THE mimmmicKn bee; jqurnjkil. 



431 



snow-white comb honoy in its combi- 

 nation of the beautiful and the good. 



Still another reason is found in the 

 greatly difterent flavor and aroma of 

 comb, as compared with e.xtracted 

 hone}-. In extracted honey we have 

 the pure nectar flavorcii with the es- 

 ential oils of the flowers from which it 

 is gathered, while in comb honey we 

 have added to these, the flavor and 

 aroma of the beeswax that constitutes 

 the honey-comb. It was in this com- 

 bined form, mainly, that honey was 

 eaten, from when history began until 

 the extractor was introduced. David — 

 the sweet singer of Israel — associated 

 this delicious combination with gold, 

 when extolling the righteous judgments 

 of the Lord. He says, "More to be 

 desired .are they than gold ; sweeter, 

 also, than honey and the honey- 

 comb." 



It is not to be wondered at that peo- 

 ple are to be found even in this en- 

 lightened age, who are willing to pay 

 a premium for the privilege of eating- 

 beeswax with their honey. The com- 

 bination inspires a conlidence in its 

 purity, and preserves a flavor peculiar 

 to itself. Notwithstanding a difference 

 in tastes, and the existence of preju- 

 dices, the fact remains that extracted 

 honey is hone}' in its purest and most 

 nutritive form. 



When fully ripened, it is a translu- 

 cent, saccharine fluid, somewhat 

 greater than that of good syrup, with 

 a specitic gravity ranging from 1.415 

 to 1.440. It is a vegetable product, 

 collected by bees from the blossoms of 

 plants. The fluid when first gathered 

 differs from honey, however, in more 

 Inspects than one ; and is denominated 

 " nectar." 



Nectar has not as great a specific 

 gravity as cured honey ; but the main 

 diftercnce between nectar and honey 

 is, that the sugar in nectar is identical 

 with that derived from the cane or 

 beet-root ; while the sugar of honey is 

 similar to that of grape. How this 

 chemical change is brought about, is 

 now pretty well understood. It is an 

 accepted theory that the change is 

 effected by a salivary secretion of the 

 bee, incorporated with and acting 

 upon the nectar, while in the mouth 

 and the honey-s,ac. Pi-of. Cook, I be- 

 lieve, holds this theory to be correct. 

 So do most other eminent authorities. 



Cheshire in his "Bees and Bee- 

 Keeping," Vol. I, page 236, says : 

 " From what has been already said of 

 the glandular and tongue structure of 

 bees, it is clear that a salivary secre- 

 tion is added to the gathered nectar, 

 and that this, like the saliva in our own 

 case, converts the cane into grape 

 sugar." The change thus effected in 

 the sugar of nectar is of the greatest 

 importance, because cane-sugar, when 



unchanged, is indigestible, and, in a 

 measure, poisonous ; while grape-sugar 

 or glucose is easily digested and rap- 

 idly assimilated. 



But few complete analyses of honey 

 have been made, so that its exact 

 chemical compounds are not generally 

 known. Perhaps the best is that of 

 Dr. Brown, which I give here, as 

 copied from page 129, of Blythe's 

 " Foods, their Analysis and Composi- 

 tion:" 



If honey be left iu the hive until the 

 combs are sealed over before extract- 

 ing, its sulfsequent treatment is <juile 

 simple. All that will bo required to 

 preserve it in good form, will be to 

 keep it in a dry, warm room. If stored 

 in a damp place, and left unsealed, it 

 will deteriorate in quality, from the 

 absorption of moisture for which it lias 

 a strong aflinity, and will lose much of 

 that ropy consistency which is a char- 

 acteristic of good honey. 



COMPOSITION OF HONEY OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



Water Expelled at 100° 



Water Expelled at a much ( 

 higherTemperature andloss I 



Levulose 



Dextrose 



Cane Sugar ; » 



Wax, Pollen and insoluble i 



matter I 



Ash 



From the foregoing it will be seen 

 that the proportion of sugar — levulose 

 and dextrose — varies in the honey of 

 different countries to the extent of 11 

 per cent., Normandy being the richest, 

 and Jamaica the poorest. (Parantheti- 

 cally, I may be permitted to say, that 

 Canadian honey was not among the 

 samples tested.) 



The one given is not an exhaustive 

 analysis however ; for in addition to 

 what is given, honey contains minute 

 organic acids, alkaloidal and bitter 

 principles, possibly derived from the 

 pollen ; small quantities of mineral 

 matter, and invariably minute quanti- 

 ties of alcohol (Blythe), all of which 

 are included in the two last horizontal 

 columns of the table ; but it sufiaces to 

 show that 75 to 80 per cent, of extract- 

 ed honey is saceliarine matter or sugar. 



West India molasses contains but 67 

 jjcr cent, of cane and fruit sugar com- 

 bined ; treakle, 69 per cent. ; golden- 

 syrup, 72 per cent. ; and beet-sugar 

 molasses, 47 per cent. Thus we see 

 that good honey contains 8 per cent, 

 more sugar than the best syrup in the 

 market, and nearly twice as much as 

 some of the molasses sold in our 

 grocery -stores. 



MANAGEMENT FOR EXTRACED HONEY, 



Having glanced at the source and 

 composition of extracted honey, it will 

 now be in order to sa}- something on 

 its management, passing over the 

 7noihi$ operandi by which it is procured, 

 as I take it that there are few of my 

 readers unacquainted with this. 



If extracted while yet uncapped or 

 only partially sealed over, it will prob- 

 ably be in what is known as an " un- 

 ripe " state, and must be cured, else it 

 will be liable to ferment, which great- 

 ly impairs its quality, and almost de- 

 stroys its food value. 



RIPENING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



The unripeness of honey consists 

 mainly in its holding in suspension an 

 undue proportion of water. The re- 

 moval or expulsion of this excess of 

 water, constitutes the process of ripen- 

 ing. The simplest and readiest way to 

 effect this, is to heat the honey in a 

 water-bath until the excess of water be 

 driven oft' in the form of vapor. This 

 treatment is believed by some to im- 

 pair its aroma, and injure its flavor. 

 My own experience has taught me 

 tliat there is more importance attached 

 to this notion than it deserves. 



It is by means of evaporation — in 

 virtue of which vapor passes impercep- 

 tibly from the surface of a liquid when 

 exposed to the air — that the process of 

 curing is generally carried on. The 

 rate at which evaporation takes place, 

 depends upon the temperature. In a 

 low temperature, the air soon reaches 

 the point of saturation, beyond which 

 it is incapable of taking up moisture 

 or holding it in suspension ; hence the 

 higher the teniperatiu-e,and the greater 

 the surface exposed, the more rapid 

 will the evaporation of water from 

 honey be. 



Blany bee-keepers have devised shal- 

 low troughs over which they slowly 



