1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



•367 



TESTING HONEY. 



A Hydrometer 



for Fiiulin;: 

 Gravity. 



tlie Specific 



BY H. D. TOAVNSEND. 



I formerly used a hydrometer in pliotog- 

 raphy, and have often thought of using one 

 to test the specitic gravity of honey, but have 

 never known what temperature to test by, 

 for honey is affected by the temperature in 

 that, the colder the honey, the higher the 

 the test. The thermometer should be of the 

 all-glass kind, and should be tested. 



I presume that, on account of its long name, 

 many will hold back from using the hydrom- 

 eter for a long time, at least, thinking it is 

 something for the "scientific fellow." Real- 

 ly, it is one of the most simple of instru- 

 ments, and is just as readily understood as 

 the thermometer. 1 should like to know 

 what temperature the government oflicials 

 use in testing honey. 



Perhaps there are other ways for testing 

 honey. At any rate, we are hungry for news 

 along this line. 



One of the uses to which the hydrometer 

 could be put would be testing the specific 

 gravity of all honey at extractmg time. In 

 this way a producer could work very intelli- 

 gently. To illustrate, we will suppose that, 

 for some reason or other, he should decide 

 to extract some honey during the honey-fiow; 

 and if he were not quite satisfied whether 

 the honey is well cured he can extract a lit- 

 tle, heat it to the required temperature, and 

 test it; and if it falls below the standard he 

 should stop extracting until the honey is 

 thick enough. 



Suppose the dealer were progressive, and 

 had supplied himself with a hydrometer and 

 thermometer; the producer could then tell 

 him what his honey tes:ed, and the dealer 

 could answer, perhaps, as follows: "We are 

 paying to-day for white-clover extracted hon- 

 ey the following schedule of prices, based on 

 the specific. gravity of the honey," etc. In a 

 note at the bottom he would explain that any 

 honey that did not come up to the lowest 

 test would have to go at a reduced price for 

 baker stock. My idea would be that the 

 dealer, also, should sell to his customers from 

 this same schedule of prices, of course add- 

 ing his profit. 



If ordinary clover honey tested 40, good 

 honey 41, and extra good or the best, 42, the 

 dealer might quote the 42 at 10 cts. per 

 pound, the 41 at 9 cts., and the 40 at 8^ It 

 is evident in my mind that the 42 test would 

 be the most sought-after grade, while the 41 

 would be a close second. There will be few 

 low-test grades, for it will be too much of a 

 temptation to produce the best, on account 

 of so much difference in price. 



The honey business is on a par with the 

 butter trade to-day; and as I have been on 

 both sides of the counter I know from expe- 

 rience just what I'm talking about. A takes 

 a roll of average butter to the grocery when 

 butter is worth 15 cts. a pound, and gets 

 what his butter is worth. B takes a roll of 



butter of extra-good quality, and, though it 

 is worth 20 cts., he gets only 15, for that is 

 the market price. C brings in a roll of but- 

 ter of very poor quality, and, though the 

 market price for renovated butter is only 10 

 cts., he sells it at 15, and therefore really 

 pockets 5 cts. of B's money. The extracted- 

 honey market is managed on the same prin- 

 ciple. 

 Remus, Mich. 



[This is a field worth investigating. In 

 the meantime it would, perhaps, be well to 

 bear in mind that locality and the kind of 

 honey would have much to do with this ques- 

 tion of specific gravity. York State buck- 

 wheat, for example, would naturally have a 

 greater density than the same honey pro- 

 duced elsewhere. Colorado alfalfa would 

 be thicker than alfalfa in some parts of Cal- 

 ifornia and Nebraska. What would be re- 

 garded as a standard of specific gravity for 

 one locality would not be accepted for an- 

 other. 



Again, different kinds of honey in the 

 same locality would vary greatly as to the 

 number of pounds to the gallon. 



Still again, artificially ripened honey and 

 that ripened in the hive by the bees might 

 have exactly the same weight per gallon, 

 and yet one be superior to the other in point 

 of aroma or flavor. 



Having said all this, we are of the opinion 

 that bee-keepers might use hydrometers to 

 very good advantage, and that their employ- 

 ment would be far better than mere guesses 

 as to the density of the honey to be extract- 

 ed.— Ed.] 



»»« 



THE NEW PURE-FOOD LAW. 



Some Questions Concerning- it. 



BY WM. RUGE. 



The pure-food law, I am afraid, will work 

 against a good many bee-keepers like myself, 

 who, not raising enough honey themselves to 

 supply their patrons, have been in the habit 

 of buying honey from other bee-keepers or 

 dealers in honey. You say the main thing 

 for such buyers is to get a guarantee of puri- 

 ty from the seller — that this will render the 

 buyer safe in case the purity of the honey 

 when retailed should be questioned. Now, 

 I can not see how this can be. Suppose I 

 buy a lot of honey from a dealer, with a 

 guarantee, and another lot from another 

 dealer or bee-keeper, both lots of honey to 

 be sold to my customers— consumers and re- 

 tailers. I have to bottle this honey. Am I 

 supposed to mark each bottle in some way 

 to be able to know at any time from whom 

 I bought the honey in any of the bottles, 

 should somebody question the purity of the 

 honey and get me into court? And suppose 

 the honey is pronounced adulterated, and I 

 could say I bought it in this particular bottle 

 from so and so, would not this party — the 

 man who sold me the honey with a guaran- 

 tee of purity — deny that this honey was from 

 him? and how could I prove that it was from 



