1046 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



ti^^ht it must be put up as the " Uneeda " 

 folks put up their goods; and this can be 

 done very cheapl}'. I saw some of Aikin's 

 candied honey last season, right in the hot- 

 test July weather, that was not bad to han- 

 dle at all, except on the outside where the 

 damp air had got to it. It was during a 

 very warm wet rainy time. 



Now, then, friends, let us go to work and 

 not let friend Aikin monopolize this business 

 of getting better prices for honey done up 

 in " brown paper " than that which is put 

 up in glass jars. Will those putting up 

 honey in paper bags please report in regard 

 to it— especially Eastern bee-keepers? If 

 you can not do any better, give us a brief 

 report on a postal card. We are sure there 

 are such among our readers, because we 

 have sold a very large number of these pa- 

 per packages for liquid honey.— A. I. R. 



HONEY- PLANTS OF ARIZONA ; DENSITY OF 



honey; tfmperaturr to which honey 

 CAN be subjected without injuring its 



flavor; VALUABLE EXPERIMENTS. 



The Agricultural Experiment Station of 

 the University of Arizona has just issued a 

 bulletin. No. 48, on the subject of bee-prod- 

 ucts within the confines of that Territory. 

 It is so good that we copy all except the 

 tabular matter, which, to the average lay- 

 man, is just so much Greek. As the tables 

 are interpreted, and conclusions drawn 

 therefrom by the author of the bulletin, Mr. 

 R H Forbes, their omission will prove no 

 o-reat loss; but those who are interested in 

 this matter can probably secure copies by 

 applying to the station as above given. 



It is stated by Indians and white pioneers that the 

 honey-bee was unknown in Arizona uuul American 

 occupation. The first swarms probably drifted in from 

 Texas wth adventurous sctllcrs not lonR before the 

 mlddfe of ihllast century. In 187S. J. B^Allen brought 

 r number of colonies to Tucson irom California as a 

 busin^fs venture : while in. Salt River Valley, bee- 

 keeoius began early in the '>ighlies , . • ^i. 



The fast census enumerates 18.991 colonies in the 

 Territorv, June 1, 1900, with a proiuct during 1^99 of 

 9»4^0 lbs of houev and 13,080 lbs. of wax having a 



%^lle" ounces ol^ouV honey are the desert flora and 

 cultivated crops, chiefly aUalfa. -^ few of the piinci- 

 palproJucing plants a.id their seasons are as follows : 



Mfsotiite (Prosopis velatinai, April to .Jul.v. 



SCREW BEAN (Prosopis pubescent, Ai>r.lto July. 



Catclaw (Acacia greggu). May and June. 



Apacia (Acacia con-trictai, dune. 



PAtovERDE(Parkin~oniatorreyana),May. . 



ntsEl? FLORA ( Miscellaneous). depend.nK on rainfall. 



ALFALFA iMedicago sativa), April to September. 

 The wild honey-plants, because of grazing animals 

 and of wood-cutters, have greatly decreased with.n re- 

 cent yerrs The area in alfalfa, on the other hand, is 

 constantly increasing, but without ^ corresponding m^ 

 rrease in honey-producing power. This is due to two 

 nrln ipal causes ? Farmers are now cutting alfalfa for 

 Say at a much earlier stage in its growth than former- 

 Iv not allowing the plant to come into full bloom; 

 L^'d the alfalfa butterfly ^CoUas eurytheme^J^^s so in- 

 creased in numbers since 189o that the honey-flow, 

 which used to continue well into September, is now 

 cut short in July. It is difficult to state the net effect 

 of these chinges upon the producing power of the 

 country as a whole ; but in Salt River Valley under 

 oresent conditions, judging from the shipments made 

 during the last few years, our present irrigated areas 

 wUh f djoining desert tracts are pretty fully stocked 

 ^th bees Other parts of the Territory are as yet less 



'''rh°e"quabtUyTr:d''character of the nectar produced 

 ;,y representative honey-plants is of interest in con- 



nection with the amount and quality of honey pro- 

 ducible within a given t^ritory. The re.sultswere ob- 

 tained by selecting typical plants or areas, estimating 

 the number of blossoms, and determining the sugars 

 in sample s of average flowers. 



The figure for aUalfa is especially interesting, and 

 corresponds roughly with surh farmer's estimates of 

 yield as "a can of honey (60 lbs ) to the ton of hay." 

 Invert sugars vary from 1 (30 to 21 times (averaging 8.6 

 times) the amount of cane sugar present in the flowers. 

 The qualitj- of Arizona honey varies with its source 

 as well as with its treatment and preparation for 

 market. 



The average moisture 16.85 per cent, is seen to be 

 markedly less than that in Eastern honejs. averaging 

 in two instances 19.39 and 18.50 per cent. This results 

 from the exposure of Southwestern honeys before and 

 during extraction to the exceedingly drj- air of this re- 

 gion. With our excessive heat and dryness, evapora- 

 tion quickly concentrates the honeys to a c >ndition of 

 ripeness which insures keeping, also consideiab y in- 

 creasing the weight per gallon. E '.stern honey usual- 

 ly weighs about 58 lbs in a five-gallon can, while the 

 Arizona article weighs ordinarily from ( to 02 lbs. 



The ash is in most cases normal, with two interest- 

 ing exceptions, each of them containing more than the 

 average a.^h. This is prooably because they are des- 

 ert-flower honeys, the bloom tor which, growing close 

 to the dusty ground, became charged with dust, of 

 which the bees did not entirely rid themselves. 



C<ne sugar, as compared with invert sugar, is pres- 

 ent in smaller propjrtion than in the iiectar of the 

 blos-oms mentioned. In the honeys analyzed it aver- 

 ages about one-fiftieth as much as the invert sugar; 

 while in the blossoms examined, it ranges from ahout 

 onelwen ieth to five-eighths of the invert sugar. This 

 peculiar change in character is stated to occur in the 

 honey-stomach of the bee, in which the nectar is col- 

 lecie(i, and from which it is regurgitated in the form 

 of honey. This transformation of cane sugar into in- 

 vert sugar adds to the food value of honey, since the 

 first result of digestion of cane sugar is to bring about 

 ju-t this change. Honey, therefore in a st^ic ly natu- 

 ral and wholesome sense, is a predigested food. 



Invert sugar averages aboit 7 per cent higher than 

 in Eastern honeys, a fact consistent with the presence 

 in Arizona honej-s of less water and non-saccharine 

 substances. This is au impoitant point in favor of the 

 home product, and means a premi'.m, in intrinsic food 

 value, of about 7 per cent over the more watery honeys 

 of humid climates. 



Other substances than those commented upon, pre- 

 sumaoly acids, nitrogen compount^s and o her non- 

 sugars, average about two-fifths of the amount found 

 in Eastern honeys. Two samples examined contained 

 .28 and .21 per cent of albumiioid substances; while 

 the Eastern hoiiej's quoted above averaged .34 per 

 cent. The presence of a small amount ot acid in our 

 samples would be consistent with their well-ripened 

 and, consequently, non-fermentable condition. 



The selling qualities of our honeys, such as consis- 

 tence color, flavor, and aroma, vary considerably with 

 both source and treatment. Wild flower honeys, espe- 

 cially from mesquite and the acicias, are generally re- 

 garded as the best, being very white and of finest fla- 

 vor and aroma. These honeys solidify very quickly 

 when extracted from the comb. The alfalfa' honey of 

 this region is usually darker than wild honey, or al- 

 falfa honey made in more northern localities Its fla- 

 vor and aroma are vei-y- good, and it sjlidifies less 

 quickly and completely' after extraction than wild 

 honey. 



Consumers, for conventional reasons, usually prefer 

 their honey in syrup form; and in order to liquefy the 

 solid extracted article, the five gallon cans in which it 

 is stored are, as a rule, placed in boiling water, re- 

 qu'ring several hours to liquefy. This process rtaik- 

 ens and alters the flavor of the honey, materially in- 

 juring its quality. In order to determine how to liquefy 

 honey with the leost injury, a five-gallon sample of 

 solid m squite honey was thoroughly mixed and di- 

 vided into quart Mason jars. These samples were 

 then placed in vessels of water heated to various tem- 

 peratures, and kept there no longer than was necessa- 

 ry to reduce them to the liquid condition. They were 

 then judged and analyzed, with a result indicating 

 that the lowest temperature employed, 130 degt-ees 

 Fahrenheit, affects the qualities of the honey least. 

 Liquefaction at this temperature, however, was very 

 slow, was not complete in 6 hours, and was not per- 

 manent. At boiling temperature, on the other hand, 

 the solid honey was rendered very fluid in 3 hours, its 

 CO or and taste being damaged, and its chemical com- 

 position changed. The lowest temperature at which 

 quick and permanent (for 4 months) liquefaction was 



