26 LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY 



fine quality to wild thyme. The best honey in Per- 

 sia and in Florida is collected from the orange blos- 

 som. The celebrated honey of Xarbonne in the 

 south of France is obtained from a species of rose- 

 mary. In Scotland good honey is made from the 

 blossoming heather. 



California honey is white and delicate and highly 

 perfumed, and now takes the lead in the market. 

 But honey is honey the world over; and the bee 

 is the bee still. "Men may degenerate," says an 

 old traveler, "may forget the arts by which they 

 acquired renown; manufactures may fail, and com- 

 modities be debased; but the sweets of the wild- 

 flowers of the wilderness, the industry and natural 

 mechanics of the bee, will continue without change 

 or derogation," 



