Honey and Mead Honey is off the ration ; nectar
is free for all, and many people may have been surprised that honeycombs are now more than double their normal price. They are apt to forget that the honey season is short, and that bees used to be sugar-fed in winter. Sugar being in short supply and double its former price, it is not surprising that honeycombs are expensive. There are, of course,- honeycombs and honeycombs. There is still the honeycomb that can be bought for two shillings, and there is still the honeycomb that tastes like slightly sweetened chewing-gum. My part-time gardener, whose honey takes second prize in the open-to-the-world class, and whose mead takes first for All England, is naturally derisive of such honey. Neverthe- less, it is a little disturbing to find an excellent Guatemalan honey coming into the country at about sixpence less than the home bee- keeper can produce it. It is also interesting to find that mead is still made and that there is still a class for it in open competition. Mead is a highly potent and pleasant drink, which sells at something between seven and ten shillings a pint. Finally, a correspondent seeks informa- tion about holy bees. I am completely ignorant, and so is my bee- keeper. Perhaps a correspondent can help?
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