1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



875 



absolute purity. A considerable correspondence 

 followed in which neither party was willing to 

 admit he was in error. But better methods of 

 analysis adopted by Dr. Browne show very con- 

 clusively where the trouble came from. 



Li the next bulletin issued by the New Hamp- 

 shire Board of Health they state in a note on the 

 last page, "Concerning the Cane-sugar Content of 

 Honey,'''' "In the last issue of the Bulletin a 

 sample of honey bottled by J. E. Crane & Son, 

 Middlebury, Vt. , was reported as adulterated 

 with cane sugar. It is, perhaps, due the firm to 

 state that the adulteration was technical rather 

 than of a fraudulent character, the quantity of 

 cane sugar found being not greatly in excess of 

 the recognized limit of that constituent. 

 The maximum content of cane sugar recogniz- 

 ed in pure honey by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture is jJq, and this standard has 

 also been specifically adopted by the legislatures 

 of several States. When, therefore, this figure 

 is materially exceeded it has been the custom to 

 infer that such is due to the feeding of sucrose to 

 the bees, either with fraudulent intent or careless- 

 ly. However, in the case under consideration 

 Messrs. J. E. Crane & Son strenuously urge that 

 they have been duly careful to feed no more than 

 the least possible quantity of sugar required at 

 the period when artificial feeding is necessary; 

 and in view of the business reputation of the firm, 

 and its standing in the industry, it is believed that 

 this claim is conscientiously made." 



Thus in a few sentences is saved the face of 

 the New Hampshire Board of Health and the 

 producers of this honey or seeming to. But it 

 seems never to have occurred to them that their 

 methods of analysis might be wrong. 



If one gives careful attention to the tables of 

 the United States bulletin referred to, it will be 

 noticed that the samples of clover honey given 

 contained from over i^p per cent to no sucrose. 

 Why this variation.? It is caused by differences 

 of soil or climate, or the time that has elapsed be- 

 tween the gathering or storing to the time the 

 analysis was made. In regard to this the New- 

 Hampshire Board of Health, in the note above 

 referred to, says: " There would seem to be op- 

 portunity for investigation relative to the possible 

 bearing upon the sucrose content of modern 

 methods of ripening and packing honey. As yet 

 the exact nature of the agency causing the inver- 

 sion of cane sugar in honey does not seem to 

 have been determined; but it is certain that at 

 least up to a certain point this inversion steadily 

 proceeds after packing. The firm alluded to re- 

 cently adopted the practice of pasteurization of 

 their goods during their packing process. Com- 

 parative determinations made by us on several 

 jars of the same output originally submitted to 

 different treatments showed unexpectedly a higher 

 sucrose content in the jars subjected to a temper- 

 ature of 160 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Provid- 

 ed this phenomenon should be demonstrated to 

 be a constant one, the only apparent explanation 

 would be that the inversion is due mainly to a di- 

 gestive ferment that is destroyed by the pasteuri- 

 zation process. In other words, does heating 

 honey soon after being stored by the bees prevent 

 those chemical changes taking place that would 

 occur if left for a longer time without heating." 



Middlebury, Vt. 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 FOREIGN EXCHANGES 



By W. K. Morrison 



The government of Denmark has voted a sum 

 of money, and has also appointed a commis- 

 sion, to deal with the disease known as the foul 

 brood of bees. 



* 



A writer in one of the European bee journals 

 maintains that it is only from the second crop of 

 red clover that bees extract any nectar. Is this 

 so .? The present writer imagines that mammoth 

 clover produces all the so-called red-clover hon- 

 ey, or at least nearly all. 

 * 



Monsieur Jacquemart, President of the local 

 bee-keepers' society at Thimister, Belgium, has 

 engaged a solid train for some date in July to 

 convey the bees of the members of the society to 

 the heather bloom. Evidently the presidency of 

 a Belgian bee-keepers' society is no sinecure. 

 * 



According to L' Apiculture Nou-z-elle the recent 

 prices of foreign honey and beeswax in Hamburg 

 are as follows: California honey, 8>^ cts.; Chili, 

 5; Cuba, 4^2; San Domingo, 4>^; Mexico, 4^. 

 Beeswax from Benguella, 30 cts. ; Brazil, 31 >^; 

 Chili, 31^; Cuba, 31; Madagascar, 29; Moroc- 

 co, 30. 



A writer in le Rucker Beige states that only two 

 authors, Reaumur and Delia Rocca, have stated 

 that the young queen leads the first swarm. On 

 the other hand, Bevan, Quinby, Hamet, Drory, 

 Bastian, Dubini, Dzierzon, Berlepsch, Vignole, 

 Colin, Debeauvoys, De Layens, Cowan, Alley, 

 Cheshire, Girard, Newman, Cook, Rauschenfels, 

 Digges, and Root, affirm it is only the old queens 

 that leave the hive at the head of the swarm. 

 This is by way of reply to a Mr. Keller, who 

 thinks the young queens frequently head the new 

 swarm because he discovered one that did. 



Biene unci ihrc Zucht is responsible for the 

 statement that in Hannover alone 38 special 

 trains are required to transport colonies of bees to 

 the heather moors in autumn. That means 19 

 train loads of bees each way. This, it should be 

 understood, does not represent American train 

 loads. The cars are small, not more than five 

 tons, and the locomotives are in the same pro- 

 portion. Probably two American trains would 

 accommodate the whole lot; but still this shows 

 a very commendable and enterprising spirit on 

 the part of German bee-keepers. Other states in 

 (jermany do equally well. 



I note that the bee-keepers of the Nederlands, 

 Denmark, Norv^ay, Sweden, and Russia are very 

 much inclined to follow the lead of America in 

 bee culture. The bee-keeping journals quote 

 Miller, Alexander, and Doolittle right along, 

 and articles by noted Yankee bee-keepers are 

 freely translated, and presented to their readers. 

 This is the more remarkable because they are 

 situated near Germany, a great bee country; and 

 one would naturally suppose they would borrow 



