SEPTEMBER 15, 1913 



Conversations ^vith 



At Borodino, New York. 



Doolittle 



HONEY — HOW MADE. 



" How do bees make honey ? Is the nec- 

 tar in the flowers honey? We know that 

 the bees gather the nectar, but is that all 

 there is to it? An old beekeeper told me 

 that bees make honey. I denied it by tell- 

 ing him that bees gather honey." 



Honey is produced by bees from nectar, 

 and nectar is only a secretion of certain 

 floral organs of plants. Bees will not 

 gather any thing else if they can get nec- 

 tar in paying quantities (unless their sense 

 is perverted by robbing) as nectar is their 

 natural food. This shows how they appre- 

 ciate flavor. I know bees will gather such 

 substances as fruit juice, sap from maple 

 trees, or other plant wounds, aphid dis- 

 charges, sugar synip, etc., but such as these 

 can hardly come under the term real honey. 

 Possibly, if there is such a thing as honey- 

 dew this might be entitled to the name of 

 honey after being stored and capped over 

 by the bees; but, if I am correct, this, as 

 well as such substances as those named 

 above, lack in flavor, and could hardly be 

 classed as good floral honey. Little honey 

 would be eaten if it were not for its flavor, 

 for the same amount of nutriment could be 

 more cheaply secured by buying sugar and 

 making it into a syrup of the consistency of 

 honey. Flavor carries an important item in 

 the economy of nature; and so important 

 do we consider it that we add it to our food 

 as we desire. Does not the flavor of ice- 

 cream give it the delightful taste which 

 causes us to be so eager for it ? The 

 flavor stimulates the appetite, and very 

 likely aids in digestion. Of what worth 

 would we consider the multitude of good 

 things which we now enjoy when eating if 

 all of them were deprived of flavor ? Honey 

 gets its value and character largely from 

 its flavor, and its flavor is mainlj^ derived 

 from principles contained in the nectar. 

 Each kind takes its distinctive flavor from 

 flowers, each kind of flower having its dis- 

 tinctive source. I liave been told that the 

 honey takes its flavor from the secretions of 

 the bees; but if tliis were true, what be- 

 comes of the wide difference in flavor of 

 honey from the nectar of different trees and 

 plants? Wonderful indeed would be the 

 power of the bees if they could give such 

 difference as is seen between the mild bass- 

 wood honey and the rank buckwheat. 



Honey is a rich, nutritious food. Its nu- 

 triment comes from the sugar it contains. 

 Pi operly speaking bees do not gather honey 

 and store it in their combs, but they gather 

 the nectar of flowers, and through manipu- 



lation and evaporation change it to honey. 

 Honey is the prepared food for the colony, 

 stored away for their future use. They 

 not only manipulate the nectar, doubtless 

 adding some of their secretions to it, but 

 they generate more or less of the heat nec- 

 essaiT for the changing of the nectar into 

 honeJ^ Bees possess a wonderful faculty 

 for generating heat. When needed, they 

 can bring the temperature inside the cluster 

 from 80 to 95 degrees F. when it is down to 

 zero in the open air. Of course, nothing of 

 this kind occurs at times of nectar-gather- 

 ing; but when nearly or quite a freezing 

 temperature occurs during a night after a 

 good flow of nectar from fruit-bloom, no 

 lowering of the temperature inside will be 

 noticed unless this freezing temperature is 

 long continued. When the nectar is flrst 

 gathered by the bees it usually contains an 

 excess of moisture that has to be removed 

 before it can become honey. The heat with- 

 in the hive and cluster causes the moisture 

 to evaporate, and the warm air of the hive 

 to absorb it. To drive this moisture-laden 

 air out of the hive the bees rapidly vibrate 

 their wings. New air rushes in to supply 

 its place. This goes through the same 

 course of being warmed, circulated, mois- 

 ture-laden, and finally driven out at the en- 

 trance. Man}' times have I seen water 

 running in front on the alighting-board on 

 a cool morning after a good flow of nectar. 

 Then all nectar is manipulated by the 

 bees taking it in its raw state into the 

 honey-sac and forcing it out into the mouth 

 parts, drawing it back into the sac again; 

 then forcing it out again, and so on until it 

 becomes honey of sutfleient density for cap- 

 ping over. By this operation, besides the 

 evaporation of moisture, sufficient secre- 

 tions of the bees are added and mixed with 

 the nectar to make it honey when properly 

 thickened. These secretions are probably 

 needed to hinder fermentation and decom- 

 position of the nectar. They also give a 

 change in flavor, so that the honey does not 

 have the same flavor as the perfume from 

 the flowers from which it is gathered, nor 

 the smell of the raw nectar when first 

 brought in. Take buckwheat for instance. 

 The aroma from a field when in full bloom, 

 as it is wafted to our nostrils by a gentle 

 breeze, is very inviting and lovely. But at 

 nightfall, after a day of heavy gathering in 

 a large apiaiy, no carrion could be more 

 offensive to one who knows not the source 

 from which it came. But after the bees have 

 changed this raw nectar into thoroughly 

 ripened honey this bad smell is all gone. 



