FEBRUARY 15, 1914 



133 



and most crooks get through without being 

 caught. 



The beekeepers of Grermany could easily 

 have the present laws so amended that the 

 origin of the honey would have to be de- 

 clared, and so that all artificial products 

 and mixtures would have to be sold as such 

 — not being allowed the use of the word 

 " honey " in any combination. 



Beekeepers here have still another wish. 

 They want a law enacted by the national 

 parliament so that it may be uniform — the 

 same in the whole empire — about foul brood 

 and other diseases of the bees. The general 

 government and the parliament would read- 

 ily accede to these demands, notwithstand- 

 ing the opposition of the manufacturers of 

 artificial honey and the importers and vend- 

 ers of cheap foreign honey. Years ago this 

 honey was used exclusively by the confec- 

 tioners. 



The beekeepers should be united in one 

 powerful federation. " There is the rub." 

 Conferences with that end in view were held, 

 and it was generally believed that the right 

 formula was found. The statutes had been 

 accepted. It was agreed to complete the 

 Union in July last at Berlin. But there is 

 " many a slip 'twixt cup and lip." The pres- 

 ident of the largest organization, at the last 

 moment, at Berlin, ignored the agreement — 

 the formula he had helped to make. Now the 

 union is further off than ever. We have 

 two large unions, each with 70,0Q0 members, 

 and some smaller ones; but we have not 

 what we should have. It seems that some, a 

 little top-heavy from the importance they 

 have in their own estimation, are to blame 

 for the failure at Berlin. Now some with a 

 talent for demagogy are trying to draw a 

 Mason-Dixon line. I suppose the beekeep- 

 ers will have or get the organization they 

 deserve. 



DO BEES CARRY EGGS FROM ONE COMB TO 

 ANOTHER ? 



The Schweitzerische Bienenzeitung brings 

 a short article that answers this question in 

 the affirmative. Mr. Gassman writes that he 

 wanted to get a series of queen-cells from 

 " Esther." For that purpose he dequeened 

 a strong colony eight days before. On the 

 19th of May he wanted to get the eggs from 

 " E;" but this colony had swarmed, and the 

 swarm had eggs in one comb. This comb 

 was taken and given to the colony that was 

 to rear the queen-cells. Before the comb 

 from E was given to this nursing 'colony all 

 the queen-cells (19) were destroyed. Seven 

 days later this nursing colony was examined. 

 On a comb this side of the one from E, on 

 the upper periphery of the brood circle, 

 there was a capped queen-cell on each side 



of the comb. The contents of both cells were 

 white queen pupas. On the comb from E 

 there were 18 capped queen-cells. Mr. G is 

 sure not to have overlooked the cells on the 

 19th of May; but if he had, the queens 

 would have emerged, or the cells would at 

 least have been ripe. He concludes that the 

 eggs from the comb given were carried to 

 the adjacent comb. The one comb given 

 seemed not sufficient for the colony. 



Another theory would be that the colony 

 had preserved the eggs from the original 

 queen. It has been reported that bees do 

 sometimes preserve eggs. It is a fact that 

 fresh bee eggs can be preserved several days 

 under proper conditions without losing the 

 quality of hatching. 



A NEW METHOD TO DETECT ADULTERATED 

 HONEY. 



Dr. Armani and Dr. Barboni have discov- 

 ered a reaction whereby adulterated honey 

 may be easily detected. Two grains of the 

 honey are put in a porcelain dish and dis- 

 solved with 10 e. c. of distilled water. The 

 solution is transferred to a test-tube, and 1 

 c. e. of a solution of benzin saturated with 

 glacial acetic acid is added. Adulterated 

 honey will color the solution a yellowish 

 red, while pure honey will not change the 

 color. The color reaction takes place imme- 

 diately, and the intensity will be in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of the artificial product 

 in the sample examined. This test is very 

 easy to make, and does not take much time. 

 It can hardly be expected to detect every 

 adulteration. It will answer, probably, for 

 only one artificial product; but the whole- 

 sale adulterators have able chemists in their 

 employ, and most likely find a way so the 

 reaction won't work. Chemists have to-day 

 no method of analysis by which an adulter- 

 ation may in all cases be proven. The 

 natural honey differs so much according to 

 the source of nectar that proving adultera- 

 tion by analysis is not a success. It would 

 be easier, for instance, to prove that a cer- 

 tain sample is not alfalfa or white-clover 

 honey, because either of these honeys will 

 show very little variation, no matter where 

 it is from; but here we have mostly honey 

 derived from five, ten, and more different 

 fiowers, and these flowers furnish nectars in 

 various proportions; so if we take one in- 

 gredient that can be determined quantita- 

 tively we must allow a large limit as mini- 

 mum and maximum before we can say this 

 honey is adulterated. Manufacturers know 

 this and act accordingly. 



BEES MOVED l^/o MILES TO BASSWOOD. 



Mr. Freuden stein, in his Neuen Bienen- 

 zeitung, writes that he moved his bees this 

 summer IV2 miles to get the benefit of the 



