, although it maybe invert sugar; 

 also, that the smallest admixture of cane-sugar 

 syrup to honey can easily be detected. 



There is a good deal more I could say on this 

 subject; but I feel that I have already made 

 this communication too long; but I think I 

 have been able to show that it is not so diffi- 

 cult to detect the difference between such a 

 spurious product and honey. It may be a com- 

 fort to bee-keepers to know this, for I can not 

 imagine any thing more detrimental to the 

 industry of bee-keeping than that bee-keepers 

 should themselves for a moment countenance 

 adulteration in this form. Many years ago an 

 attempt was made by some unscrupulous 

 Scotch bee-keepers to show sugar-fed supers; 

 but by appointing an analyst, the British Bee- 

 keepers' Association was able to nip in the bud 

 adulteration in any form; and now at all shows 

 held under our rules, honey is shown only sub- 

 ject to analysis if necessary. 



Thos. Wm. Cowan. 



P. S. — Since writing the above, Gleanings 

 for Jan. 15 is at hand, and I am pleased to see 

 Prof. Cook has withdrawn his advocacy of put- 

 ting sugar-fed combs on the market, and I am 

 also pleased that there should have been so 

 general and determined a protest by the bee- 

 keepers against feeding for such a purpose. 

 Mr. Heddon seems to think that the public 

 does not care whether honey is adulterated or 

 not. But the public does care; and as an in- 

 stance I can mention that American honey has 

 not taken the position it should have done on 

 our markets, and that at times large quantities 

 have been lyingin Liverpool, and could not find 

 purchasers, even at times when British honey 

 has been scarce. What do you suppose is the 

 reason ? It is because that, so long ago as 1879. 

 a person named Hoge, and Messrs. Thurbers 

 introduced adulterated honey, consisting large- 

 ly of glucose. Later, Hoge started a factory in 

 London for manufacturing pure California 

 honey and horehound honey; also other sorts 

 of honey. Our analyst exposed the frauds, and 

 the adulteration was stopped: but the injury 

 was done; and to this day the sale of American 

 honey is very small in proportion to what comes 

 from other countries; and there is a deep-rooted 

 prejudice against it. So you see the injury 

 done fourteen years ago is still felt, and this, I 



