1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



275 



swarmed or not and wo examined them only as 

 soon as other work required it. In one or two 

 instances the coloni(>s did not swarm; but the 

 bees went below and tilled up a. s'et ofextracting 

 brood-frames with honey. Hut perhaps our 

 friend Taylor would prefer comb iioney instead 

 of extracted. Well, in that cast? the dil'ticulty 

 conlo not be entirely avoided: but we would sug- 

 gest tiiat an extra super be placed under the 

 auto'naiic swarming-board, togetiier with the 

 brood-chamber, and then the bees could be left 

 for a week or ten days, or even longer. 



It is true, as he says, that several swarms may 

 come out together and unite: but. if we are cor- 

 rect in our observations, they are not nearly so 

 apt to unite when none of them ha\e a queen. 

 Realizing that sonn^lhing is wrong, they go 

 back to headquarters to lind out what the mat- 

 ter is: and having done this, tliey do just what 

 we want them to do— go into the new hive. 

 Now as to the expense of the I'ratt hivers being 

 greater than the traps, we will say they are near- 

 ly as cheap. All that is required is a honey-board 

 with the Pratt bee-escapes, the same being used 

 with hives and supers, that every apiarist is 

 supposed to have on hand. 



Referring to the Alley traps, we would say 

 than we have used them in just the way Mr. 

 Taylor speaks of: but unless we were present on 

 the day that they came oiit. and took care of 

 the bees clustering around th(» traps, mischief 

 follovved sooner or later. The bpes, having been 

 thwarted in their efforts to carry out the in- 

 stincts of nature, remained in the hive, fritter- 

 ed away their time doing nothing, and finally 

 ended up by killing the queen. What we'want 

 is something that may not ret^uire attention for 

 a week or ten days. Out-apiaries are frequently 

 left that length of time. 



In conclusion we will add that we think, with 

 the editor of the Reincw. the automatic self- 

 hiver promises well. Rut this is really all we 

 dare say at present, for the experiments that 

 have so far been made are not of sufficient mag- 

 nitude to give us entire assurance of their suc- 

 cess. 



anothp:r simple means fok detecting the 



presexce of glucose in honey; a test 



that everybody can apply with 



very' little expense. 



In another column will be found a translation 

 of a valuable article taken from the Bieiien- 

 vafc?', describing simple tests fordetecting vari- 

 ous spurious mixtures in honey. The one given 

 fordetecting the presence of glucose — namely, 

 the addition of pure spirits of wine, or alcohol, 

 to the suspected honey — seemed to us so simple 

 as to be almost absurd. We have for several 

 days had on hand honey from a certain soui'ce 

 having the unmistakable flavor of glucose. So 

 pronounced was it that we had not the least 

 doubl in our own minds but that the honey 

 was adulterated. After reading this glucose 

 test, we immediately procured some alcohol and 

 introduced a quantity of it to a small sample of 

 the su-;pected article." A little stirrins soon |)ro- 

 duced a milky-white appearance: and after a 

 little there was quite a decided white pncipi- 

 tate. showing quite conclusively the presence of 

 glucose that had manifested itself so clearly to 

 the taste. Other doubtful samples— samples that 

 we suspected from the taste— showed like re- 

 sults. Now, to make sure the test was reliable, 

 we also procured a sample of basswood that we 

 knew to be |)ure. We thought, if the introduc- 

 tion of alcohol into this produc(id a milky pre- 

 cipitate, this glucose test would be of no value. 

 Upon putting the honey to the test, the alcohol 

 had no perceptible infhience upon it. and the 

 honey remained as clear and limjjid as before. 

 'We next tried a sample of genuine pure glucose. 



The strong milky precipitate was more markt'd 

 than in the mixtures of honey and glucose— just 

 about what we would expect. 



From all this incidental experimenting, we 

 observed that glucose mixtures of honey, on be- 

 ing visforously stirred, will show the presence of 

 beautiful, almost spherical, globules or bubbles 

 of air. The glucose in honey seems to have a 

 peculiar faculty for involving a minute quantity 

 of air, and holding it there for several days at 

 a time. Indeed, the presence of these large bub- 

 bles is quite suspicious, and we believe we could 

 tell honey with glucose mixtures, by the mere 

 appearance. The strong glucose taste would 

 then give us a double assurance. If this were 

 then further corroborated by the alcohol test, 

 what more should we need ".• True, we could not 

 tell the exact (pidHtilij of glucose in the honey; 

 but the offense is just as great, if we under-^tand 

 the law properly, whether a large or a small 

 quantity of " the stuff "is used. As it would not 

 be profitable to put in a small amount.it is pre- 

 sumable that, when the presence of glucose is 

 shown by the tests already given, at least nO per 

 cent of the basei' article would be put into the 

 honey, -v man who would be mean enough to 

 adult''rat(' would not stop at 2'> per cent — he 

 would put in ."»() p(>r cent or more to increase the 

 profits. ' 



Now. it seems to us that this alcoholic test is 

 so simple that it will be exceedingly valuable 

 to honey-buyers; and when it becomes noised 

 abroad so that everybody knows about it, it will 

 make mixers of glucose sutlicienily careful so 

 that they will either stop adulterating altogeth- 

 er with that article, or, if not, place them in a 

 position for easy detection. 



In the mean time we solicit samples of honey 

 that taste bad. Send them by mail, marked with 

 sender's name. |)ut up in stout wooden boxes. 

 The vial should be as large as possible, securely 

 stoppered, and wrapped in paper inside the 

 wooden package. VVe shall take pains to test 

 thoroughly all samples submitted to us, and re- 

 port confidentially to all those desiring informa- 

 tion. If we have reason to believe they are 

 adulterated, the facts will be placed in the hands 

 of the manager of the Ree-keepers" Union. We 

 would suggest, however, that all honey-buyers 

 and commission houses acquaint themselves 

 thoroughly with the tests already given, in or- 

 der that they may be prepared to investigate 

 and trace promptly all suspected honeys from 

 doubtful sources, ^^erhaps we ought to state, 

 that, in order to get the cloudy appearance from 

 glucose mixtures and alcohol, the suspected 

 honey should be thoroughly stirred for several 

 minutes. If it is adulterated with corn syrup, 

 the cloudy precipitati' will very soon make it- 

 self manifest. 



Would-be adulterators have tried to cling to 

 the hope that chemists can not detect glucose 

 adulterations: hut that hope is now gone, or it 

 had better '■ be gone"' very soon, for the Bee- 

 keepers" Union, we hope, will very soon lay its 

 heavy hand upon — well, we are not going to tell. 



P. S. — If we understand matters correctly, 

 chemists have long used the alcoholic test for 

 showing the presence of glucose. It is only one 

 of the means they employ, the result being ver- 

 ified by several other tests well known to them. 



if/to'.— After writing the above, the Evening 

 Star, published at Steubenville, Ohio, came to 

 hand containing some startling statements to 

 the effect that one of our old correspondents, J. 

 A. Ruchanan. of Ifolliday's Cove, W. Va., had 

 not only been selling, for a year or so back, hon- 

 ey adulterated with glucose, but that he actu- 

 ally pleaded guilty when the inspecto.' for the 

 State Food Commissioner took proceedings 

 against him in court. The paper goes on to 

 state that Mi'. Buchanan was fined .«3.5.0() and 



