\$± POISONOUS HONEY OF NORTH AMERICA! 



honey. It is faid that the Indians, and fame of the Whiles, 

 ufe cold bathing with advantage. It is probable that this 

 practice has been ufeful. As the effects produced by this 

 honey are fo fimilar to thofe produced by feveral narcotic 

 vegetables that are well known to us, iuch as opium, hen- 

 bane *, thorn-apple +, &c. it is probable that the fame means 

 of treatment will be found ufeful in both cafes. Qf thofe 

 means it is not neceflary to make particular mention in this 

 place. 

 The bees them- ft would be curious to afcertain, whether the bees are 

 bably injured by ever m j lire d or deftroyed by the quaffing of the nectar of the 

 jhe plants which flowers from which they prepare the poifonous honey. It is 

 Kone n0X1 ° US probable that they are ; and, perhaps, fome of the difeafes 

 of thefe little infects may arife from this fource t. It is true, 

 indeed, that there are fome poifonous plants the nectar of 

 which the bees will not touch. This is the cafe with the fri- 

 tillaria imperials, or crown imperial §. I do not remember 

 to have feen bees in, or immediately about, the flowers of 

 the common rofebay, or oleander j|, in the tube of which there 

 is a fluid which deft toys thoufands of the common houfe flies. 

 But what is called inftind is not always fure. The bees may 

 prepare an honey from plants that are very injurious to therm 

 The excellent Mr. Evelyn, fpeaking of the elm fays, " but 

 I hear an ill report of this tree for bees, that, furfeiting of the 

 blooming feeds, they are obnoxious to the lafk **, at their 

 firft going abroad in fpring, which endangers whole flocks, if 

 remedies be not timely exhibited ; therefore, 'tis faid, in great 



* Hyofcyamus niger. 



-J- Datura ftramonium. 



X Dr. James E. Smith aflerts that the honey or ne&or of plants 

 is not poifonous to bees. Syllabus to a Cgurfe of Leftures on Botany ^ 

 p. 23. I have fome good reafon to believe that, fometimes at leaft, 

 the contrary is the cafe. 



§ Linnaeus, fpeaking of this plant, fays, " Nulla, excepto 

 Meliantbo, copiofiori melle fcatet planta, quam ha?c; fed apes id 

 non colliguntP Praelectiones in Ordines Naturales Plantarum. 

 EdidJt Gifeke. p. 297. Hamburgi, 1792. 



|] Nerium oleander. 



** This is one of the moll mortal difeafes of bees. It is beauti- 

 fully defcribed, and the remedies for it mentioned, by Virgil, 

 Georgic. lib. iv. 1. 251—280. 



5 elm 





