THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



indeed if bees eould winter out unprotected. 

 Well, bee-keepers like all other peoitle nnist 

 live and learn, we sui)piise, even ii it be at 

 the expense of a dear bouj^lit exi)erience ; 

 at least, so thinks Ecckntuic. 



For the American Bee.Toiirnal. 



Adulterators of Honey. 



In tlie JoniN Ai,. Page :o, Xo, :1, J .se(i Mr. 

 Dadant comes out to defend the adulterers 

 of honey and makes souu' j^rave mistakes, 

 but I do not believe him to do so intention- 

 ally, yet such mistakes brinj; serious injury. 

 If 1 was in tin' business of sellius bogus 

 honey I should not ask any better defense 

 for my trade than this one. He also eon- 

 denins the members of the \. A. Society for 

 wanting a means to prevent honey from 

 crystali'/.ing, granulating or candying. There 

 are two motives behind this, if 1 knew which 

 one then I should reply very plainly. He 

 asks "how can you prove their culpability 

 if you don't kiiow the means of detecting 

 the'adulteration. I will let in the ligiit from 

 the ''Old Keystone" from the hill top that it 

 may be seen a far off, presently. Will some 

 one tell us, was the honey that C. Dadant & 

 Son took through Quincy, HI., not longsince, 

 all candied if not, it iras y))urloiisf He 

 asks that the Journals informs their readers 

 that the best test is candying. That means 

 then, that we cannot sell our honey until 

 cold weather, so that it may candy, to prove 

 its purity. That idea is absurd, but he ad- 

 mits it may be liquid from .June to Decem- 

 ber, but from December to June they can 

 with absolute certainty declare it sophisti- 

 cated honey or that wliich has been ooiled 

 and lost its flavor. 



I woidd inform the gentleman that we are 

 Americans and not Frenchmen and do not 

 need go to France for candyed honey nor 

 immortality; proud America can eat her vir- 

 gin honey and boast of her morality. Please 

 do not go to circulating such errors in our 

 papers. 



Kow Bee-Keepers look out, for if such a 

 test is adopted we would not get as much 

 good honey as we do at the present time, 

 mixed with glucose, we do get some now 

 but would not find any soon. 



I will note Mr. Dadanfs scientific points 

 which are not sustained and jiass on to give 

 the subject a true scientific ventilation and 

 leave all your readers to decide if the points 

 are well taken. His statements are : Hon- 

 ey gi-anulates ; sugar syru]) does not gran- 

 ulate but crystalizes. " Honey candies be- 

 cause it is sugar, wliich granulates and I 



does not crystalize. .Sugar syrup which is 

 made from cane bugar does not granulate i 

 but crystalizes. i 



We reply pointedly, that these statements 

 above named may liave exce])tion, l>ut in 

 their relation as they exist in commerce are 

 false. I 



IIoNEY.— A li(iuid i)re]iared by apin mil- I 

 lifica. Honey exists already in the plant or ! 

 flower of the sanu;, and it is certain that 

 the nectaries of flowers contains a sacicharine 

 matter, which is extracted by the insects. 

 The character and flavor of the honey, are 

 very much affected by the luiture "of the 

 jilants which jiredominate in the vicinity of 

 the hive; still, it ])robably undergoes a 

 change in the organs of the bee ; as the 

 saccharine matter of the nectaries, so far as 



it has been nossible to examine it, wants 



some of the clKiracteristics of honey. 



The finest honey is that which is'extract- 

 ed from new coud) and if from a hive that 

 has not swarmed it is called vinjin Imnty. 

 In^a primary state, (and as it' alwavs ex- 

 ists ill a healthy colony) honey is tluid"; but. 

 in being kept, it is ■.\\A to forui a cr\staline. 

 dejioslt, and ultimately convertedin'fo a soft 

 granular mass. Its c(»'loris white, but .some- 

 times of a brown, or redish tinge. It has a 

 peculiar agreeable odor, dei)ending some- 

 what (in the Mowers from wliich it was col- 

 lected, and a very sweet taste, a feeble aro- 

 matic taste followed by a prickly or senseof 

 acrimony in the I'anrjcs. Its specific grav- 

 ity greatly varies in the early part of the sea- 

 son but in December (in the colony) its sjie- 

 citie gravity is about l.:!:;:!, (Duncan). Cold 

 water dissolves it readily. Alchol with less 

 facility. It contaius hnjst<>li?:(ihlr sii^ar 

 aualagous to gra))e sugar, and according to 

 Mk. Sankokn, two other kinds of sugar, 

 one of which is changed by acids : the other 

 is not. The first of these two sugars are not 

 always present, as it is behind, that in time 

 is changed by acids in granular sugar. It 

 is found abundantly in honey taken from 

 the cond). The second is found to l)e simi- 

 lar to the uncrystalizable sugar produced by 

 the re-action of acids on cane sugar being 

 identical with it in composition, and incap- 

 able of crystalizing and very sentitive to al- 

 kalies. But it is distinguished by the im- 

 possibilitji of converting it into grduular 

 siiri<ir, and having twice the rotatory power 

 of uncrystalizable sugar, (,'rystalizable .su- 

 gar may be obtained by treating candied hon- 

 ey with a small quantity of alcohol, winch 

 when expressed takes ahmg with it the oth- 

 er ingredients, leaving the crystals nearly 

 untouched. Same results may be obtained 

 with carbonate of linu\ 



Sugar. — Saccharnm ahum, refined sugar, 

 sugar cane, contains about 10 per cent of su- 

 gar, of which there exists from 8 to 4 per 

 cent of uncrystalizable sugar, and from 6 to 

 7 per cent of crystalizable. The juice from 

 sugar cane averages about 50 per cent and is 

 at once treated with time to neutralize or 

 separate the gluten and album. But it is 

 useless to treat of sugar any more than to 

 give the tests for the detection of it in hon- 

 ey, and will pass it to the tests. 



Its specific gravity is 1. 6. dissolves in J^ 

 its weight of cold water. An acjueous so- 

 lution of sugar when in a warm ])lace, has 

 the prop(^rty of corroding iron iiartly im- 

 mersed in it, and the solution itself, become 

 iiiioregnated with protoxide of iron and of 

 a deep brown-red color, a similar effect is 

 produced on lead, but zinc and copper are 

 but slightly acted on. Sugar is lu'arly in- 

 .soluable iii alcohol, but will in four times 

 its weight of boiling alcohol, sp. gr. 8:5. 



Cane sugar uuiy be distinguished from 

 grajie sugar or honey by Tromer's test. If a 

 solution of suljihate of cojiper and potassa be 

 mixed with cane sugar, in excess, a dee))- 

 blue li(iui(l is obtained, on being headed, lets 

 fall after a tinu', a little red powder. A so- 

 iuti(;n of grajie sugar (or gluc(tse) similarly 

 tested, yields, when heated a copious green 

 precii»itate, which readily changes to scarlet, 

 eventually to dark-red. Chenucally jture 

 muriatic acid, or suliihuric acid chars cane 

 sugar. Cane sugar is often (crush sugar) 

 adulterated with starch and uuiy be detected 

 by adding a solution of ullde of Potash or 

 tincture of iodine to a solution of honey or 



