1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



161 



or mead ; hydrometer tests will give 

 absolute accuracy in each of them. 

 Honey tests are the most important 

 and here is where the hydrometer is 

 of the greatest value. Some 30 years 

 ago, when handling large quantities 

 of honey from different sources, I re- 

 ceived a great deal of it in liquid con- 

 dition. In that state I could not judge 

 accurately whether it was thoroughly 

 ripe or not, nor can I to this day 

 judge correctly liquid honey by its 

 appearance. I may give a fair guess, 

 but that is not enough. Several lots 

 eventually fermented, most of it being 

 the product of a family of very care- 

 ful beekeepers who, I was confident, 

 would take every care to avoid send- 

 ing out doubtful honey. It may be 

 said that if he honey had been all 

 sealed before extracting there would 

 have been no trouble, but I am not so 

 certain of that. I have seen at dif- 

 ferent times the opinion of experi- 

 enced beekeepers expressed that the 

 sealing or capping of honey should 

 not be implicitly relied upon always 

 as an indication of thoroughly rip- 

 ened honey. Be that as it may, I 

 became fully satisfied at that time 

 that some method within the capa- 

 bility of the average beekeeper to 

 apply was needed to accurately test 

 any given sample of honey without 

 risk of mistake. It occurred to me 

 that if the minimum specific gravity 

 of the general run of honey produced 

 in the country, would be discovered 

 below which fermentation would take 

 place sooner or later the object 

 would be accomplished. 



The opportunity for making a suffi- 

 cient number of tests for the purpose 

 of setting a standard did not occur 

 till I joined the Department of Agri- 

 culture. In all I made some 250 tests 

 between 1907 and 1912, experi- 

 menting with honey gathered in dif- 

 ferent seasons and from all sources. 

 The result was I came to the conclu- 

 sion that any of our honey of a spe- 

 cific gravity of 1.420 or over would 

 not deteriorate under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances in any length of time. To 

 test by time I put by samples of 

 tested honey in glass jars (60 in all), 

 some from each season from 1907 to 

 1913, when I resigned. 



Last year (1918), when I saw them 

 the honey was as good as ever. The 

 minimum specific gravity of 1.420 is 

 now officially accepted by the gov- 

 ernment honey graders, and the New 

 Zealand Co-operative Honey Produc- 

 ers' Association, and no honey of a 

 lower specific gravity is allowed to be 

 exported or is accepted by the asso- 

 ciation. 



In making honey vinegar, instead 

 of the egg or potato tests for 

 strength, the hydrometer should be 

 used, and the same for honey wine- 

 mead. The specific gravity of the 

 liquid for vinegar of 1.040 contains 

 V/2 pounds of honey, and that for 

 mead 1.115 Ay 2 pounds. The vinegar 

 liquid of above specific gravity de- 

 velops over 5 per cent acetic acid, 

 quite a strong, fine-flavored article 



Commercial beekeeping has so far 

 advanced that we should discontinue 

 the "rule of thumb" methods and 

 adopt more accurate scientific meas- 

 ures. It should be mentioned that 



"Twaddell's" hydrometers are used, 

 and the honey or other liquids should 

 be as nearly as possible at a tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees Fah., or 15 C. 

 Auckland, New Zealand. 



Bees and Grapes 



There has been more or less fric- 

 tion between the beekeepers and 

 grape growers for many years. In 

 wet weather the grapes often crack 

 open, and when this happens at a 

 time that there is little nectar in the 

 field, there is likely to be trouble. 

 When natural honey sources are 

 scarce, the bees will suck up almost 

 any kind of sweet product. At such 

 times they often swarm over the 

 vineyards, sucking dry the fruits 

 which have cracked open. It is a well- 

 known fact that bees will not injure 

 sound fruit, but the grower is usually 

 inclined to hold the bees responsible 

 for the entire injury, since their work 

 is so apparent. 



In Southern California raisins are 

 grown in large areas and hundreds of 

 acres of raisin grapes are grown for 

 the trade. Rains are not usual at the 

 time the fruit is being dried. The 

 grapes are spread out in thin crates 

 which are piled one above another in 

 the open field. Now and again a light 

 shower damages the fruit seriously. 

 The photograph shows the result of 

 such a wetting and the work of the 

 bees afterward. All the juice had 

 been extracted by the bees, only the 

 empty skins and seeds remaining. 

 While this fruit juice is stored by the 

 bees as honey, it is of poor quality 

 and of little value to the beekeeper. 



The National 



THE National Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation held its 49th annual con- 

 vention in the East Room of the 

 Hotel La Salle on Tuesday, Wednes- 

 day and Thursday, February 18, 19 

 and 20. This meeting immediately 

 followed the Northwestern Associa- 

 tion meeting which was very well at- 

 tended. 



The meeting was presided over by 

 B. F. Kindig, in charge of apiculture 

 at East Lansing, Mich., the president. 

 David Running, being unable to at- 

 tend on account of sickness. 



The program was very interesting 

 and kept the attention of the crowd 

 which was in attendance. Professor 

 Francis Jager gave a very interesting 

 talk on "Beekeeping and the New 

 Era," and also gave a very fine talk 

 on European conditions. 



Miss Iona Fowls, of Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, gave a very interesting 

 and instructive talk on "Pushing to 

 the Front in Beekeeping." This was 

 followed by a paper given by Colin P. 

 Campbell, president of the Michigan 

 Affiliated Beekeepers' Association. 

 His talk was for a stronger organiza- 

 tion among beekeepers and the paper 

 read by him later caused a resolu- 

 tion to be presented on this subject. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips gave some very 

 valuable information concerning the 

 '"Factors Influencing the Secretion 

 of Nectar," although the doctor was 

 unable to explain just why plants 

 yielded honey on some occasions and 

 did not on others when conditions 

 were apparently the same. The con- 

 vention had the pleasure of hearing 

 Mr. W. H. Hall, connected with the 

 Bureau of Markets, Chicago, 111. Mr. 



«r$ 



Raisin grapes that have cracked open after being wet. The juice has been sucked 

 out by the bees. 



