THOUSAND ANSWERS 129 



seemed to be storing something in the warm days of February, 

 before there was any blossoms of any kind. (Georgia.) 



A. Honeydew may come almost any time pJants are growing; 

 but I supect your bees are working on something else than honey- 

 dew in February. 



Q. Will bees work on honeydew during a flow from clover or 

 basswood? 



A. Not to any great extent. They prefer the better article 

 of food. 



Q. The grading rules of Colorado class honey contaminated 

 by honeydew as not permitted in shipping grades. How is honey- 

 dew detected in the comb? 



A. I'm not sure that Colorado officials have any particular 

 rule as to how it is to be detected, but a good guess can be made 

 by both looks and smell while in the comb, and if necessary it 

 can be sampled by taste. It generally has a cloudy, dark look 

 that honey does not have, and its smell is peculiar. Even if a 

 certain sample of honey could not be positively identified as 

 honeydew, if it were so much like it as to make it difficult to de- 

 cide, I suppose it would be ruled out. 



Q. My bees are working on honeydew, the trees just glistening 

 with it; the leaves look as if they were varnished, and in the 

 morning when the dew is on the bees work "to beat the band." I 

 have several hundred pounds of it in the supers. It is bad-looking 

 stuff and not fit to eat or sell. What can I do with it? Will it do 

 to feed bees? 



A. It will do to feed to the bees in the spring or any time 

 when they will use it for brood-rearing; but don't give it to them 

 for winter stores. Such honey may be sold for baking or mechan- 

 ical purposes or it may be made into vinegar. It is also used by 

 manufacturers of chewing tobacco. 



Q. (a) Why is it that in honeydew seasons some colonies 

 gather more honeydew than others? Such has been my experi- 

 ence. 



(b) Do certain races gather less honeydew than others? I 

 have been told so. 



A. (a) Possibly there is a difference in colonies as to their 

 preference for different sources. One year I had one or more 

 colonies that gathered honey of light color while the rest gath- 

 ered buckwheat. It might be that they strongly preferred the 

 lighter honey, or it might be that they just happened on the 

 lighter honey in some particular place. 



(b) It- is possible. 



