800 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



periments themselves show very conclusive- 

 ly that there was no nectar gathered during 

 this period. 



i My first experiment consisted" of, feeding 

 a solution to each hive, consisting of one 

 part cane sugar, polariscope standard 98.7 

 to three parts water, specific gravity 1.1240. 

 A quart of this was fed slowly in six hours 

 in Boardman entrance feeders. After con- 

 tinuing this for a period of ten days, then 

 waiting four days for perfect evaporation 

 and transformation by the bees, I opened 

 the hives, took out four different samples 

 from different locations from the two hives 

 and supers. The first sample was from the 

 capped product out of a frame directly over 

 the capped brood, specific gravity 1.3810, 

 and removed them to the laboratory, sit- 

 uated within a few yards of the hives. The 

 polariscope test showed a dextro-rotation 

 of 7.3, and. after inversion, a levo- rotation 

 of 11.4. (All pure honey shows a levo- 

 rotation, or, in other words, turns the plane 

 of polarization to the left.) 



The second sample was taken from a dif- 

 ferent position in the brood-chamber— the 

 same specific gravity, and showed a dextro- 

 rotation of 7. 7, and, after inversion, a levo- 

 rotation of 13. 



The third sample was taken from uncap- 

 ped product in the brood-frames from the 

 first story — specific gravity 1.3551, and 

 showed a dextro-rotation of 18.7, and, after 

 inversion, a levo-rotation of 16. 



The fourth sample was taken out of un- 

 capped product in the shallow frames in 

 the super— specific gravity 1.3426, showing 

 a dextro-rotation of 22 and a levo-rotation, 

 after inversion, of 15. 



Not satisfied with this very beautiful 

 showing of exactly the amount of the inver- 

 sion of the syrup in the stomach- pouch of 

 the bee, I proceeded to feed, in the same 

 careful way, syrup, one part sugar and four 

 parts water— specific gravity 1.0902. After 

 feeding this slowly for the course of a cou- 

 ple of weeks, as before, I took out the first 

 sample from capped product from the brood- 

 frames— specific gravity as before, showing 

 a dextro-rotation of 10.5, and, after inver- 

 sion, a levo-rotation of 13. I then took a 

 sample of the product from the brood-frames, 

 half capped and half uncapped, specific 

 gravity 1.3650, showing a dextro-rotation of 

 9.4, and, after inversion, a levo-rotation of 

 11. I then took a sample of all capped prod- 

 uct from the brood-chamber— specific grav- 

 ity 1.3942, showing a dextro-rotation of 10.5 

 and a levo-rotation of 13. 



The results of this experiment will be ap- 

 parent in reviewing the figures of the first 

 and second experiments, that, the greater 

 the difference between the specific grav- 

 ity in the sugar-fed syrup and the finished 

 product, the greater was the inversion in 

 the stomach -pouch of the bee, and that 

 which was hastily deposited by the bee 

 from the fed syrup underwent the least 

 amount of inversion by the bee. The grad- 

 uating scale of this experiment shows how 

 the amount in proportion of the inversion 



in the stomach-pouch of the bee proceeded 

 according to the ratio of the specific gravi- 

 ty of the finished product. In other words, 

 this sugar- fed syrup, in both of the propor- 

 tions as fed, showed beyond dispute that it 

 was sugar- fed and not nectar gathered. 



Now for illustration let us suppose that 

 the difference between the figures of the 

 dextro and levo-rotation represented ex- 

 actly the amount of inversion in the stom- 

 ach-pouch of the bee. The smaller these 

 figures of difference, the greater the amount 

 of inversion by the bees. In the first ex- 

 periment we fed one part of sugar and three 

 parts of water, specific gravity 1.12-|-. We 

 have one sample -1-18-16, specific gravity 

 1.35-f-. In this there are 34 points that 

 have not been inverted by the bee. Again 

 we have -{-22-15, specific gravity 1.34, and 37 

 points not inverted by the bee. In the sec- 

 ond experiment, we have one part sugar 

 and four parts water, specific gravity 1.09-}- ; 

 then we get -|-9,-ll. 1.36-1-, specific gravi- 

 ty or 20 points, not inverted by the bee, and 

 again -(-10-13 at 1.39-]-, specific gravity. 

 We have 23 points not inverted by the bee, 

 and in pure honey there are no points not in- 

 verted by the bee; and with the more water 

 fed giving the lowest specific gravity, 

 showing the difference in this last case of 

 over 30 fractional points in its specific 

 gravity between fed syrup and finished 

 product, it still gives 23 points not in- 

 verted by the bee. Time was given for the 

 bees to work up this product, and every 

 other advantage it was possible to give the 

 bees to produce the results as claimed was 

 given, and the result shows beyond contro- 

 versy, in the mind of the writer, that no 

 sugar syrup of whatever character, fed to 

 the bees, will ever be changed to actual hon- 

 ey as gathered from the nectar of plants, 

 and, therefore, that no capped comb product 

 can possibly be honey unless it is nectar 

 gathered. So that, also, from a purely 

 chemical standpoint, there is a vast differ- 

 ence between the product gathered by the 

 bees from fed cane-sugar syrup and pure 

 nectar; viz., cane sugar is a chemical indi- 

 vidual represented bjr Cia Hg, On, and in 

 the breaking up, on inversion, it takes up 

 one molecule of water. Ho O, and is C12 H24 

 O12. while honey is a chemical mixture, rep- 

 resented by dextrose C^ Hjo 0^; and levu- 

 lose Ce Hi 2 Oe, with a mixture of pure su- 

 crose. Now, the sugar fed syrup, capped 

 over as honey by the bees, varies in the 

 chemical analysis (my assumption) from 

 C4 Hs O4 to Cg H16 Og, and is immediately 

 branded by the chemist as a different com- 

 position, and, therefore, can not be honey. 



Another very important result of this ex- 

 periment has proven the question that seem- 

 ed to be in doubt in the minds of scientists, 

 whether phosphoric acid, which appears in 

 greater or less quantity in all pure honey, is 

 a product of the bee or a product of the 

 plant; in other words, whether phosphoric 

 acid in honey is of plant or animal origin. 



I took the very thin syrup that was fed to 

 the bees in the last experiment, specific 



I 

 I 



