THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 195 



injure the Bees. Honey to be preserved, should be 

 put into close vessels, corked close, and put into a 

 dry place, to preserve it from souring; it should 

 never be mixed with honey that has acquired consis- 

 tency ; this will cause a fermentation, and render 

 both sour. The Abbe della Rocca says, that sixty 

 pounds of honey-comb, will yioldsix or seven pounds 

 of wax; but I could never obtain more than three or 

 four pounds of wax to a hundred pounds of comb. 

 There is scarcely any article in commerce more ac|,ul- 

 terated than honey ; it is generally sold by weight, 

 and mixed with other farinaceous substances, by 

 which means it is very seldom obtained pure, in 

 market. Water is a test by which adulterated ho- 

 ney may be discovered. Honey, impregnated with 

 flour, gives to the water a milky colour ; and, when 

 boiled in water, gives a scum, which, when taken off 

 and cooled, becomes a fine farinaceous substance. 

 Honey is, however, not equal in its quality, but the 

 choice is easy and important. The best honey, is 

 new, transparent, of a ropy consistency, of a fra- 

 grant and agreeable smell, rather aromatic, and of a 

 sweet pungent taste. The white is preferable to the 

 yellow ; the new to the old ; the honey of the spring, 

 to that of the summer, or autumn ; and that when 

 boiled, gives the least froth; and that which gives 

 a mild odour is preferable to that which gives a 

 strong odour. These are the general characteristic 

 features of honey. 



CHAP. XVII. 



On the cause of the mortality of Bees. 



The first of these are the diseases to which they 

 are incident, and the casualties of life, together with the 

 cruelty of man in robbing and destroying his swarms 



