NECTAR 
627 
sativa. In order to obtain 1 gram of sugar 
(equal to 1.3 grams of honey) the bees must 
visit at least 2,120 flowers of Rhododendron 
hirsutum and 5,530 of sainfoin (Onobrychis 
sativa). 
As honey is almost entirely formed from 
nectar, he gives the following table, com¬ 
paring the quantity of water he has found 
in nectars and also in old and new honeys: 
• 
Water 
in—— 
Nectar 
Nectar 
Old 
New 
honey 
honey 
Protea mellifera, 
82.34 
Hoya carnosa, 
59.23 
Bignonia radicans 
84.70 
Fritillaria imperalis 
Honey from 
Department of Landes 
93.40 
19.09 
Senegal 
15.59 
Melipona 
18.84 
Canton Grisons (alt. 600m.) 
18.61 
21.74 
Sainfoin 
19.44 
Canton Grisons (alt. 1 395 m.) 
17.52 
20.41 
Canton Grisons (high 
Alps) 
21.68 
Buckwheat 
33.36 
Acacia from Ingoldstadt 
20.29 
Whereas the nectars vary between 59 and 
93 per cent, the quantity of water contained 
in old honey varies only between 17 and 21 
per cent, and that in new honeys 20 to 21 
per cent, with the sole exception of buck¬ 
wheat honey, in which he found 33 per cent. 
From these observations he thinks that 
the bees throw off a considerable quantity 
of the water while it is in their stomachs. 
He does not admit that it is evaporated en¬ 
tirely in the cells, for the analyses he has 
made of honey newly deposited in the cells 
show that it already reaches them consid¬ 
erably concentrated. The following table 
shows the relative proportions of sugar con¬ 
tained in different honeys: 
Quantity 
Present formed by 
inversion 
87.00 1.00 
85.40 3.70 
80.60 2.70 
88.70 0.00 
84.10 0.50 
81.60 10.60 
81.60 9.30 
87.20 0.80 
A—Old honeys from 
Department of Landes 
Senegal 
Canton Grisons 
(alt. 600 m.) 
Sainfoin 
Canton Grisons 
(alt. 1,395 m.) 
B—New honeys from 
(Alpine region) 
(alt. 600 m.) 
(Alpine region) 
Altho most of the nectars contain a con¬ 
siderable quantity of cane sugar it is found 
in very few of the honeys of the Alps. Some 
honeys contain a little, while in others it is 
entirely absent. It is clear that, during the 
formation of honey, the cane sugar in the 
nectar is converted into grape sugar by the 
saliva of the bees, which contains a ferment 
endowed with this property (see his re¬ 
searches on this subject in Deutsche Bienen- 
zeitung, 1879, No. 12). 
Another difference between honey and 
nectar consists in the former containing 
nitrogenous substances and formic acid. 
Mullenhof has shown how this last is de¬ 
posited in the honey, and E. Erlenmayer has 
proved its antiseptic properties.—British 
Bee Journal. 
Probably all nectars do not analyze 
alike; but Dr. Planta’s analysis will be 
found, until we get something better, suffi¬ 
ciently near an average to satisfy all prac¬ 
tical requirements. 
It will be observed Dr. Planta attributes 
the inversion of nectar to the saliva of the 
bees. It seems on the face of this to be 
only a “guess,” and yet it has been repeated 
ever since by many writers on the honey¬ 
bee. Inversion is known to take place 
even while the nectar is still in the corolla 
of the flower, and it occurs long after the 
honey has been made and deposited, for 
new honey contains quite a large per¬ 
centage of sucrose (sugar) whereas old 
honey contains little or none. This change 
is caused by enzymes. For this and other 
reasons the composition of honey is quite 
variable. Old honey is actually superior 
to new, for the process of inversion is usu¬ 
ally complete. If kept in a dry place it also 
contains less water. If exposed to the air 
it tends to lose the ethereal essential oils 
or essences of the flowers from which it 
was gathered; therefore nectar collected 
even from poisonous plants may become 
quite innocuous if allowed sufficient time 
to ripen. See Honey. 
NUCLEUS. —This word, when applied 
to bee culture, means just what the name 
signifies —-a small colony of bees. It may 
mean a hundred bees with a queen, and as 
such it is called a small baby nucleus; but, 
as shown in Queen-rearing, so small a 
number will not long survive without help. 
Reference will be made to this later. The 
term “baby nucleus” more properly means 
a larger force—anywhere from five hun¬ 
dred to a thousand bees with a queen—a 
force large enough to set up housekeeping 
in real earnest. Usually these babies are 
put on minature frames in miniature hives. 
