1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



483 



sistency, but so hard that it has to be broken 

 up with a hammer. Commercial glucose 

 granulating? I think there must be some 

 n-.istake. I have always understood that it 

 would remain liquid at ordinary tempera- 

 tures. Possibly you have in mind grape su- 

 gar, which is one of the sugars known under 

 the general head of "glucose" from the 

 standpoint of the chemist. 



How long it takes each kind of honey to 

 candy, is a question than can not be ans- 

 wered except in a very general way. Ordi- 

 nary alfalfa will granulate first, and might 

 turn from the liquid to the solid condition 

 inside of sixty days, while clover and bass- 

 wood might take six months, a year, or 

 even more. As I have before said, candy- 

 ing or granulating of honey is not a sure 

 proof of its purity. A certain percentage 

 of glucose will delay the candying process 

 in honey, but will not prevent it. Some 

 years ago, for experimental purposes I pre- 

 pared seven or eight glucosed samples of 

 honey, the percentages of glucose varying 

 all the way from 10 to 75, I think. After 

 three or four years I found all the samples 

 candied; but the degree of solidity varied 

 according to the amount of glucose that had 

 been put in it in the first place. I may say 

 this, however, that glucosed honey will can- 

 dy a little differently from pure honey; but 

 just how differently I can not explain on 

 paper. 



How shall we detect glucose in honey, 

 without chemical analysis? Largely by the 

 taste. Call on your candy-maker and get a 

 small quantity of commercial glucose. Taste 



The old five-hundred-gallon caldron, all that is left of 



the old Osborn bee-yard. The first bee-yard of 



American hives in Cuba. 



it a good many times. After a spoonful of 

 it has been in the mouth for a few minutes 

 (I can not say just how long) one can de- 

 tect a sort of brassy taste that is quite 

 characteristic. When one once learns to 

 recognize this peculiar brassy "twang" of 

 glucose he will be able to detect it almost 

 unerringly when the stuff is present in hon- 

 ey—at least / was able to do so, and so have 

 others. For the purpose of experiment I 

 had one of our men prepare some samples of 

 glucosed honey for me to test. While I did 



A CHARACTERISTIC EXTRACTING SCENE IN WESTERN CUBA. 



