232 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



days, noted the fact tbat it was never much in the van of the pale- 

 faced aggressor. From the very earliest times the products of this 

 insect were held in the highest esteem. Honey is frequently adverted 

 to Holy Writ as one of the choicest luxuries, and is the theme of both 

 poetry and prose of many of the classic authors. Before the discov- 

 ery of sugar, the manufacture of which was not known in Europe until 

 after the crusade, we can well imagine that honey was not only the 

 ideal sweet, but that it was the only dependable source of that delecta- 

 ble flavor. And even in onr own day, in which there are such a va- 

 riety of sweets, its special character and incomparable excellence 

 create for it an ever increasing demand. As is well known, the flavor, 

 and to some extent the chemical composition, of honey depends upon 

 the flowers from which the nectar is obtained. The celebrated honey 

 of Mt. Hymettus, in ancient Attica, owed its delicate peculiarity to 

 the wild thyme which covered the slopes of that historic hill, and tour- 

 ists in the Swiss provinces of Norborne and Chamouni as they regale 

 themselves on the honey that is invariably served with the matutinal 

 and coffee are told that it is also made from the fragrant mints that 

 are so abundant on the lower slops of the Alps. 



The heaths of England and Scotland and of other parts of the 

 eastern continent also yield nectar of very characteristic and agreea- 

 ble flavor. It is also well known that the honey of certain regions, 

 though perfectly healthful to the bees, proeluces a deleterious effect 

 upon man. Students of Greek will recall how. in Xenophn's Anabasis 

 the honey of Trebezond is said to have produced the effects of intoxi- 

 cation upon the entire army ; and European travelers say that, even in 

 our day, the honey of that province is inedible, retaining a poisonous 

 property from the principal honey plant, a species of Azalia. This is 

 somewhat remarkable, in view of the fact that honey is not merely col- 

 lected nectar, but undergoes a regular manufacture in the proventri- 

 cuius or honey crop of the insect. 



The consumption of honey as food in Europe and America is very 

 great. England, alone, besides her own product, imports from 50 to 

 100 tons annually. Of its amount and value in the United States I 

 have no very recent statistics, but in 1881 the yield was estimated at 

 200,000,000 pounds, of which the money value would not fall below 

 $60,000,000. It is not probable that it is less at the present time. It 

 is said tbat honey of various species of wild bees, which build their 

 nests in trees, is the principal article of food of certain tribes of South 

 American Indians. In Spain and southeastern Europe bee-keeping is 

 one of the most profitable industries. 



The uses of honev in medicine and the arts are multifarious. It 



