BEE MANUAL. 83 



action in addition to the merely mechanical separation of the 

 watery particles. 



The characteristic structure of honey is described as follows in 

 an American publication called the Druggists' Advertiser: — 



" Under the microscope, the solid part of honey is seen to consist of 

 myriads of regularly formed crystals ; these crystals are for the most 

 part exceedingly thin and transparent, and very brittle, so that many 

 of them are broken and imperfect ; but when entire they consist of 

 six-sided prisms, apparently identical in form with those of cane 

 sugar. It is probable, however, that these represent the crystals of 

 dextrose, as they occur in honeys from which cane sugar is nearly or 

 wholly absent. Intermingled with the crystals may also be seen 

 pollen granules of different forms, sizes, and structure, often in such 

 perfect condition that they may be referred to the particular plant 

 from which the juices have been gathered. Crystalline sugar, analo- 

 gous to grape sugar, may be obtained by treating granular honey with 

 a small quantity of alcohol, which, when expressed, takes along with 

 it the other ingredients, leaving the crystal nearly untouched. The 

 same end may be attained by melting the honey, saturating its acid 

 with carbonate of calcium, filtering the liquid, then setting it aside to 

 crystallise, and washing the crystals with alcohol. Inferior honey 

 usually contains a large proportion of uncrystallisable sugar and vege- 

 table acid. When diluted with water honey undergoes the various 

 fermentations, and in very warm weather an inferior grade of honey 

 will sometimes undergo a change, acquiring a pungent taste and a 

 deeper colour. The usual adulterations of honey are with various 

 forms oi starch, as those of the potato and wheat, and with starch and 

 cane sugars. The starch is added to whiten dark honey, and to 

 correct the acidulous taste which old honey is apt to acquire, as well 

 as for the sake of increased weight. The presence of starch may be 

 readily detected by the usual iodine test." 



ADULTERATION OF HONEY. 



The honey industry is so injuriously affected by any attempts 

 to impose adulterated stuff upon the public in place of the 

 pure article, that it becomes a matter of importance to the bee- 

 keeper to know how to detect and expose any such attempts at 

 imposition. In Quinby's "New Bee-keeping" we find the 

 following passage, which is worthy of particular attention : — 



" The first fact to be understood is that all granulated or candied 

 honey is presumably pure. The natural inference is that such is the 

 best to buy. It is also well established that all pure honey will, as a 

 general rule, granulate if exposed to a sufficiently low temperature. 

 To this rule exceptions have been reported, and such have occurred 

 under my own observations, as will soon be noticed. Thus, ordinary 

 honey remaining liquid in cold weather, when exposed to the air, 

 should be regarded as suspicious, and put to a test. The presence of 



