August, 1M15. 



279 



American Hae Journal k 



from settling in the nectar. Dr. Drost 

 says the air in Hamburg, and its imme- 

 diate vicinity, is charged with more 

 soot than elsewhere, and consequently 

 more soot can get into flowers and 

 blossoms where the form does not 

 preclude this than at other places; yet 

 the quantity of soot that may thus get 

 into nectar and honey must be so 

 minute that it could not cause such a 

 dark color as the sample showed. 



The beekeeper who furnished the 

 sample stated that the yellow blossoms 

 of basswood when falling were still 

 filled with nectar, and that he has seen 

 the bees scrambling on the streets 

 sucking this nectar. Dr. Drost holds 

 that honey from such blossorns is at 

 best an exception, and while such 

 honey probably would contain a little 

 more soot and dust than from fresh 

 blossoms, the quantity of honey from 

 such fallen blossoms compared with 

 em ire crop would be so insignificant 

 that it could not seriously be consid- 

 ered as causing a discoloration. 



Result of the examination and ana- 

 lysis. 



Appearance, dark gray; consistency, 

 crystallized. 



Odor, very aromatic. 



Taste, differed considerably from 

 basswood honey; very spicy. 



Water, 15.88 percent. 



Dry matter. 84.12 percent. 



Invert sugar, 77.00 percent. 



Cane sugar, 1.09 percent. 



Sugar free extract, 5.13 percent. 



Polarization before inversion, 1.70 

 percent. 



Polarization after inversion, 1.92 per- 

 cent. 



Fiehe's test for artificial honey gave 

 no reaction. 



Ley's test, greenish brown; this is 

 not unusual. 



Lund's test, 1.0 cm. precipitate. 



Alcohol gave a small but distinct 

 precipitate. 



Fiehe's test for starch sugar, none. 



Mineral matter, 0.52 percent. 



Sand, just a trace. 



Chlorine, 0.05 percent. 



Soot, decided trace. 



Pollen, the characteristic pollen of 

 basswood was present nearly the same 

 amount of a small, round, decidedly 

 transparent pollen, and a few other 

 pollen grains were found. 



REM.^RKS. 



According to odor and taste this 

 honey could not be called pure bass- 

 wood honey. The greater part from 

 the centrifugated solution was from 

 basswood. Considering that the genuine 

 basswood honey often shows but a 

 small amount of pollen ; in some in- 

 stances its presence cannot be proven, 

 probably because the blossoms are 

 hanging so that but little pollen falls 

 in the nectar, we may assume that the 

 bulk of the honey in the sample was 

 from basswood blossoms. The small, 

 round, colorless pollen hardly got 

 there by chance, there is most likely 

 honey from the same flower mixed 

 with the basswood honey in the sam- 

 ple. On account of the lack of litera- 

 ture this pollen could not be identified. 



The chemical analysis showed a very 

 high amount of ash, about double the 

 amount usually found in basswood 

 honey in this part of the country. The 

 polarization of a 10 percent solution 



before inversion was below the aver- 

 age. The color of the solution was the 

 same dark gray as the honey. After 

 standing for day-; no ch.inge occurred 

 in the color, nothing settled to the bot- 

 tom that might have shown that soot 

 had been mixed with ihe sample, not 

 even when the solution was centrifu- 

 gated. 



The matter causing the dark gray 

 color could only be separated by 

 means of a floculent (aluminous) pre- 

 cipitate. The filtrate from this pre- 

 cipitate had a faint yellowish green 

 appearance as by other honey. The 

 dark gray had disappeared and did not 

 reappear when the filtrate was evapo- 

 rated to the consistency of honey. The 

 aluminous precipitate which is itself 

 colorless, had taken with it the dark 

 coloring matter. After dissolving this 

 gray precipitate with hydrochloric acid 

 there remained on the filter a deep 

 black shining residue which burnt 

 readily and may be taken to be soot. 

 If other honey is treated the same way 

 with alum and the precipitate dissolved 

 in hydrochloric acid, there remains no 

 residue that has anywhere nc ar such 

 a deep black color. 



Dr. Drost concludes from this ana- 

 lysis, and by comparing it with other 

 analysis, that the soot in the sample 

 came not from nectar of flowers alone. 



The high content of ash and the 

 comparative small deviation of polarized 

 light, for basswood honey, point to an 

 admixture of honey from honeydew. 

 The amount from honeydew, however, 

 must have been small, otherwise the 

 polarization would have been more to 



the sight, and more dextrine would 

 have been present. Aroma and taste 

 also point to a small admixture of 

 honeydew. Honeydew most likely 

 comes in contact with and holds more 

 soot and dust where these contaminate 

 the air, than nectar from the various 

 flowers and blossoms. 



Honeydew is found around Ham- 

 burg, especially in hot, dry years on 

 basswood, maple, and other trees and 

 bushes to a considerable extent, and it 

 may come in contact with more soot 

 and dust than elsewhere. It is only 

 soot in the finest state of division that 

 is found in honey which probably 

 passes the bees as it does the filter. 

 Has discoloration not been noticed in 

 great industrial centers, where much 

 heavy smoke prevails ? 



Kempten, Bavaria, Germany. 



[This article is of especial interest to 

 me because I have already often won- 

 dered whether the peculiar muddy ap- 

 pearance of honeydew is not in part 

 derived from dust. The production of 

 the aphis honeydew is very great at 

 times, and some of it remains spread 

 upon the leaves of trees several days 

 before being harvested. It dries up 

 during the warm sunshine and becomes 

 again moistened by the night's dew. 

 Hence we find the bees busy upon it 

 early in the morning. If the dust or 

 soot thus gathered could be eliminated, 

 perhaps the honeydew would lose a 

 part of its repulsive appearance. — Ed ] 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keepine Questions by mail. 



Laying Worker 



Did you ever have any experience with 

 laying workers in a hive where a young 

 queen lias hatched ? This is my experience. 

 On May 9 1 tranferred a swarm of bees from 

 a hive which 1 expected to discard on ac- 

 count of its odd size. On May 30 all of the 

 brood was hatched, and on examination I 

 found a uell already hatched, and byseaich- 

 ing I found the young Queen. Today I went 

 through the liive to see if the queen was lay- 

 ing, and all of the eggs and larvse which I 

 found were in drone cells, and the eggs 

 scattered about in worker-cells. I exam- 

 ined closely the comb on which I found the 

 most drone-cells, and then and there 1 saw 

 a worker doing her work What do you 

 think of that, with a young queen in the 

 hive and she was a beauty. 1 closed the hive, 

 thinking things might right themselves if 

 left alone, but in the afternoon I found the 

 queen on the alighting board dead with a 

 ball of bees around her. I broke up the col- 

 ony at once. , , . , 



Would you kindly tell me what you think 

 of this case. When I say they had a laying 

 worker. I mean to say that I saw her lay one 

 of her eggs in a drone-cell. Inihana. 



.•\NSWER. — Your experience is quite excep- 

 tional. It is not often that a laying worker 

 is caught in the act. In all my experience I 

 never saw it. I think, more than once. If 

 your bees are Italians, it is remarkable that 

 laying workers should appear when they did. 

 although with some of the other races lay- 



ing workers are inclined toput in an appear 

 ance whenever laying is not normal. You 

 speak a little as if there were only one lay- 

 ing worker present. The probability is that 

 there was quite a large number. 



Extracted or Comb Honey? Royal Jelly 



I I have a tew hives of bees and wish to 

 increase, but am undecided as to which to 

 do. buy fixtures for section or extracted 

 honey, and if section whether plain or bee- 

 way? It may save me quite an expense 

 later on. , ,, , , 



;. How long will royal jelly, taken from a 

 queen-cell, keep and still be fit to use in 

 grafting cells? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. Whether it is better to pro- 

 duce comb or extracted honey depends 

 upon the honey and the market. The darker 

 honeys do not sell so well in sections, and in 

 some places consumers prefer sections so 

 strongly that even dark noney pays better in 

 sections. From what I know of your loca- 

 tion. I think you have light honey, but your 

 market for extracted honey is unusually 

 good, so that my guess would be that you 

 will do well to extract. 



i. I don't know. Much depends upon the 

 thickness of the jelly and upon how it is 

 kept. If very thick, in a warm place with 



