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THE INDUSTRIES OF THE HIVE
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and enterprise. There is a oneness in bee enterprises which harmonises capital and labour, and which precludes strikes and lockouts.

THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY

In trying to fathom the mysteries of honey-production, scientists have dissected the bee with greatest care; but they have usually been obliged to guess at the uses of such organs as they could not understand by analogy. To-day, after all the excellent work of investigators, the process and formulæ of honey-making remain unrevealed.

The nectar, when taken from the flowers by the bees, is received in a special reservoir, called the honey-stomach. It is supposed that the secretion from the glands in the head and thorax is added to the nectar as it is swallowed, and induces the chemical action which, in the honey-stomach, changes the cane-sugar to the more digestible grape-sugar, and brings about the other changes that finally result in the production of honey. The chemical composition of honey varies, perhaps for two reasons: It may be more perfectly digested sometimes than at others; and the nectar of different flowers may vary chemically. However, all honey contains water, glucose, a small amount each of albumenoids, mineral matter, essential oils and formic acid. While most of the chemical changes take place in the honey-stomach of the bee, yet the honey is made perfect by ripening in the cells; these are left uncapped for a period of time and the current of air, always in action