452 HONEY PRODUCTION. 



superior to oils or the crude grease of animals, was greatly 

 appreciated by the priests, and placed among the best offerings 

 required to please the gods. The custom of offering wax, or 

 wax candles, continued to this day by some churches, especially 

 by the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, caused for cen- 

 turies the levy of heavy taxes, payable in beeswax, in coun- 

 tries where the inhabitants kept bees. Some countries, in 

 Europe, had to pay to the church, every year, several hundred 

 thousand pounds of beeswax. Such taxes compelled the bee- 

 keepers to separate the honey from the wax with as little waste 

 as possible. 



Different grades of honey were harvested by the careful 

 Apiarists. The light-colored combs produced a light-colored 

 and pure honey; the combs which had contanied brood pro- 

 duced turbid honey of inferior quality. 



747. These primitive methods were afterwards greatly 

 ameliorated, as for instance, in the French province of Ga- 

 tinais, where the bee-keepers used the heat of the sun to melt 

 the combs, and separate the honey from the melted wax. The 

 choice honey obtained in Gatinais, from the sainfoin, cannot be 

 excelled by our Ijest extracted clover honey, as to color and 

 taste, and it is sold in Paris altogether. 



Owing to these causes, strained honey, of different grades, 

 was a staple in Europe. But the demand being ahead of the 

 supply, especially when the season was unfavorable for bees, 

 Europe imported strained honey from Chili, and Cuba, and 

 lately, extracted honey from California. 



748. These causes did not exist in this country. Bees 

 were scarce here at first. The American settlers had too 

 much work on hand to care much for bees. The few who 

 owned a limited number of colonies, brimstoned one of them 

 occasionally, and consumed the honey at home. The more 

 extensive bee owners could sell some broken combs to their 

 neighbors, or a few pounds of strained honey to the druggist, 

 who was not very hard to please, being accustomed to buy 

 Cuba honey, harvested with the most slovenly carelessness. By 



