VARIOUS INSECTS EATEN AS FOOD. 373 



Honey. — There is another insect product which forms 

 a species of subsidiary food product, and that is honey. 

 It is very largely used by many people and therefore 

 deserves a few words of notice in this volume. 



In 1869 we imported 1-5,000 cwts. besides a home pro- 

 duction of about 2,000 tons. As honey is not enumerated 

 now in the Board of Trade returns it is not possible to 

 ascertain what our imports at present are. 



At the present day all the civilised countries of the 

 globe produce honey and give more or less attention to 

 apiculture, according as the climate and vegetation are 

 suited to the bees. The best honey is, however, the pro- 

 duct of the milder parts of the temperate zone. 



The principal European countries for honey are 

 Russia, France, Austria, Germany, Spain and Portugal. 

 A good deal of wild honey is, however, obtained by the 

 native tribes in Australia, India, Africa and South 

 America. 



In no other country is the consumption of honey so 

 large as in Russia, viz., some 13,000 tons. The reasons for 

 this are the following : The fast days in the course of 

 the year are numerous among the people attached to the 

 orthodox church. Tea is in general use and honey is 

 preferred to sweeten it, because as bullock's blood is 

 employed in refining the beet-root sugar, it would be 

 considered an infringement of the fasting rules to use it. 

 But this is not the only reason, as a vast number of wax 

 tapers and candles are burned in the churches, hence 

 the demand for beeswax renders apiculture a very profit- 

 able branch of industry. 



The annual production of honey in France in 1873 

 was estimated at 186,224 cwt., but it is now said to have 

 reached 12,000 tons. The departments which possess the 

 greatest quantity of hives are Morbihan, lUe-et-Vilaine, 

 les Cotes du Nord, and La Manche, forming parts of the 

 ancient province of Brittany. Those of which the honey 

 is most esteemed and fetches the highest price are Aude, 

 Herault and Savoy. 



Italy, Greece, and in fact all the countries on the 



