AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



105 



at Lexington ; and by Prof. R. C. Kedzie, 

 chemist at the Michigan Agricultural Coll. 



It is a very interesting document, and 

 the various "analyses show conclusively 

 that our chemists can easily distinguish 

 honey adulterated with glucose (the only 

 adulterant that is likely to be used) from 

 all honey except that produced from honey- 

 dew. All three of the chemists at once de- 

 tected two of the samples which were adul- 

 terated " purposely, but of course not indi- 

 cated in any way to aid them in their de- 

 tection. 



In giving a sort of concluding " Sum- 

 mary,'' Prof. Cook says: 



We are thus assured by these analyses : 



1st. That chemists can easily detect adul- 

 teration of honey by use of glucose, in all 

 cases where it is likely to be practiced. The 

 same would be true if cane sugar syrup was 

 mixed with the honey. 



2nd. That a probable method to distin- 

 guish honey-dew from honey adulterated 

 with glucose has been determined by these 

 analyses. The right-handed or slight left- 

 handed rotation, together with the large 

 amount of ash, and small amount of invert 

 sugar indicate honey-dew honey. As honey- 

 dew honey will never be put on the market, 

 this question is of scientific rather than 

 practical importance. 



3rd. As yet the chemist is unable to dis- 

 tinguish between cane-sugar-syrup honey 

 (by which we mean cane-sugar syrup fed to 

 the bees and transformed by them into 

 honey, and not cane syrup mixed with 

 honey, which is adulteration pure and 

 simple, though a kind not likely to be prac- 

 ticed), and honey from flowers. As the 

 best cultivated taste cannot thus distin- 

 guish, this seems of slight importance. If 

 it should prove to be important to be able 

 to distinguish them, it is probable that the 

 ch«mist will discover the means, as chem- 

 istry has very delicate eyes, and can 

 usually search out very slight differences. 



We see that there are yet unsolved prob- 

 lems in this direction, and it is desirable to 

 follow up the investigations. Prof. H. W. 

 Wiley is desirous to do so until the last fact 

 is discovered. To better accomplish this 

 he desires samples of three or four pounds 

 each of honeys from any known source, es- 

 pecially honey-dew honey, and that gath- 

 ered very rapidly. Sugar-syrup honey will 

 also be very acceptable. Such samples may 

 be sent to Prof. H. W. Wiley, Division of 

 Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. The express will be 

 paid by the Department of Agriculture. 



I wish to thank the three distinguished 

 chemists who have rendered such able as- 

 sistance in determining these valuable re- 

 sults. A. J. Cook. 



Agsricultural College, Mich., June 29, 1893. 



Let all who can do so, send samples to 

 Prof. Wiley at once, as directed in the latter 

 part of Prof. Cook's closing remarks. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 25 or more apiarists 

 who help to make " Queries and Replies " so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 win contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Colony Not Doing "Well. 



I have one colony of bees that are 

 nearly black, and are not doing well. 

 They wintered all right, but have not 

 sent out any new swarms, or stored 

 much honey. Would you advise putting 

 in a new queen, or would you put in a 

 pure Italian queen ? E. R. Benson. 



North Adams, Mich. 



Answer. — It is sometimes the case 

 that a colony will be very weak in the 

 spring, and the queen seems to make 

 poor work at laying, but afterward, as 

 the weather gets warmer, and the size of 

 the colony increases, she will show her- 

 self very prolific. But when the colony 

 is at a stand-still under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, it is pretty safe to say that 

 the queen is at fault. Even if it be said 

 that the fault is with the workers, the 

 only way to have better workers is to 

 change the queen. 



The nearer you can come to pure Ital- 

 ian stock, the better, when it comes to 

 introducing a queen ; and you will prob- 

 ably find that the introduction of a good 

 queen will set everything to rights. 



Driving Out Surplus Virgin Queens. 



Do bees often drive their (surplus) 

 virgin queens from the hive without in- 

 jury ? The reason I ask is this : 



I had a very strong colony which cast 

 a swarm on June 5th, a second on the 

 14th, and a third on the 16th. In the 

 evening after casting the third swarm, 

 I noticed that the bees were dragging 

 out young queens. I took two of them 

 from the bees, and they seemed to be 

 unhurt. Now, the first swarm lost its 

 queen the second day after swarming, 

 and had started several queen-cells. I 

 took one of the queens taken from the 

 bees and slipped in this queenless col- 

 ony ; two days after I opened the hive, 

 and found the bees had accepted this 

 virgin queen and had torn down their 

 cells, and to-day the young queen is 

 busy filling the combs with eggs. 



On the morning of the 17th I found 



