32 FLORA OF Al'STiiALiA. 



I think, from the facts already adverted to, that some places 

 are much more favourable for the propagation of bees than others, 

 and that the good or bad qualities of the honey are to be attributed 

 to the flora of the country where it is procured. The natural 

 family of the Labiates presents us with some of the species best 

 adapted for bees, but as I have before observed, New South 

 Wales affords many plants suitable for the same purpose, though 

 not so fragrant as the flora of Mount Hybla ; and it may be re- 

 marked that whilst in many parts of Europe there is not a flower 

 to be seen during the dreary months of winter, this colony is never 

 without its flowering shrubs. Nor, indeed, can I believe that 

 there are many native shrubs injurious to bees, or calculated to 

 impart a poisonous quality to their honey. And it is this con- 

 sideration which induces me to hesitate in receiving too credulously 

 the statement respecting the honey of Borrogoraug. Further in- 

 vestigation may lead me to alter my opinion, especially if it should 

 appear that other cases, similar to the one reported by Dr. Bell, 

 have occurred ; but for the present, I am inclined to believe that 

 a flora singularly deficient as ours is in the genera which are sup- 

 posed to have done so much mischief in other parts of the world, 

 is not likely to impregnate the honey of the colony with any 

 poisonous qualities. 



Besides Corsica and the southern shores of the Black Sea, 

 some parts of America are instanced as producing deleterious 

 honey. A remarkable proof of this is given by Dr. Barton, in the 

 fifth volume of " The American Philosophical Transactions." In 

 the autumn and winter of the year 1790, an extensive mortality 

 was produced amongst those who had partaken of the honey col- 

 lected in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. The attention of 

 the American Government was excited by the general distress ; 

 a minute inquiry into the cause of the mortality ensued, and it 

 was satisfactorily ascertained that the honey had been chiefly ex- 

 tracted from the flowers of Kalmia latifolia of the family Eri- 

 caceae. "With respect to the honey found in a wild state by the 

 hunters in South Carolina, Georgia, and the two Eloridas, but 

 more especially East Florida, it has been generally considered 

 that it is sometimes rendered noxious by two species of Kalmia 

 and Andromeda moriana, but it appears that even in the parts 

 where these flowers are most abundant, . the honey is only par- 



