THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



271 



sugar will fall much below seventy 

 unless a large part of the adulteration 

 has been due to cane sugar. 



2. CANE SUGAR (SUCROSe). 



A thick syrup made of cane sugar 

 is also used to adulterate honey. 

 There is only one reason why it is 

 not more extensively employed, viz. : 

 its tendency to crystallize. On this 

 account it can only be used in small 

 quantities. There would be no dif- 

 ficulty in detecting added cane sugar 

 in honey were it not for the fact that 

 we cannot definitely say how much 

 of this substance is present in the 

 genuine article. In the analyses given 

 by Seiben^ the mean of sucrose in 

 the sixty samples was r.o8 per cent ; 

 in one case, however, it amounted to 

 eight per cent. In the analyses given 

 in this paper the mean percentage of 

 sucrose in eight samples of genuine 

 honey was 2.87 and in seven samples 

 which appear to be genuine, 2.74 

 and in the samples contained in Ta- 

 ble No. 3, sixteen in number, which 

 may be genuine, 1.77 per cent. Judg- 

 ing from these analyses I would say 

 that it is a rare thing to find a gen- 

 uine honey which contains more than 

 four per cent sucrose. In the two 

 samples of California honey, Nos. 41 

 and 42 the percentage of sucrose is 

 very high. Doubtless the kind of 

 flower and climate have much to do 

 with this and it would not be strange 

 if California honey, produced in the 

 unique conditions of climate and 

 flora which there obtain, should de- 

 velop some constant difference from 

 honeys produced in other parts of 

 the world. 



Detection of cane st4gar in honey. 



The presence of cane sugar in 

 honey is easily detected by the proc- 

 ess of double polarization. Illustra- 

 tion : Sample No. 14, weight of 

 sample taken, 16.2 grams in 100 cc, 

 length of observation tube 400 mm. ; 



9 Op. cit. 



reading of scale, -15 ; divide this 

 number by two gives -7.5 divisions, 

 correct reading for a 200 mm. tube. 

 After inversion the reading in a 220 

 mm. tube was -20.5 divisions, tem- 

 perature 23° ; difference of the two 

 readings 13 divided by 144- 11. 5 

 equals 9.18 per cent; equals sucrose 

 present. 



The method of double reduction 

 of Fehling's solution once before and 

 once after inversion of the cane sugar 

 can also be employed. The optical 

 method is quicker and, when properly 

 conducted, more reliable than the 

 method by reduction. If the rota- 

 tory power of the sample is quite 

 small, two or three times the normal 

 quantity may be taken and the polar- 

 ization conducted in a 400 or 500 

 mm. tube. 



3. INVERTED CANE SUGAR. 



As an adulterant of honey the in- 

 verted cane sugar is much superior 

 to the sucrose itself. It does not 

 crystallize and when properly made 

 is palatable and wholesome. Sucrose 

 is usually inverted by heating with an 

 acid and for commercial purposes 

 sulphuric acid is the one generally 

 employed. The difficulty of remov- 

 ing all traces of this acid renders the 

 detection of inverted sugar somewhat 

 easy by the presence of the traces of 

 the sulphuric acid which still remains 

 in the solution. It is now said, how- 

 ever, that inverted sugar is made in 

 large quantities by treatment with 

 brewer's yeast and without the use 

 of acids of any kind. When added 

 to honey in large quantities it can be 

 detected by its great Isevo-rotatory 

 power which however decreases rap- 

 idly as the temperature rises. At 

 23° a pure invert sugar solution would 

 mark -32.5 divisions. In the present 

 state of our knowledge it would be 

 difficult to detect the addition of a 

 small quantity of invert sugar to honey. 

 From the above studies it appears 

 that pure honey is essentially com- 



