72 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 30, 1902. 



Give to the bees when gathering honey pretty fast. 



Mr. McEvoy — Alternate sheets of foundation and combs. 

 It is not profitable to hive bees on full sheets of comb founda- 

 tion. 



Mr. Hall — For extracted honey hive on full sheets, every 

 t me. 



Ques. 9 — Which is the best race ? 



AH of them. 



Mr. Smith — Judging from advertisements, the long-ton- 

 gued. 



Mr. Dickinson — Are we to understand that the long- 

 tongued bees are a humbug ? 



The general opinion was that the long-tongued question 

 had been stretched rather too far. 



WEDNESDAY— Morning Session— dec. 4. 



The session opened by the president calling upon Prof. 

 Shutt,.chemistot the Dominion Experimental Farm at Ottawa, 

 to give the result of the tests conducted by them in connection 

 with 



The Specific Gravity of Honey. 



Prof. Shntt said that some years ago some experiments 

 were conducted by the Experimental Farm with comb founda- 

 tion. In the discussion the question came up of the amount 

 of water found in various samples of honey. There was no 

 Canadian data, and in other books he fond a variation of 10 

 to 15 percent of water. As a result of this Mr. Shutt desired 

 to do some work in this direction, and the same was under- 

 taken with the following results : 



With the object of finding the percentage of water Mr. 

 Shutt made a request for samples with which to work, yet no 

 samples had been forwarded by the Ontario Bee-Keepers" As- 

 sociation, and the samples experimented on were from Mr. 

 Fixter, of the Ottawa Experimental Apiary. 



Mr. Shutt said that, greatly to his disappointment, he 

 could not tell the members in convention assembled the percent- 

 age of water in normal honey. Honey is not a material col- 

 lected by the bees, hut the honey is" nectar altered by the 

 bees through chemical additions, a change similar to that 

 which takes place in a portion of our digestive system. There 

 is in honey two sugars closely related, the one sucrose, cane- 

 sugar (dextrose), and another, levulose. This difference was 

 detected by polarization. Results from chemical analysis 

 had shown a great difference in the percentage of water in 

 honey, but Mr. Shutt believed that this great difference was 

 real to only a certain extent, and the great variability only 

 seemed to be so. The work has been done by eminent men, 

 and men of reputation. Why, then, the difference ? In honey 

 the portion which crystalizes is the dextrose, the levulose 

 never crystalizing ; the latter is also very sweet. Levulose 

 is very liable to decompose, and this decomposition, taking 

 place in drawing off the water. unless condensed, gives the ap- 

 pearance of an increased amount of water in the honey. 



The samples taken were, uncapped honey, half-capped 

 honey, and full capped honey. 



Four lots were taken of each of the above, two lots cov- 

 ered with a glass stopper, and two with a cheese-cloth. One 

 of each set was put in the honey-house and in the cellar, to 

 test to what extent, it any, exposure to the atmosphere in the 

 honey-house and the cellar influenced the percentage of water 

 and flavor of the honey. 



In applying heat to honey, even when the temperature is 

 below boiling water, it decomposed the levulose as well as 

 drove off the water. Therefore, the percentage of water cal- 

 culated by such a method is unreliable. 



Heating honey rapidly, there was less loss than if heated 

 slowly. 



Prof. Shutt then referred to the Bulletin of the Inland 

 Revenue Department, showing that one man's work gave 

 almost equal percentage of water, yet varies greatly from an- 

 other chemist's. The uniform result was probably" owing to 

 the fact that each chemist put the samples under his liand 

 through a similar process. In one case was found 10 percent, 

 another 16 percent, another 27 percent, of water. He 

 claimed the difference lay in the treatment of the samples, and 

 Mr. Shutt felt inclined to believe the percentage of water was 

 nearer 15 than 30. 



After -18 hours' drying Mr. Shutt's results were 15 per- 

 cent ; after another day, 1 or 2 percent more ; after another 

 day, more or less, and so on indefinitely. This method was 

 therefore of no use at TO degrees. Centigrade, or 168 degrees, 

 Farhenheit ; even the honey decomposed. 



Another method was by taking the specific gravity, the 

 percentage of dr.y matter being deducted from the honey. In 

 this way, instead of 21 percent of water, he secured IT and 1 <i 

 percent, which seemed to indicate that even at 12G degrees, 

 Fahrenheit, there was some decomposition. 



By the application of heat at 126 degrees the percentage 

 of water in various samples was : 23 by specific gravity, 19 

 percent; 20 by specific gravity, 15 percent; 22 by specific 

 gravity, IT percent; 26 by specific gravity. 21 percent; 21 

 by specific gravity, 15 percent. In the latter case there was 

 5 percent less water. He was not prepared to say which was 

 more correct. Mr. Shutt. however, favored the specific grav- 

 ity. But next year he expects to make further tests and at 

 lower temperatures. 



To comfirm the theory that the levulose decomposed, Mr. 

 Shutt mixed equal parts of dextrose and levulose and took the 

 specific gravity ; also applied heat. 



At the temperature of boiling water, after 48 hours 10 

 percent of tlie levulose had decomposed. After 120 hours, 

 18 to 19 percent was lost. Next, a temperature three-quar- 

 ters the heat of boiling was applied ; after 2-4 hours 5 percent 

 of loss was recorded. 



Prof. Shutt intends to continue this work and find a defi- 

 nite way of determining the amount of water in honey. 



As to general results, Mr. Shutt found that there was a 

 general tendency of about 2 percent more water in the un- 

 capped than in capped honey. 



There is very little adulterated honey in Canada, the arti- 

 cle used to adulterate being generally glucose. As to the 

 difference between the honey from the honey-house and cellar, 

 he wished a committee to decide. He believed the better way 

 was to keep honey upstairs, not in the cellar. 



In reply to a question Prof. Shutt said that Mr. Selwyn 

 told hira that, as to specific gravity, seasons of dryness of the 

 atmosphere made a great difference. 



A short address was then given on honey as a food. 



Honey must be classed with saccharine food only. Foods 

 contain the following: Protein or albumenoids ; fat; starch 

 and sugar: ash or mineral matter. 



1st. Protein contains nitrogen, as the white of an egg, 

 curds of milk, the gluten of wheat. 



2d. Fat — this everyone knows. 



8d. Starch and sugar — carbohydrates. 



4th. Ash and mineral matter, which forms bone. 



We require nitrogen to build up the broken-down and 

 worn-out tissue ; the others do not contain this element. 



We obtain heat and energy from fats and sugars. 



Where does honey come in ? It produces heat and energy. 

 It is not the food we eat but what we digest that is valuable. 

 Honev is a food in a partially digested form, and in honey we 

 are saved the expense of partially converting the food. Honey 

 is used as a medicine. 



For ages before Christ, honey was the only sugar known. 

 Sugar from the sugar-cane was known to China and India 

 800 years B. C, but it had no commercial position for 1000 

 years after that. 



Prof. Shutt did not think that honey was appreciated as 

 it should be : it should be used more generally. More judi- 

 cious advertising would be beneficial. 



In liquifying honey it should be kept at 70 degrees, Centi- 

 grade, and not above. The essential oil is volatile ; one should 

 liquify at a low temperature. ■ 



Mr. Fixter, in explaining the selection of the samples, 

 said : 



The object I had in view in selecting the samples was to 

 see if we could improve the quality. I therefore took threi' 

 samples from July 1 to Aug. 5. 



Did you extract some in September to get the specific 

 gravity ? 



Mr. Fixter— No. 



Mr. McEvoy — We believe when cool weather comes, the 

 honey, though capped, is thinner. 



Pres. Newton — Although Prof. Shutt has not obtained the 

 results he desired, we have profited much by the address. I 

 will appoint Messrs. Hall, Pickett and Emigh to report on the 

 samples. 



Report of Inspector of Apiaries. 



During 1901 I visited bee-yards in the counties of Bruce, 

 Grey, Perth. Oxford, Waterloo, Wellington, Wentworth, Hal- 

 ton, Peel. York, Ontario, and Siracoe. 



I inspected T7 apiaries and found foul brood in 29 of 

 them, and dead brood of other kinds in many others. 



Some bee-keepers secured the comb from others who had 

 lost many colonies of bees, and, not knowing that these combs 

 were diseased, brought them home and put them into use, and 

 thus spread the disease in their own apiaries. 



When foul-brood matter dries down it glues itself fast to 

 the lower side and bottom of the cells, and there it will remain 

 just as long as the comb lasts, and in old, dark combs the 

 stain-mark left in the cells from the disease is not yet noticed 

 by those who never had any experience with foul brood. 



