THOUSAND ANSWERS 



121 



Holy Land Bees. — Q. Are the Holy Land bees a different kind 

 from tlie others, or are they a substitute under a different name? 

 I would like a description of them — color, etc. 



A. The Holy Land is the same as the Palestine, and comes 

 from Palestine. They are distinguished as being very prolific, and 

 for starting and maturing a great number of queen-cells ; but for 

 some reason they seem not to be in general favor. 



Fig. 81. Blossom and stalk of the bitterweed of the South. It is the cause of 

 most bitter honey. 



Honey, Bitter. — Q. In this vicinity, 30 miles north of Chatta- 

 nooga, all of the honey stored before May 20, this year, was de- 

 cidedly bitter. Some say it was peach bloom, some black gum, 

 some dogwood. Do any of these cause bitter honey? 



I have been inclined to think the bitter honey came from the 

 bitterweed, or yellow fennel, which was stored in the brood-cham- 

 ber last September, as there was lots of it in this section last fall. 

 Some of my colonies stored as much as 20 or 30 pounds apiece in 

 supers. It was as bitter as quinine. I fed it to weaker colonies. 

 Could this have been removed from the brood-chamber and car- 

 ried into the super, as they wanted to make room for the brood, 

 and mixed with other honey? 



