iTo THE EDITOR OF TN/ " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Having read your
article in the Spectator of August 27th referring to the "bee wine" which is becoming popular in England, I am sending you such information as I have gleaned from observation and inquiry among those who keep it. The propagators of the " wine" are sometimes called " holy bees." They are, to look at, very like lumps of tapioca floating in the wine. They are said to come from Palestine, and are called " holy bees," because once a week they sink to the bottom of the jars and cease to work. It is true that they multiply rapidly, and must be divided constantly, or they would undoubtedly overcrowd the jars. They are, I believe, a form of fungus, for if the liquid is not poured off and renewed about once a fort- night they become covered with a kind of mildew. They must be fed on a teaspoonful of sugar once a week, and when working bubbles can be seen rising from them to the surface of the water. I am told that the wine is highly intoxicating.—I am,
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