September 8,1881.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 231 
made very firm about the roots. With fresh compost as surface 
dressings, mulching and feeding with liquid manure, the trees will 
produce abundant crops. The trees in narrow borders need little 
pruning, whereas when growing in wide rich borders they grow 
luxuriantly and do not fruit satisfactorily. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove .—Dipladenias required to flower early in spring should now 
be kept drier at the roots for a few weeks and then be cut back, 
giving them at the same time a thorough cleansing. When they 
have started into growth about half the old soil may be removed, 
replacing in the same pots in good fibrous peat. The young shoots 
as they extend should be trained on strings run up near the glass 
through the winter, and when advanced for flowering secure them 
to the trellis. Stephanotis intended for a similar purpose should have 
the shoots trained in the same way. Plants having completed the 
growth should be kept drier at the roots, only sufficient water being 
given to prevent the loss of the foliage. Started early in the year 
they will in a brisk moist heat grow and flower freely in a light 
position. Clerodendron Balfourianum that flowered early will be 
making strong growth, and should be encouraged by liquid manure 
during the present month, the growths ripening well Liter on with 
plenty of light and a diminished water supply. Plants of this, 
also Bougainvilleas and similar plants that have been in cooler 
quarters for flowering, must now be moved to a warmer position, but 
not to excite growth, having a drier atmosphere, and withholding water 
yet not so as to cause the premature falling of the foliage, but to 
gradually harden the growth. Ixoras that have been used for con¬ 
servatory decoration must be returned to the stove now, placing them 
in the warmest part. If infested with mealybug or scale thoroughly 
cleanse the plants by dipping or syringing with an insecticide, re¬ 
moving all their old flowers. 
Clerodendron fallax is never so satisfactory as when raised from 
seed. The seed should be sown now or as soon as ripe, sowing it in 
small pots and shading. When the seeds have germinated the pots 
should be placed on shelves near the glass, afterwards shifting the 
plants into 6-inch pots, employing good fibrous loam, with a fourth 
of leaf soil and a little sand. Old plants that have flowered should 
be cut back, keeping them in a warm place and damping every 
afternoon until growth has commenced, then remove some of the 
roots and place in smaller pots for the winter. 
Amaryllises are fast completing their growth, and they can be 
kept much cooler when at rest. They should have a cool stove or 
an intermediate temperature, with plenty of air and light to secure 
the solidification of the growth. Although a lessened supply of 
water will, consequent on the time of year and cessation of growth, 
be necessary, extreme dryness must be avoided, it being important 
that the soil be kept moist so as to prevent the loss of the roots. 
Pancratiums making growth after flowering should be encouraged 
with plenty of moisture, and increased root space if needed, supply¬ 
ing them with liquid manure, and growing them in a light position. 
Euphorbia jacquiniasflora removed to cooler quarters some time ago 
must not remain too long, or they will, especially if kept too moist, 
lose their roots and do little good afterwards. They should now 
have a house or pit kept at a minimum temperature of 55° with 
plenty of air and light. Poinsettias should also have position near 
the glass in a similar temperature. Any that have been planted out 
must be lifted carefully, potted in fibrous loam, and kept rather close 
until they begin to root, when they must have more air. Other 
winter-flowering plants must be in plenty of light, so as to insure a 
stout solidified growth. Achimenes that have nearly done flowering 
should be continued in a temperature similar to that required to 
grow them in, giving water as required until the tops die, as they 
should gradually. Gloxinias require similar treatment, the soil being 
kept a little moist until the tops have died down. Gesneras are 
brilliant winter-flowering plants, and they must be kept in an active 
state of growth by repotting those that need it, and top-dressing 
others that are in the pots in which they are required to flower. 
They enjoy a light position and a moist atmosphere, but hot sun and 
water from the syringe are injurious to the foliage. 
:'U 
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Mi tv 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 1 
i 
SUGARS IN RELATION TO THE COMPOSITION 
OF HONEY-BEE FOOD. 
Some time since I remarked in the columns of the Journal that 
“ sugar (especially grape sugar) is a true food.” This sentence has 
suggested to one of our well-known correspondents a series of ques¬ 
tions, which cover ground of such general interest 10 the educated 
bee-keeper that I have determined to treat the subject at somewhat 
greater length than the correspondence columns w r ould allow. 
It is no doubt the common idea that sweetness in all dietary 
articles is due to the presence of a substance which is identically the 
same, whether revealing itself to the taste in the grape, in milk, in 
honey, or in the sweetmeats of the confectioner; but chemistry teaches 
us that this error is a grave one, for the word “sugar” is applied to a 
class of bodies present having a common likeness with ve>y marked 
differences, and that in the examples cited the sugar of each differs 
widely from the sugars of all the rest. This question has much to 
do with honey and bee-feeding, as we shall presently see. The 
sugar of our tea table is named by the chemist sucrose, and is 
derived usually from the sugar cane, although its source may be the 
beet or maple, while it is also found mixed with other descriptions 
of sugar in many fruits. The characteristic with which we have 
here most to do is the facility with which it crystallises into oblique 
six-sided prisms. It is on this account sometimes distinguished as 
crystallisable sugar. 
I he nectar produced by different plants varies not only in flavour 
but in the kinds and proportions of the kinds of sugar it contains, and 
in consequence honey similarly varies. Where much smrose is 
present the honey shows a strong tendency to candy, while the 
artificial addition of uncrystallisable sugar will permit it to retain 
its clearness almost indefinitely. This artificial addition is most 
undoubtedly to all intents an adulteration, and I should not have 
referred to it had it not been argued by some American honey dealers 
that here “ the end justified the means.” But this knowledge may 
have a most practical application. I remember—but I must not be 
too circumstantial—at a competition of supers the judges disqualify¬ 
ing a very fire specimen because part of the super was candied and 
part not. They declared that this was distinct evidence that the 
super v r as the work of two years instead of one, or that part was 
honey and part syrup ; but the knowledge that supers often are 
marbled, so to speak, with honey of different tints because gathered 
from different sources, and that with the source may vary the dis¬ 
position to candy, should have shown the judges (?) that they were 
not giving “righteous judgment.” But to proceed. By far the 
greater portion of the solid constituents of honey consists of that 
kind of sugar which is found in quantity in the grape, and has 
received the commercial name of grape sugar, although the vine is 
almost always innocent of its production. The chemical and more 
accurate name glucose has now passed into commercial use, and in¬ 
dicates a kind of sugar which is usually manufactured from starch— 
commonly maize starch—by boiling with sulphuric acid. The 
transforming hand of the chemist can, however, prepare it from 
any form of cellulose, so that woody fibre, nut shells, calico, paper, 
pawn tickets, &c., can all be changed into “ grape ” sugar. And if 
the process be properly performed and the conversion complete there 
is no reason why this “ grape sugar” should not be a perfectly good 
article for bee food, the strong statements made in some quarters to 
the contrary notwithstanding. Unfortunately, however, the con¬ 
version is often incomplete, and a not inconsiderable amount of 
dextrin, or half-converted starch, remains. The white solid known as 
“ brewt- rs’ ” glucose is quite unfit for feeding bees, as the chalk which 
is used for taking up the sulphuric acid has not been separated from 
it, as its presence in its new form of sulphate of lime is beneficial in 
brewing. 
Glucose again is separable into at least two di-tinct kinds of sugar, 
known as dextro and levo-glucose. The former is mainly found in 
sweet, and the latterin acid fruits—Oranges and Lemons by example; 
and here again honey may exhibit marked differences, according to 
the Hewers which have supplied it. 
T he relatious subsisting between sucrose and glucose are very 
important to the advanced bee-keeper, and will repay careful atten¬ 
tion. Sucrose passes very readily into glucose. When cane sugar 
is taken into the mouth the saliva immediately sets up this trans¬ 
formation. Boiling does the same. The sugar refiner would have 
to boil his syrup at 230° Fahr. did he not carry on the process in 
what is called a vacuum pan, by which 150° evaporates his syrup 
readily. He thus saves the loss to which he would otherwise be ex¬ 
posed by the change of his crystallisable into uncrystallisable sugar. 
