SC - honey vs. sugar

[Stephen Bloch]

Michael Farrell wrote:
> ... southern bees(Africa, Middleast) are downright mean.  Some
> breeds will start stinging you if you walk within 40 yards of the hive.  They
> are very difficult to raise; they require a beekeeper who is highly resistant
> to pain.  I don't have sources for this, but I know that bees were kept in
> the Middleast in hives that were essentially clay pots turned sideways.
>  African bees have not been domesticated.  If you want the honey you chop off
> pieces of the hive and pay the price for it.

Some time in the last year, _Aramco World_ published a fascinating
(cover, I think) article on beekeeping in the Arabian peninsula.
Apparently there are varieties of honey that they refuse to sell for
export, and domestically they go for hundreds of dollars a pound.
Anyway, there's also some discussion of hives, swarming, and practical
stuff like that.
					mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
                                                 Stephen Bloch
                                           sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
					 http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/
                                        Math/CS Dept, Adelphi University