ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



151 



Various species of Eucalyptus. 



Guava (Psidium spp.) 



Lantana. 



Various species of citrus-orange, 

 lemon, lime, etc. 



Lioquat (Eriobotrya japonica.) 



Various species of cucurbits. 



Rose apple (Eugenia jambos.) 



Sugar cane (Saccharum ofiicinarum.) 



Tamarind (Tamarindus indica. ) 



Tobacco (Nicotinana tabacum.) 



Catalpa speciosa, a good honey tree 

 introduced some three years ago by 

 Mr. Jared G. Smith, special agent in 

 charge of this station. 



Ilima (Sida cordifolia.) 



Palms. , 



Sugar cane should be omitted since 

 the honey really comes from insects 

 and not the cane proper. To these 

 three other plants may be added "hila- 

 hila" (Hawaiian for "shame," the 

 name being given to a sensitive 

 plant), "Mamani" and one other plant 

 for which a name was not obtained. 

 The botanical classification of these 

 plants is not yet to hand. Mr. Van 

 Dine also reports "oi" (Verbena con- 

 tortus), pili grass (Heteropogon con- 

 tortus), ohia lehua (Metrosideros vil- 

 losa), and several others. This phase 

 of the work is being done in a most 

 complete manner by Mr. Van Dine, 

 who will publish his results as soon 

 as complete. 



Other Sources of Honey. 



Insect Honeydew. — Hawaii is pecul- 

 iar in that the majority of the honey 

 produced is from some source other 

 than flowers. Two-thirds of the honey 

 shipped annually from the islands is 

 largely or entirely honeydew honey. 

 The vast majority of this comes from 

 the exudations of the sugar cane leaf 

 hopper (Perkinsiella saccharicida) and 

 possibly some from the sugar cane 

 aphis (Aphis saccharl) although while 

 on the Islands I observed none of the 

 latter species. Of course, in a trop- 

 ical country there are many other in- 

 sects producing more or less honey- 

 dew. 



Honeydew from the sugar cane leaf 

 hopper is very dark amber in color 

 and slightly ropy. In flavor it very 

 strongly resembles molasses from the 

 cane juice. Since the color and flavor 

 are so marked, a small amount of this 

 when mixed with the mild light color- 



ed algarroba honey imparts the color 

 and flavor of honeydew to the entire 

 amount. Most honeydew honeys on 

 the mainland granulate very rapidly, 

 but this type does not granulate at all. 

 Samples several years old are as clear 

 as when first extracted. 



The chemical composition of Hawai- 

 ian honeydew honey is quite unlike 

 that of floral honey and this fact has 

 led to the charge of adulteration by 

 buyers on the mainland and in foreign 

 markets. Since nowhere else, as far 

 as I am aware, is honeydew honey 

 produced in such large quantities, it is 

 not strange that cursory examinations 

 were misleading. I saw enough while 

 on the islands to convince me that, 

 however unlike floral honey this prod- 

 uct maj' be, it is a natural sweet prod- 

 uct collected and stored by the bees 

 and is then extracted and shipped 

 with no additions of other sugars. 



* When the Food and Drug Act of 

 1906 went into effect, the Hawaiian 

 Bee-Keepers' Associations sent a rep- 

 resentative to "Washington to find out 

 under what name they could market 

 their crop, since it does not conform 

 with the standard of the Association 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists. 

 They were informed that it could be 

 sold on the mainland market provided 

 they label it just what it is. This they 

 have done and it is now sold as honey- 

 dew honey. The bee-keepers of Ha- 

 waii fully realize the peculiar honey 

 with which they have to deal and are 

 not attempting to market honeydew 

 honey in competition with floral honey 

 for table use. It goes to the baking 

 trade and for such use is reported to 

 f be satisfactory; at any rate the price 

 received is equal to that received for 

 algarroba honey. 



As stated elsewhere, bees prefer 

 floral nectar to honej'-dew. However, 

 when the supply of floral nectar is 

 not great the bees work on both and 

 as a result there are mixtures of the 

 two stored in the hives varying all 

 the way from the pure honey-dew 

 honey to pure floral honey. It is these 

 mixtures that cause the trouble in 

 labeling. The standard on honey* 

 allows some honeydew in honey and 

 therefore, to be absolutely certain 

 whether a given quantity of the prod- 

 uct of the islands may be sold as 

 honey or honej'deAV honey, a chemical 

 analysis is necessary. The various 

 mixtures which occur are well illus- 

 trated in Plate I. of Bulletin 110, Bu- 



