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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



floral honey. This is no surprise to us. 

 Honey is transformed nectar. This 

 transforming process simply reduces a 

 portion of the cane-sugar. It is the 

 same whether the nectar be floral or 

 cane-sugar syrup. When we eat and 

 digest cane-sugar we do precisely the 

 same thing. Floral honey consists of a 

 small portion of unreduced cane-sugar, 

 the reduced sugar, either already in the 

 nectar, or produced by the bees, plus a 

 very small amount of certain additions 

 received while in the honey stomach of 

 the bee, as formic acid, etc., plus cer- 

 tain aromatic or flavoring organic sub- 

 stances from the flowers, which give to 

 each special kind of honey its peculiar 

 flavor, and enables us to distinguish it. 

 In clover honey this last is very slight or 

 mild ; in linden honey more pronounced; 

 in buckwheat honey very marked. 



As clover honey is the choice of most 

 lovers of honey, we see this last element 

 is not always an advantage. Could we 

 easily, cheaply and harmlessly remove 

 it and its companion, the dark hue, from 

 buckwheat honey, we would be glad to 

 do so. In transforming honey, the bees 

 are not able to change this element of 

 honey no more than is the cow able to 

 change a similar though disagreeable 

 instead of agreeable organic element 

 which she finds in leeks, and which 

 causes leeky butter. 



Now honey from cane-sugar is pre- 

 cisely the same as the above, minus this 

 very minute organic element. So the 

 chemist detects no difference. And even 

 lovers of honey pronounce this last real 

 honey, and of excellent character, and 

 they are certainly correct. You all 

 know that Mr. Doolittle, who, by the 

 way, knows much, believes that the 

 younger bees transform the nectar 

 largely, that possibly they swallow and 

 regurgitate it several times, that the 

 ferment from the head-glands may the 

 more perfectly transform the nectar. 



Last summer we fed 23 pounds of 

 sugar syrup in one night. Some of this 

 was extracted the next morning, and 

 some after it was capped over, several 

 days later. I was interested greatly in 

 the analyses of these two samples of 

 honey. One, No. 2, that extracted the 

 next morning, gave : (Dr. Scovell's ana- 

 lysis) direct polarizatinn — 1.1°; indi- 

 i-ect — 11.9°; sucrose, 8.21 per cent.; 

 reducing sugars, 66.67 per cent., and 

 water, 17.65 per cent. The other gave 

 direct polarization — -(5.0 ; indirect — 

 -11.75; sucrose, 4.00 per cent. ; reduc- 

 ing sugars, 78.39 per cent., and water, 

 16.80 per cent. It will bo seen that 

 though the change was principally ef- 



fected the first night, yet there was a 

 marked modification afterward, too 

 great to be accounted for by the simple 

 evaporation of water. With Dr. Wiley's 

 approval, I shall hope that we may have 

 more light on this special point another 

 season. It seems now to support Mr. 

 Doolittle's view. 



If cane syrup was mixed with honey 

 and not fed to bees, it would be adul- 

 terated product, and not honey. This 

 could be told by the chemist at once. 

 The large amount of sucrose and the 

 altered rotation of the polarized ray 

 would reveal its true product. It would 

 not be honey, would not possess the 

 peculiar honey flavor which all know too 

 well, and so to sell it as honey would be 

 fraudulent and indefensible. 



Dr. Wiley is now analyzing several 

 samples of honey-dew honey, that we 

 may have more light on that product. 

 In 1893 we shall have several analyses 

 made of cane-sugar syrup, and the same 

 mixed with honey in varying proportions, 

 and the transformed product after each 

 is fed and stored by the bees. We shall 

 also have analyses of the same, except 

 commercial glucose will replace the 

 cane-sugar. And with these and the 

 conclusions that Dr. Wiley will give us, 

 I think we shall be in possession of all 

 that we shall need in this direction. 

 Even now we have the detective. What 

 we want, and must have, is a live, wide- 

 awake prosecutor, which we are to have 

 in the National Bee-Keepers' Union. 

 And adequate laws, which can be easily 

 secured, if we wake up to the impor- 

 tance of the subject, and ask that they 

 be enacted. 



It seems to me that I see a brighter 

 path in the near future for apiculture ; 

 nor do I believe it is wholly my optimism 

 that produces this impression. 



A. J. Cook. 



In reply to the foregoing. Prof. H. W. 

 Wiley, Government chemist, addressed 

 the convention as follows : 



The Adulteration of Honey. 



Mr. President, Ladles and Oentlemen : 



I have been much interested in Prof. 

 Cook's essay on che subject of the adul- 

 teration of honey, and am glad to have 

 this privilege of complying with your 

 request to add something mere in the 

 same direction. 



After the publication of the results on 

 the analysis of honey contained in Part 

 6 of Bulletin No. 13, the question was 

 raised in some quarters whether or not 

 chemists were able to distinguish be- 



