CHAPTER VI.
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.