458 



May 30, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



will not recognize me proves that 1 

 am non-existent. 



Formic Acid. 



That the percentage of formic acid 

 varies in various honeys, we know. 

 Some 8 years ago, when conducting a 

 series of experiments for the Ontario 

 Government, I discovered this, and the 

 experiment has since been verified in 

 Europe. Finding that when bees 

 worked on buckwheat the sting was 

 more painful, I thought that the per- 

 centage of formic acid in buckwheat 

 honey might be greater than in white 

 honey. A sample of clover and also 

 of buckwheat honey was analyzed, and 

 it was found in the sample sent that 

 buckwheat had about twice as much 

 formic acid as clover honey. I have 

 since realized that this experiment was 

 very crude, and in this direction (for- 

 mic acid) there is still open a wide 

 field for research. We do not yet know 

 if the percentage of formic acid in 

 honey varies in varieties of bees. That 

 is, do Italian, black, Cyprian, Caucasian, 

 etc., show a marked difference in this 

 respect? If not, do individual colonies 

 show the difference? Does honey gath- 

 ered early have less formic acid than 

 honey gathered late, irrespective of the 

 source? If so, may it be because honey 

 gathered early has longer time and 

 more favorable conditions under which 

 it can thicken and be less liable to fer- 

 ment than that gathered later? At 

 what stage, or stages, of ripening is the 

 formic acid put in by the bees, and 

 how? Is it added to as are the secre- 

 tions which invert the honey, or is it 

 added through the organ of defence? 

 I am not afraid to uphold or condemn 

 the "sting trowel theory." In part it 

 may be correct. Is this formic acid 

 valuable, and do the bees keep adding 

 it as it is being ripened? If so, nec- 

 tar evaporated outside of the hive will 

 vary in this respect. I would guess 

 that formic acid is added to the nec- 

 tar in its early stages of evaporation, 

 to prevent fermentation, for without 

 the formic acid in warm and muggy 

 weather, the condition would be fav- 

 orable to start fermentation, the tem- 

 perature of the hive never being high 

 enough to destroy the germs of fer- 

 mentation floating in the atmosphere 

 passed through the hive. 



The formic acid may also be there 

 to disinfect the honey to be fed to the 

 larvae, to prevent the spread of diseas- 

 es peculiar to bees. The constitutional 

 strength of the bee, the vigor of the 

 bacillus, and the percentage of formic 

 acid in the honey, may all have a bear- 

 ing upon the spread of disease in the 

 hive, and may be a factor in the degree 

 oi immunity from diseases of certain 

 strains of bees. When the above points 

 are answered, we can better answer 

 what is the difference between ripen- 

 ing nectar in the hive and evaporating 

 it artificially. 



Aroma. 



As to the diflference in the aroma or 

 flavor, it may be that the formic acid 

 in combination with the essential oil, 

 causes the flavor or aroma to undergo 

 a change. This I do not know. The 

 milder honey, however, changes its 



flavor less than more pronounced flav- 

 ors in the process of ripening. It may 

 be that if there is no essential oil, the 

 formic acid would not have an oil to 

 combine with, and so the change would 

 not take place. We know that the odor 

 in the apiary, especially marked at 

 night, during the gathering season must 

 be at the sacrifice of something. Is 

 this odor not a combination of the pe- 

 culiar odor of the hive in union with 

 the odor from the nectar? If so, no 

 similar artificial condition can be creat- 

 ed. This odor is certainly not similar 

 to that from a ripening tank of nectar. 

 To illustrate the change : The past 

 summer we had 240 colonies located in 

 an apiary in the neighborhood of a 



gratulated upon the work begun at 

 Washington, D. C. Let us do every- 

 thing to encourage good work, and con- 

 demn in all these positions the appoint- 

 ment of inefiicient men. Let us be care- 

 ful not to demand definite results too 

 rapidly. In research work I rather ad- 

 mire the methods of the best European 

 countries, where they study, and study, 

 and work, upon a question, confirming 

 results again and again before much is 

 given to the public. I would also sug- 

 gest that these experimental stations, 

 as far as possible, seek the co-operation 

 and corroboration of our best practical 

 bee-keepers' in their own individual 

 apiaries. A committee even (advised- 

 ly) to advise as to work, and discuss 



R. F. HOLTEKMANN. 



species of mint. I tasted a peculiarly 

 strong flavored honey in the hive, but 

 could not discover its source, until I 

 traced through, first capped and then 

 uncapped honey, back until I tasted 

 the nectar shaken from the comb, and 

 then the smell of the mint blossom. All 

 formed a perfect chain when there ap- 

 peared to be no connection in flavor 

 between the ripe honey and its fresh 

 nectar. Several of my apicultural stu- 

 dents remarked the sanje thing. 



In closing, let me say that we as 

 bee-keepers' do not realize how much 

 there is yet to learn in our profession. 

 We do not realize how great the prac- 

 tical need of learning is, and how little 

 we unitedly are doing to have this work 

 done. The United States is to be con- 



all the points or conditions which must 

 be alike, in order to compare the merits 

 of points not alike, should be of very 

 great value, and such a suggestion from 

 the National Association would surely 

 have its weight, and might — in fact, 

 should — aid the work greatly. 



R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



Oiii- Wood Hinder (or Holder) is 

 made to take all the copies o£ the imerican 

 Bee Journal for a year. It is sent by mail 

 for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. 

 The Bee Journals can be inserted as soon as 

 they are received, and thus preserved for 

 future reference. Or we will send it with the 

 American Bee Journal a year — both for $1.10. 

 Address ofiice of the American Bee Journal. 



