CHAPTER VI. 



HONEY. 



Origin — how Collected and Stored — Constitution — Poisonous Honey — 

 Best varieties of Honey — -Distances traversed by Bees in search bf 

 Honey — Uses. 



Honey is mainly derived from the nectar of flowers. 

 We say mainly, because bees are able to make use of 

 many sweet liquids, such as the juices of ripe fruits, 

 the substances constituting what is called "honey- 

 dew," the syrup of sugar, and the solid material of 

 sweetmeats. Still, by far the larger proportion of 

 honey is derived from flowers. By means of its long 

 flexible tongue the bee sucks from the nectaries of 

 various plants the sweet liquid they contain. In an 

 expansion of the gullet, which somewhat resembles 

 the crop of birds, some slight, but important, chemical 

 changes appear to take place, and while a portion of 

 the fluid passes into the true stomach for the nourish- 

 ment of the insect, the rest is regurgitated into a 

 cell of one of the combs. At first the honey thus de- 

 posited is very thin, but by evaporation under the 

 warmth of the hive, a portion of the water passes 

 off, and a process of what apiarians call " ripening " 



