60 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



then it has a ratlier nasty habit of 

 trying to flop over. So the scientific 

 world has devised something very 

 much more convenient in the form of 

 a glass tube containing some mercury 

 or small shot iii a bulb at the bottom 

 of the stem so as to make it float 

 vertically in any liquid. The depth to 

 which the instrument sinks indicates 

 the specific gravity of the liquid, 

 which is recorded on the stem. We 

 saw that our stick sank deepest in 

 pure water and less in water contain- 

 ing common salt, so in graduating all 

 hydrometers, zero is at the top. 



Now we all know by practical ex- 

 perience it is utterly impossible to 

 make a measuring rule that can be 

 used with equal facility for deter- 

 mining the thickness of the smallest 

 screw m a watch and the diameter of 

 one 'Oif :Our British Columbia cedars, 

 one of which I know to be 13 feet in 

 diameter, 10 feet above the ground. 

 There is quite a long range between 

 pure alcohol with a specific gravity of 

 0.79 -and the honey of my beekeeper 

 friend with a specific gravity of 

 of 1.443, so the usual plan is to devise 

 a hydrometer for the special work in 

 hand, where much has to be done, as 

 for instance, determining the amount 

 of alcohol in various brands of 

 hquors in Government bonded ware- 

 houses. 



Broadly speaking, there are two 

 groups of hydrometers, one to use 

 in solutions lighter than pure water, 

 such as alcoholic beverages, oils, am- 

 monia, etc., the other for s'olutions 

 heavier than water, sirch as blood, 

 milk, brine and honey. It is with 

 hydrometers of the second group we, 

 as beekeepers, are concerned. 



When hydrometers were first de- 

 vised the natural thing to do was to 

 make the scale with equal divisions, 

 and the Baume scale in use on the 

 continent of Eur^ope is so graduated. 

 Experience ultimately showed that 

 the relationship was more complex, 

 so Twaddle devised a scale in which 

 the divisions are not at equal dis- 

 tances apart, but closer together at 

 the bottom, thus compensating the 

 instrument. Users of a Baume scale 

 necessarily have to refer to tables to 



learn what specific gravity is indi- 

 cated by the observed figures, where- 

 as users of the Twaddle scale simply 

 multiply the reading by S, place a 

 decimal point in front of the answer, 

 then place 1 for the specific gravity 

 of water in front of the decimal point. 

 Either scale is good, so long as one 

 knows what one is doing. 



Between the legal minimum of 1.37 

 and that of 1.443, the densest honey 

 I have yet se> n, the range on the 

 Twaddle hydromeltr would be from 

 76 to 88, or 12 degrees. The reading 

 on a Baume would be from 41 to 85. 

 In an ordinary hydrometer, such as 

 is used in chemistry classes of high 

 schools and by photographers, the 

 graduation is generally from 'to 80 

 on tlie Twaddle system, and there- 

 fore is not available for testing 

 honey. Even if it were, the readings 

 would be a little vague, as the 12 de- 

 grees essential would fall within the 

 compass of 3-8 of an inch, much too 

 close for fairly accurate reading. 

 However, we can buj hydrometers 

 that are adapted for a short range of 

 work. For instance, a Twaddle num- 

 ber 4 is available for readings from 

 72 to 100, and on such an instrument 

 the range of 12 degrees essential for 

 honey occupies a space of 1J4 inches, 

 enabling an ordinary individual to do 

 fairly accurate work. This instru- 

 ment is about a foot in length and is 

 used in a test tube 10 inches long and 

 l'/2 inches in diameter. The one I 

 bought in Vandouver for $1 I find 

 was made by the Taylor Optical Co., 

 of Rochester, N. Y.; the test tube, 

 which, by the way, has a wide, solid 

 glass base, cost 90 cents. Twelve 

 ounces of honey load it very nicely. 



As we all learned at school, the 

 bulk of a liquid varies with its tem- 

 perature, and honey is no exception. 

 It expands with increase of temper- 

 ature, consequently a cubic inch at 

 90 degrees will c'ontain kss honey 

 and weigh less than when the tem- 

 perature is 60 degrees. The hydro- 

 meter will therefore sink deeper and 

 read lower with honey at 90 degrees 

 than at 60 degrees. Just to see for 

 myself what the variation amounted 

 to, I arranged for a test the samples^ 



of my honey I mentioned in my pre- 

 vious article as having a specfic 

 gravity of 1.418 when tested by Mr. 

 Dawson. So I loaded the test tube, 

 inserted the Twaddle and let it sink, 

 then slipped in a small therm'ometer, 

 the kind sold by the Eastman Kodak 

 Co. for about 35 cents. I found the 

 temperature to be 52 degrees, and af- 

 ter half an hours waiting, the Twad- 

 dle reading was 85. 



The honey was far too thick for a 

 fair test. We were having a little 

 cold spell at fhat time, so I put a 

 board above the furnace, placing on 

 it the test tube with contents. Two 

 days oi this kind of thing gave me 

 quite a variety of temperature. I 

 found a fairly constant reading of 

 84.5 with temperature from 54 to 66, 

 then 83.5 at 74, 82.5 at 86. Hence, if 

 possible, read at ab.ut 60 degrees, 

 and add 1 for each 10 degrees higher. 

 So my own reading of my honey is 

 1.422, as aganst Mr. Dawson's 1.418, 

 which is not too bad for a novice 

 using an ordinary thermometer. 



Next I took a sample of last 

 year's honey, getting a reading of 85. 

 with temperatures varying from 58 

 to 64, indicating a specific gravity of 

 1.425. 



I am glad I spent $1.90 for this sim- 

 ple outfit. I have always tried to 

 raise good honey, but never before 

 knew in Cold figures just exactly how 

 it compared in sugar content, which 

 is the one really measurable quality 

 of honey; with that of good honey 

 producers. Color, flavor and aroma 

 are intangible, especially flavor and 

 aroma. If year by year the Twaddle 

 shows a reading of 84 'or higher, with 

 a temperature of 60 degrees, I will 

 feel I have some reason to respect 

 both my honey and myself. 



British Columbia. 



Ru^bian ])risoncrs of war at apiary of Mr. Alcxcicv near \'la<livostok 



RUSSIAN BEEKEEPING 



By William Slovig 



According to my promise, I send 

 you photos of Russian apiaries. 



We took them on our excursion at 

 Parvaia Rietcbka near Vladivostok, 

 that we made for the special design of 

 study. . 



No. 1. The apiary of Mr. Alexeiev. 

 In the middle there is a trunk-hive, 

 or "duplauka," as the Russians call it. 

 The Coreans living in the neighbor- 

 hood of Vladivostok excavate such 

 trunks, daub the outside and inside 

 of their entrance with honey and 

 place them anywhere in the woods or 

 Held, where swarms are flying. 



No. 2 shows the apiary of Colonel 

 Smoknsky, who now gets his living 

 from the busy bees. 



No. 3. Colonel Smolensky shows us 

 one of his colonics. (First person loft 

 is myself.) 



Though I wasn't fortunate cnougli 

 to leave for home on board of the 

 "President Grant," I hope to do so 

 next month. According to the treaty 

 of peace appertaining to that terri- 

 tory of Hungarian Hanat, which was 

 given to Rumania, I have to return 

 to Rumania, whence I shall go back 

 to Hungary to continue my studies 

 in mining science at the academy 



