360 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 5, 1902. 



of them consider that they have no queen at all, they think- 

 ing thus because when the first few bees come in contact 

 with the strang-e queen they immediately cluster her so that 

 the most of the bees cannot get near enough even to get a 

 scent of her, and so the majority consider themselves queen- 

 less, and all know that it is very hard work to make queen- 

 less bees stay in a new hive. 



The large cage places the queen so that the bees cannot 

 cluster her so but what the main swarm can "catch the 

 scent," and so they do not consider themselves as being 

 without a queen. On the whole, I would not advise the 

 changing of queens during the swarming season in any 

 way or by any plan, for I find it to be much more annoying 

 to try to change a queen with a colony about to swarm, or 

 with those which have lately swarmed, than with any 

 others, or at any other time of the year, and, besides, a fail- 

 ure more often results. 



SUPERSEDING CLIPPED QUEENS. 



Question.— The other question I wish to ask is whether 

 it is advisable to clip the queen's wings ? Are such more 

 liable to be superseded by the bees than those having per- 

 fect wings? What has been the experience with such 

 queens. 



Answer. — In nearly every apiary, where the manager 

 can or is expected to be present during the swarming sea- 

 son, I should advise the clipping of all laying queens in any 

 apiary ; in fact, I should as soon think of going back to 

 box-hives as to the managing of an apiary where the queens 

 have their wings so they could fly out with the swarm, 

 where I was working the same for comb honey. It will be 

 noted that I said, " in nearly every apiary." Why I said 

 this was, there are a very few localities in the United States, 

 so I am informed, where ants are so thick on the ground, 

 and about the hives, that it would not be safe to allow the 

 queens to be out on the ground for any length of time, else 

 they would be killed by these same ants. But as such a 

 place or places are a rare exception, it would be safe to say 

 that I would always clip the wings of all queens in the 

 apiary as soon as laying. 



Some seem to think that queens with clipped wings 

 give far more trouble at swarming-time than do those hav- 

 ing their wings ; but I cannot think that such have had 

 much experience with clipped queens ; for with myself I 

 would rather manage three swarms where the queens are 

 clipped than one whose queen can go with the swarm. 

 Especially is this the case where there are trees in or about 

 the apiary, whose height exceed IS feet; for where there 

 are small trees near the apiary, some swarms will alight so 

 high that it is often more than they are worth to climb for 

 them, while the clipping of the queen's wings does entirely 

 away with all climbing, if no after-swarms are allowed to 

 issue. 



Without going over the whole ground regarding the 

 advantages arising from clipping, it can be su. timed up thus : 

 Clipping the queen's wings prevent swarms decamping, as 

 a rule ; saves the climbing of trees after swarms or the mar- 

 ring of those trees by the cutting of limbs or the bruising 

 of the same ; makes it easy to separate the bees where two 

 or more swarms come out in the air together ; facilitates 

 the hiving and managing of swarms ; and gives the apia- 

 rist perfect control of the apiary during the swarming sea- 

 son. 



As to these clipped (|ueens being more liable to super- 

 sedure, an experience of over 30 years says there is noth- 

 ing in the claim put forth by some that such is the case, for 

 during that time I have had very many such queens remain 

 the profitable heads of colonies for three, four, and in a few 

 instances five years. My impression is that superseding, 

 as a rule, is caused by failure on the past of the queen as an 

 egg-layer, and not on account of any clipping. 



On one occasion in carelessly clipping a queen I cut off 

 one whole leg, and one foot off another, besides nearly all 

 of the four wings ; but as far as I could see this made no 

 difference as to the usefulness of that queen, for she did her 

 duty with the best for over four years, and then lost her life 

 by carelessness on iny part. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of $1.00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year in advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it 



Honey and Beeswax— Considered by the Illinois 

 Food Commission. 



BY PROF. E. N. EATON. STATE AXAI.TST. 



(Continued from page 345.) 

 VARIETY OF ADULTERATIONS. 



HOXET-DEW. 



In 1SS.5, Prof. Wiiey called attention to honey collected in pine 

 resions, evidently collected from pine-tree honey-dew. It is now 

 known that such nectar is obtained from secretions of aphides (plant- 

 lice) which infest not alone pine-trees but most vegetation. Honey 

 produced in this manner from flora of any locality is termed " honey- 

 dew honey," and has the following characteristics: Usually dark in 

 color, rank in flavor, and unfit for market. It is distinguished chemi- 

 cally from other honey by a dextro-rotary. or slightly levo-rotary, 

 rotation of polarized light, a low percenta^^e of invert sugar, and a 

 high percentage of ash. 



CANE-SUGAR. 



Sucrose, or sugar of cane and sugar beets, was, before the advent 

 of glucose, much used in the adulteration of honey. It has not alto- 

 gether gone out of fashion yet. 



There are two objections to its use from the fabricator's stand- 

 point: 



First.— Its cost; being nearly as much as California honey. 



Second. — Its tendency to crystallize from solution. Cane-sugar 

 does not crystallize readily, however, when mixed with to percent of 

 honey. 



The use of much less proportion of cane-sugar would hardly pay 

 for mixing. If a smaller quantity than 1.5 percent is present in honey 

 the sugar was probably fed and elaborated through the organism of 

 the bee. 



Another method of adulteration with cane-sugar is to feed the 

 same to bees. Bees readily eat cane-sugar. It is a common and justi- 

 flable practice among bee-keepers to feed bees through the fall to win- 

 ter them, especially if flowers be scarce. Some also feed at other sea- 

 sons to stimulate the breeding of young bees. Last year a sample of 

 extracted honey was secured from Aurora, said to be produced by Mr. 

 Wheeler, of Piano, which, on analysis, was found to contain about 2.> 

 percent cane-sugar. It was reported as containing sucrose, either 

 added intentionally or fed to bees, with prob.ability in favor of former. 

 Eight months afterwards the same honey was re-examined with prac- 

 tically the same result. Lately six samples of honey (three extracted 

 and three comb) were secured directly from the apiary of Mr. Wheeler, 

 and submitted to analysis. All the samples but one were normal in 

 behavior. No. (a comb honey) contained 28 percent cane-sugar. 

 The comb consisting of pure beeswax, I reported the sample as ob- 

 tained by artificially feeding bees. At this time I did not know the 

 history of the sample. I am now convinced the previous sample was 

 fed rather than mixed. Mr. Wheeler admits having fed sugar, but not 

 for purposes of profit. He claims that it is not profitable to feed 

 cane-sugar, as the bee employs one-half in the manufacture of wax. 

 However, if this be true, and the honey is sold in comb it would seem 

 as if a fair margin of profit is left, allowing six cents per pound for 

 sugar and 14 for comb honey, 20 i>ercent of which is water. Then, 

 too, if old combs are used, little sugar need be diverted from the 

 manufacture of honey. However, only a very small amount of comb 

 honey is made in this w.ay, and but two specimens have been identi- 

 fied by me— one in Minnesota and the other the sample secured from 

 Mr. Wheeler. 



INVERT SCGAR. 



Invert sugar is produced by splitting up, with the aid of acids or 

 ferments, cane-sugar (sucrose) into equal parts of two other sugars — 

 dextrose and levulose. Although neither of these sugars is as sweet 

 as cane-sugar, a mixture of the two is said to be sweeter. As the bee 

 utilizes this identical chemical reaction to manufacture honey, it will 

 be surmi-sed that the detection of man-made invert sugar in natural 

 honey is a matter of no little difficult^'. 



That the adulteration of honey with invert sugar has passed from 

 the realm of possibilities to actualities was long ago suspected by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. I have also noticed sam- 

 ples whifh, I think, illustrate the fact that the busy bee has no 

 monopoly of industry. However, the low cost of honey, the high 

 price of sugar, and the expense of manufacturing, will, for the time 

 being, safeguard honey from this form of sophistication. 



GLUCOSE. 



Glucose is produced by the action of dilute sulphuric, oxalic or 

 hydrochloric acid upon starch, in an open or closed vessel, with or 

 without pressure. The conditions of manufui-ture govern the quality 

 of the syrup. If the boiling be conducted in an open vessel only a 

 part of the starch will be converted into dextrose, the remaining por- 

 tion forming dextrin. This forms the so-called glucose syrup of 

 trade. If the boiling is conducted in a closed vessel under pressure 

 almost all the starch is converted into dextrose. This product, after 

 treatment and evaporation in vacua, forms the article of commerce 

 known as grape-sugar. The liquid product is alone used as an adul- 

 terant of honey. 



In Germany potatoes furnish the starch for the manufacture of 

 glucose, but in the United States corn alone is used. 



After the starch is converted into " glucose," the acid isdestroyed. 

 In case sulphuric or o.xalic acid is used, liint- is added, forming cal- 

 cium sulphate (gypsum; or calcium oxalate, and these products being 

 insolvent in the syrup may l)e separated b.v liltraiion. In this coun- 

 try, of late years, hydrochloric acid is generally used in manufactur- 

 ing glucose, the acid being destroyed by soda-lye, which forms sodium 

 chloride, or common salt, which, while it can not be removed on 



