Honey Colour
Last week some 20 lb. of run honey was taken from a hive in my garden. It is excellent honey but dark almost to the point of blackness in the jar. A good deal of this year's honey is, I believe, more than usually dark ; and the bee-masters arc not sure of the reason. Perhaps the most general theory is that in the dry period the bees converted the so called honey-dew into real honey. The trees, especially the oaks, were shiny after this too prettily-named secretion of the aphis. If so the bees had the power and skill to give it the virtue of the true nectar (not honey) from the flowers.
Incidentally, I noticed during this week's reading that several bee- keepers discovered almost simultaneously that soya-bean flour is perfectly designed, as other flour is not, to provide the bees with a rich food early in the season. If you put spoonfuls into a crocus cup the bees will clean it up in no time!
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