CHAPTER XL 



HONEY. 



" HONEY is a well known sweet, tenacious substance, 

 which in fine weather is continually secreting in the 

 nectaries of flowers, chiefly from certain vesicles or 

 glands situated near the basis of every petal from 

 whence it is collected by bees and other insects. 

 The domestic honey bees consume a portion of this 

 honey for food at or near the time of gathering, but 

 the principal part of what they collect is regurgitated 

 and poured into the cells of the hives for the use of 

 the community in winter ; so very abundant are these 

 collections in favorable seasons as to afford the apia- 

 rian an extensive share of them without distressing 

 the provident hoarders. Mr. Wildman states that 

 in the year 1789 he purchased a glass filled with 

 exceedingly fine honey-combs, weighing sixty-three 

 pounds, which had been collected within a month, and 

 that the hive which it had surmounted, still contained 

 a full supply for the winter's consumption of the bees. 

 " The 'honey intended for early use, and for the 

 nursing bees and drones, is deposited in cells which 

 are allowed to remain open ; whilst the finest honey, 



