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. Itis 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 
erystallise, 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 ot 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 toa test. The presence of 
