250 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE. 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 



NOTES ON HONEY. 



When Virgil said honey was "Heaven's gift, food fit for the gods,"^ 

 he must have meant gods celestial and gods terrestial. Honey is as 

 essential as salt for a food constituent. It contains both sucrose 

 (cane sugar) and glucose (fruit sugar), not the manufactured article 

 sold under that name, but the pure fruit sugars from Nature's 

 laboratories. "Heaven's gift" is also more or less flavoured with 

 the volatile oils of the flowers upon which the bees work ; hence the 

 justly celebrated honeys of Crete, Minorca, and Narbonne are due 

 to the flavour of the volatile oils of rosemary. The ancients loudly 

 sang the praises of the honey from Hymettus ; its celebrated flavor 

 was due to the oils of the flowers of thyme. The grateful flavour 

 of the honey of Provens is produced from the flowers of lavender. 

 The delicious flavour and pleasant aroma of Cuban honey is the 

 result of the oil of neroli, which is obtained by the bees from the 

 blossoms of the various members of the citrus family, chiefly that of 

 the orange. Cuba, an island in size one-sixth less than England, 

 in one year exported honey and wax to the value of £130,000. This 

 amount does not include the honey and wax consumed and used on 

 the island. 



Large quantities of honey, equally as palatable and contain- 

 ing as an agreeable an aroma as this justly celebrated Cuban article, 

 is produced in this State, notably in that part of the county of 

 Cumberland lying between Parramatta and Gordon, and also in 

 other citrus districts of New South Wales. All that is required 

 to obtain this far-famed honey for the market is a certain amount 

 of care in the management of the hive during the honey-flow from 

 the orange-trees. At the time these trees and other members of 

 the same family are seen in blossom-bud, the bee-keeper should care- 

 fully examine every frame in the hiv^e, and remove the winter 

 storage that has not been consumed. It will not be found neces- 

 siary to remove every cell of unused honey, more especially if the 

 surplus supply is in colour a light amber. The oil of neroli is very 

 penetrative, and its pleasant perfume will soon permeate the un- 

 used residue of the winter stock. As soon as the petals of the 

 orange-blossom are seen thickly on the ground, i.e., when the young 

 fruit have fairly set, no time should be lost in securing the harvest 

 of orange-blossom honey. The almond flavour sometimes met with 



