HONEY.
Origin--How Collected and Stored--Constitution--Poisonous
Honey--Best varieties of Honey--Distances traversed by Bees in
search of Honey--Uses.
Honey is mainly derived from the nectar of flowers. We say mainly,
because bees are able to make use of many sweet liquids, such as the
juices of ripe fruits, the substances constituting what is called
"honey-dew," the syrup of sugar, and the solid material of sweetmeats.
Still, by far the larger proportion of honey is derived from flowers.
By means of its long flexible tongue the bee sucks from the nectaries
of various plants the sweet liquid they contain. In an expansion of the
gullet, which somewhat resembles the crop of birds, some slight, but
important, chemical changes appear to take place, and while a portion
of the fluid passes into the true stomach for the nourishment of the
insect, the rest is regurgitated into a cell of one of the combs.
At first the honey thus deposited is very thin, but by evaporation
under the warmth of the hive, a portion of the water passes off, and
a process of what apiarians call "ripening" goes on, after which the
remaining liquid is less liable to fermentation, when extracted from
the comb.
Honey appears to consist mainly of two kinds of sugar, one of which
is closely allied to that contained in the grape, and which by
spontaneous change is apt to crystallise in contact with air. The other
is uncrystallisable, like the purest treacle, and mingled with it are
slight quantities of colouring matter and mucilage. These sugars are
somewhat apt to undergo a vinous fermentation, of which advantage
has been taken in the manufacture of mead--a drink much used by the
inhabitants of these islands in ancient times as a stimulant, and even
intoxicant.
The taste of honey varies according to the flowers or other sources
from which it has been chiefly derived. That procured from flowers,
especially those of the labiate family--from the clovers, the
lime-blossoms, and the heaths--is most esteemed. That which has been
derived from sugar-syrup differs but slightly from the liquid of its
origin. That procured from what is called honey-dew, or the secretion
of various sorts of aphides, is very worthless in quality, though bees
are extremely fond of the liquid.
It is a remarkable and unfortunate fact, that the honey collected from
certain flowers is, though innocuous to bees, more or less injurious to
the human body. Xenophon tells us in his _Anabasis_ that his soldiers
found many hives in the neighbourhood of Trebizonde, and, after eating
of the contents, the men were seized with violent purging and vomiting,
stupefaction, and inability to stand. Those who ate little became like
men very drunk, and those who ate much, like madmen, and some like
dying persons. In this condition great numbers lay upon the ground, as
if there had been a defeat. None of them died, and in about twenty-four
hours they recovered consciousness. On the third or fourth day after
the seizure they got up, but were like men who had taken powerful
physic.
Tournefort, when travelling in Asia Minor, recollecting these
historical circumstances, made careful investigations as to the
probabilities of the case. Two kinds of shrubs were pointed out to
him as bearing flowers, the honey from which was deleterious, and the
very odour of which is still said to produce headache. These plants
were the _rhododendron Ponticum_, and _azalea Pontica_, nearly allied
species, growing abundantly in that part of the world. Father Lamberti
corroborates Xenophon's description, by stating that similar effects
have been produced by the honey of Colchis, where these shrubs are
common.
We learn from an account published by Dr. Barton in the _American
Philosophical Transactions_, that, in the autumn of 1790, several
fatal cases occurred near Philadelphia, from eating honey collected in
the neighbourhood. An official investigation into the circumstances
led to the conviction that the source of the mischief lay in the
flowers of the _kalmia latifolia_ Still more recently, some persons
in New York lost their lives from, as it was supposed, eating honey
derived from the flowers of a species of dwarf laurel, common in the
vicinity. A further instance of the influence of the kalmia tribe of
flowers is given in the fact that honey drawn chiefly from the species
_latifolia_, in New Jersey, is unsaleable, from its intoxicating
qualities, though the bees themselves thrive prodigiously upon it.
Sometimes the colour is said to indicate the nature of the liquid,
that which is mischievous being distinguished by a reddish or brown
tinge; but this is by no means a sure indication of quality, for, in
Florida and Carolina, the wild honey having harmful properties is so
like in appearance that which is perfectly wholesome, that the hunters
at first eat very sparingly of their newly-found treasures, till they
have proved, by experimenting on themselves, what its properties are.
Again, some "blood-red honey," found in Abyssinia, is said to be quite
free from objectionable elements; and Linnæus tells us that the Swedish
honey from the heath-flowers is of a reddish hue, but excellent in
quality. That obtained in the Highlands of Scotland is occasionally
observed to have a brownish tinge, but no ill effects are found to
result from the use of it, though some have asserted that it has a
soporific influence.
There is little doubt that the colours of honey from different
localities vary according to the prevalence of flowers most frequently
visited by the bees. Its aroma and taste are influenced, as we might
suppose, by the same circumstances. As a natural result, we find also
that the excellence of the liquid depends much on the season at which
it is collected. The primest is the produce of the early summer. That
which is stored in spring excels what is gleaned in autumn. The produce
of the earlier part of the harvest is better than that which is stored
when flowers grow scarce and fruits are ripening.
The distances to which bees will travel in search of their
food-supplies are very astonishing. They have been proved to fly four
or five miles to favourite pasturage. A gentleman, wishing to test
this fact, dusted with fine flour his bees as they emerged from a
hive. Then driving to a heath five miles distant, which he knew to
be much frequented by the insects, he soon found many of those which
he had sprinkled at home. Their instinct, indeed, appears to lead
them considerably afield, and hence it is of slight use to plant,
as recommended by some writers, particular flowers near an apiary.
Moreover, unless such flowers are grown for seed purposes, or in very
large quantities, the amount of nutriment they will afford is almost
inappreciable.
Fields where the white or Dutch clover abounds, and heath districts,
are, perhaps, the finest sources of honey-supply. Our fruit blossoms of
almost all kinds also furnish abundant stores to the busy insects.
The uses of honey hardly require to be pointed out. Besides being an
agreeable addition to the breakfast or tea-table, as a substitute for
butter, it is often very serviceable as a laxative, when taken in
moderate quantity. It is frequently employed in medical confections, as
a vehicle for the administration of certain drugs; and its generally
wholesome properties have been thoroughly ascertained. Its use for the
manufacture of metheglin, or mead, is not now extensive, but in earlier
periods of British history this beverage was held in high esteem.