June 5, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



361 



account of its solubility, Is |)ci-ri-i'lly linriiilusii, luul is not in siilliii.nt 

 (|Uuntit.v to iill'fct tliu tubtu of tliu syrup. Ilydnicliloi'lc iiciil is mIso 

 superior to sulj)liurie iiciil, us it is less lildily lo lie (■oiiinMiiiintcil with 

 arsoiiic. Thu rwcut wlioli'siilii poisoiiiiitr in Kiitjliinil wiis attriliuicd 

 to iirsiMiic in (,'Iuimisc usi^il In Ihc nmnnriiclurc! of liwr. In tlic iriiuiu- 

 fucturc of i^Uicosc lMi;;liin(l rniiiiiifMcliircrs use sulpliiirlc acid pjo- 

 duccd tniin iiyrilcs, tlic urluinul sourer of tlie ursuriie. 



Sevuriil j,'iiidi's of tfiiicose are Tnariieted, jjnuled l)y defjrec of con- 

 centration and color. Confectioners' (fiucose is tlie liest, and almost 

 white in color. 



Keccnlly a ^rape-sujjar has been placed upon the market consist- 

 ing of almost pure dextrose, white in color. The product in a granu- 

 lated form is being somewluit e.\tensively used as a 6ul)stitulc for 

 cane-sugar in Imking and to nu\'(lam not aware of its lieing done 

 fraudulently) with cane-sugar. It is a possible adulterant of honey 



Olucose is only one-half as sweet as cainr-sugar, ])Osse6ses a clnir- 

 ttcteristic rneUillic taste, and is inisciblc in all proportions in water 

 and solutions of other sugars. It does not readily crytalllze. It tracl- 

 alily aei|uires the llavor of the substincc witii wliicli it is mixed. Its 

 cheapness and general properties make it an excellent adulterant for 

 other sugars. I'robably nine-tenths of all adulteration in honey and 

 syrups consist ()f glucose. 



(ilucose occurs in Nature in combination with other sugars in 

 many fruits and vegetables. An invesligaliiui performed at the in- 

 stance of the I'liited States Department of Internal Kevenue result.od 

 in tinding glucose as nuide in this country not in the least detrimental 

 to health; in brief, a proper food. 



It may be mentioned tliat the glucose of to-day is superior to the 

 product investigated by this C'ommission. Some grades of glucose, 

 especially that intended for Southern trade, are decolorized and pre- 

 served by sodium sulphite, a substance not improving the hcaithful- 

 ness of any food into which it enters. 



Water is a very cheep adulterant of honey, but in excess is as 

 patent as a label, "and generally affects its market value. In case 

 honey is not sufficiently ripened, or if much water is added, honey 

 will ferment, thus destroying its market value except for vinegar 

 manufacture. 



HONEY IN THE HOME. 



Honey is a necessary luxury. It is within the reach of the poor' 

 and not despised as a delicacy by the rich. It is produced largely by 

 home apiarists, even in the cities, as almost 300 bee-keepers reside in 

 the neighborhood of Chicago, some keeping colonies on the tops of 

 tenement buildings, known as roof-apiaries. The bees gather from 

 the gardens, the groves and the grass-lands. 



Surely, such an industry should be protected from the unjust com- 

 petition of the food sophisticator. Such a name, honestly gained and 

 honorably worn, should not be allowed to be used as a cloak to cover 

 inferior products. 



And, more than all, the consumer is entitled to receive the article 

 for which he asks and tenders an equivalent in currency. 



BEESWAX. 



This appears to be one of the products obtained from the nectar 

 and pollen of blossons by their passage through digestive organs in 

 the body of the bee. The bee builds up the cells of its comb from the 

 undigested portion known as wax. The latter is rendered from the 

 contained honey and cast into cakes — the yellow beeswax of the mar- 

 ket; or it is cut into thin ribbons and exposed to the bleaching effects 

 of air and sun from 10 to 30 days, and is then known as white beeswax. 



Beeswax is ordinarily of a yellow color, semi-transparent, brittle 

 when chewed, and shows a slight taste of balsam. It melts in the 

 neighborhood of 03 degrees C, and its sp. g. at I.t degrees C should he 

 between .'.GO and S7h. Bleaching it in the sunlight raises the melting- 

 point to about 0.5 degrees C, but affects the density but little. In 

 observing melting points in the capillary, the temperature was 

 observed when capillary action started. This method gave very uni- 

 form results. 



Beeswax is known to be essentially a mixture of two organic com- 

 pounds — oerotic acid 



31 1 

 '■ and myricyl cerotate 



<)- "4 9 r *°'' myricin (myricyl palmitate) 



[■ , though smaller quantities of melissic acid 



C H OC H O 



30 61 27 .54 2 



- are always present. 



■( 30 61 16 

 ( C H 

 i 30 fiO 2 \ 



The quantitive chemical data most important to obtain in looking 

 for adulterations of beeswax are the total saponitication. acid and 

 ester equivalents. These should respectively lie between the linnts 

 SlO-95, lOS-21, and 72-76. If a sample answers all of the above-men- 

 tioned requirements, it must be considered commercially pure. 



Beeswax has been adulterated with tallow, stearin, paraffin, resin, 

 as well as other waxes. 



The following samples came up for analysis: No. 150.58 was a sec- 

 tion of houey-comb, claimed to be entirely artificial. The honey was 

 found to give perfectly normal chemical data, as also did the wax. 

 The examination of the comb by expert bee-keepers also established 

 its genuineness, the frame showing the bee-cement. The wax, which 

 was pale in color, revealed pollen under the microscope. Melting- 

 point of the wax from various parts of the section, including the 

 foundation, were determined by the capillary method, and gave nor- 

 mal results. 



Sample No. 6 was a section of honey-comb. In this the chemical 

 examination revealed the honey to be strongly admixed with sucrose. 

 The organoleptical examination by experts showed the comb founda- 

 tion to have been capped by bees. This verdict was borne out by the 

 physical and chemical data" of the wax, which was light in color. 



Samples of pure wax were also obtained in the open market. One 



from (ieorge \V. York <\: (.'o., direct frf)m producer, web quite dark in 

 color, while one obtained from Kichards .t Co., Ltd., was of a medium 

 shade of yellow. A sample of comb foundation from The A. I. Ilooi 

 Co. was also subjected to analysis. Thle latter wax was i|nitu pale In 

 Bbade. The following are the resulls in tabular form : 



The acid and ester number of York iV Co.'s samples are slightly 

 high, but as the ratio between them has the normal value, this wax 

 must be considered pure. The melting-points of waxes from two 

 other combs were found to be nornuil. In these condjs the honey also 

 behaved normally.— From Second Annual Report of Stale Food Com- 

 missioner, issued this month (May). 



The "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



CANE SUGAR VS. BEET-SUGAR. 



Sad to relate, govef-nments sometimes go into system- 

 atic lying for a purpose. Without sufficient evidence I rather 

 "smell" that the cane-sugar versus beet-sugar question is 

 kept from being settled mainly by the British Colonial Of- 

 fice, and that thev engaged in that sort of thing for the 

 benefit of British colonies which produce cane-sugar. But 

 certainly there may be one real difference. The two kinds 

 of sugar quite likely go through different processes in con- 

 tact with different chemicals. If so, they can be exactly 

 alike only in the improbable case of getting all the chemi- 

 cals out of the finished sugar. But does this amount to a 

 practical distinction, or is it infinitesimal and non-practi- 

 cal ? I don't claim to know. Page 259. 



THE HONEY MARKET. 



Large capacity for the reception of advice, eh ? "tt'ell 

 at this end, or corner, there is small capacity for finding 

 anything better than we already have about the honey mar- 

 ket. Might lose the meat we have if we plunge after all we 

 see mirrored in the stream. Page 259. 



DEEP FRAMES FOR WINTERING BEES. 



It is easy to see why a deeper frame ought to winter 

 bees better than the Langstroth ; but we must also harken 

 to the facts. I winter bees out-doors, and my Langstroth 

 hives almost always better than the others that are deeper. 

 Some other brethren find so, too, it seems. It just occurs 

 to me that if I use more upward ventilation the reverse 

 would appear. A healthy colony, strong enough and vigor- 

 ous enough to go into the winter alone, has no difficulty in 

 moving the cluster backward as they eat the honey, if they 

 have enamel overhead, and the hive is tilted moderately for- 

 ward. When warm air cannot po straight up it will com- 

 promise bv ascending aslant. But the fact that my Lang- 

 stroth hives are run for comb honey and the others for ex- 

 tracted counts sadly to obscure solutions. Page 260. 



LONGEVITY OF WORKER-BEES. 



On the longevity of worker-bees the Chicago Convention 

 folks seem not to strike any oil worthy of .Spindle-top. 

 'Spect they mostly kept the ages of their bees no more ac- 

 curately than certain ladies are accused of keeping theirs. 

 Page 260. 



AMOUNT OF HONEY CONSUMED BV BEES. 



On page 264 the colony of Adrian Getaz, which eats 200 

 pounds of "honey per year, seems a little too much like the 

 " Heathen Chinee " who had up his sleeve 24 packs. " Go- 

 ing it strong, yet I state but the facts." Let me. in my 

 capacity of champion guesser. guess off a year's liberal 

 rations: Nov. 1 pound : Dec. 1 : Jan. 2 ; Feb. 4 ; Mar. 5; 

 Apr. 8 ; May 20 ; June 30 ; July 28 ; Aug. 16 ; Sept. 10 : Oct. 



