THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 181 



to which they gave the name of ambrosia. Honey 

 is particularly to be ascribed to the circulation of the 

 sap at the return of spring. Like the other produc- 

 tions of the Bee, Naturalists have differed as to the 

 origin of honey. Some moderns, led away by vul- 

 gar opinion, have thought that honey is a moisture 

 in the air, or a dew which falls upon the flowers and 

 leaves of trees, and no where else. It is not a diffi- 

 cult matter to convince those persons of their er- 

 ror, who ought,, in the first place, to consider, that 

 dew and rain are very injurious to honey, as they di- 

 lute it, and prevent the Bees from finding it. It is on 

 a close and sultry day that the Bees find the richest 

 harvest of honey. If dew were the principle of it, 

 the Bees would find it indiscriminately upon all flow- 

 ers and vegetables ; this is not the case, as confirmed 

 by experience ; and besides, how many flowers are 

 there, which being in themselves fertile in honey, and 

 having an horizontal or perpendicular inclination 

 to the earth, consequently do not allow the dew to 

 be received into their orifices. It is, therefore, most 

 consistent with reason and experience to suppose, 

 that the honey-dew is an exudation of the vegetables 

 themselves, or a sensible transpiration of that sweet 

 and mellifluous juice, which, having circulated in the 

 different parts of certain vegetables, separates itself, 

 and bursts quite unprepared, either at the bottoms of 

 flowers, or at the upper parts of the leaves, and in 

 some plants appears in great abundance. The pri- 

 mary destination of this mellifluous liquid, or honey- 

 dew, appears to be the nourishment of the fruit in its 

 infancy. But an objection here presents itself; why 

 are the male flowers, which never produce fruit, also 

 provided with this honey ? Linneus himself was 

 aware of this objection, and could not solve it to his 

 satisfaction. The utility of honey to the flowers, 

 and the reason of its being accorded to them by the 

 Author of nature, are but imperfectly known to us. 

 No Botanist has as yet given a direct and convincing 



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