716 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUF: 



a ilieiuical. *!t was not thought advisable to use this 

 honey as a food product under the circumstances. 

 It was condemned, therefore, as unfit for human 

 food. 



R. B. Blumb, Chief Food Inspector. 

 Cincinnati, O., Oct. 25. 



Of late there have been so few attempts 

 at adulterating honey that the consumer in 

 most parts of the country, at least, can buy 

 extracted honey feeling assured that it has 

 not, been adulterated. 



THE GREAT ABUNDANCE OP CLOVER. 



The reports from all over the country 

 indicate that white and alsike clover are 

 very abundant everywhere. The frequent 

 and copious rains during the past summer 

 — rains that have been continued clear up 

 into the fall — have contributed to an un- 

 usually heavy growth of the clovers. In 

 the 27 years in which we have been con- 

 nected with this journal, we have never 

 known the time when so much clover was 

 reported. Certainly in our own locality 

 there has never been any thing like it. In 

 talking with some prominent beekeepers 

 they expressed the belief that a severe 

 drouth, or a killing one, could not possibly 

 prevent a crop of clover honey next season 

 all together. 



DEATH OF JOHN G. COREY. 



When A. I. Root dictated the editorial 

 tliat ajipeared in the November 1st issue 

 concerning the death of Mr. Harbison, he 

 did not know that another old veteran, Mr. 

 John G. Corey, died on the samj day. It 

 i? a remarkable coincidence that these two 

 men who had so much to do willi starting 

 the beekeeping industry in California 

 should die on the same day. 



A i^icture of Mr. Corey appears on page 

 520, Aug. 15, and an extended reference 

 to his life was given in the same issue, 

 page 527. It is no little gratification to us 

 that we were able to let this old veteran of 

 (>ur craft see the sketch of his life just be- 

 fore he died. As it turned out it was an 

 obituary of a long life well spent. It is 

 not often that ante-mortem obituaries are 

 given. In this ease the subject had the 

 pleasure of seeing that his life had not 

 been spent in vain. He gave his invention 

 to the world. There are not many like 

 Mm, 



In the last two years, the grim reaper 

 has cut down a very large number of bee- 

 keepers who were of j^rominence in the api- 

 cultural world twenty-five years ago or 

 more. It is entirely fitting that we who 

 claim to be among the progressive bee- 

 keepers of to-day should not forget the 

 work done by these, our teachers, so many 

 of whom have gone to their reward. 



Sl'KClFIC GKAVITV OF HONEY. 



A SHORT time ago Dr. C. C. Miller wrote 

 asking why we did not have an article in 

 the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture on 

 ilie subject of the specific gravity of hon- 

 ey. He found under "Honey," for exam- 

 ple, where a United States chemist says 

 that the moisture content of a normal honey 

 is 17.70 per cent. "But," said he, "I have 

 not the means of measuring my honey to 

 know whether it is 17 per cent or something 

 else. If you will tell me how much my 

 honey should weigh, i. e., how many pounds 

 per gallon, I could determine very quickly 

 whether my honey is normal or not." 



We went to our honey department where 

 lioney is being put up by the gallon in gal- 

 lon cans, and investigation showed that the 

 a\ erage extracted runs aproximatcly 12 lbs. 

 to the gallon. While the average gallon 

 can will hold 12 lbs. of cold honey, it will 

 hold only 11 lbs. 10 ounces of honey heated 

 w\> to, say, 135 to prevent granulation. In 

 other words, a gallon can will fall short by 

 a))out G ounces of holding 12 lbs. of honey 

 when it is filled. This shows that specific 

 gravity varies according to temperature; 

 and it is surprising that there should be so 

 great a difference as nearly a third of a 

 pound to the gallon of shrinkage when the 

 honey gets cold, or, we will say, at normal 

 temperature. Many times we suspect that 

 lioney, when it is first extracted from the 

 combs during the height of the honey-flow, 

 will not run much above liy2 lbs to the 

 gallon. A part of this light weight may be 

 due to the fact that honey at a temperature 

 of nearly 100 degrees — that is, blood heat, 

 the temperature of the cluster — is 30 de- 

 grees warmer than the atmosphere. Often it 

 may be extracted when the mercury shoAvs 

 90 or 95 in the shade. This alone will 

 make the weight, even if it comes from 

 sealed combs, some three or four ounces 

 short of 12 lbs. to the gallon. Bat a good 

 deal is extracted during the height of the 

 season when from a third to one-lialf of the 

 combs uncapped. This means that some 

 of the honey is not thoroughly ripened. 

 For that reason our large producers have 

 found it necessary to store their honey in 

 open cans, either in large vats covered with 

 mosquito-netting or in square cans with the 

 cap removed. In either case, if the honey 

 is stored in a warm dry room, the specific 

 gravity will increase from W-fz to 12 lbs. to 

 the gallon. 



In any case, it has been i^roven beyond 

 any doubt that no extracted honey should 

 be marketed unless it runs pretty close ta 

 12 lbs. to the gallon when cold. Honey that 



