MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

122 DR. MILLER^SA. I'm rather glad to live where I have no chance for practicalknowledge of such objectionable honey.Generally, the honey in the brood-chamber is used up forbrood, but if the queen were crowded for room the bees mightcarry honey from the brood-chamber into the super to make roomfor her.Helenium tenuifolium, also called "bitterweed" and "sneezeweed,"yields bitter honey, but it is not the same as fennel (Anthemiscotula), which is a -chamomile and yields no honey.Honey, Bottled.—Q. What do you think of the plan of bottlinghoney and making it an expensive luxury so that the consumercan just taste of it occasionally? Would there not be more of thespirit of "loving our neighbors as ourselves" to cut out the middlesystem of bottling and sell it to him at a figure so that he canmake it an article of everyday diet? In the long run, would therenot be more dollars and cents for the beekeeper?A. The way to do is to sell honey in as large and inexpensivecontainers as possible so as to make as little expense as possiblefor each pound sold. That ought to give the consumer the mostfor his money and the producer the most money for his honey.Unfortunately, however, we are often controlled by conditionsand circumstances. A large part of the consuming public is inthe habit of buying in small quantities. A Chicago retail grocerwho should keep honey only in 20 to 60-pound packages wouldprobably sell very little honey; whereas, plenty of customers willbuy a pound at a time, even if they must pay for a bottle of novalue to them. What better can he do than to keep the .emailpackages?Honey, Color of.—Q. I would like to know the cause of darkhoney.A. The color of honey depends upon the source from whichthe bees obtain the nectar. From buckwheat they get honey thatis very dark, from fireweed that which is very light, and varyinggrades from other plants. Sometimes there is a difference in theshade of the same kind of honey obtained in different regions oron different soils. Some alfalfa honey is a shade darker than thelightest to be found elsewhere.Q. The bees are all storing dark honey, and it has a strongflavor. No one seems to know what causes it, as we have lots ofwhite clover, and also lots of rain.A. The trouble may be honeydew, and there is no remedy,unless it be to take off all surplus arrangements at the beginning