HONEY. 47 



qualities, though the bees themselves thrive pro- 

 digiously upon it. 



Sometimes the colour is said to indicate the nature 

 of the liquid, that which is mischievous being dis- 

 tinguished by a reddish or brown tinge ; but this is by 

 no means a sure indication of quality, for, in Florida 

 and Carolina, the wild honey having harmful pro- 

 perties is so like in appearance that which is perfectly 

 wholesome, that the hunters at first eat very sparingly 

 of their newly-found treasures, till they have proved, by 

 experimenting on themselves, what its properties are. 

 Again, some " blood-red honey/' found in Abyssinia, 

 is said to be quite free from objectionable elements ; 

 and Linnaeus tells us that the Swedish honey from 

 the heath-flowers is of a reddish hue, but excellent in 

 quality. That obtained in the Highlands of Scotland 

 is occasionally observed to have a brownish tinge, 

 but no ill effects are found to result from the use of 

 it, though some have asserted that it has a soporific 

 influence. 



There is little doubt that the colours of honey from 

 different localities vary according to the prevalence 

 of flowers most frequently visited by the bees. Its 

 aroma and taste are influenced, as we might suppose, 

 by the same circumstances. As a natural result, we 

 find also that the excellence of the liquid depends 

 much on the season at which it is collected. The 

 primest is the produce of the early summer. That 

 which is stored in spring excels what is gleaned in 

 autumn. The produce of the earlier part of the 

 harvest is better than that which is stored when 

 flowers grow scarce and fruits are ripening. 



The distances to which bees will travel in search of 



