MARKETING HONEY. 477 
CHAPTER XX. 
Honey Hanputine, 
Marketing Honey. 
825. The quality of honey depends very little, if at all, 
upon the secretions of the bees; and hence, apple blossom, 
white clover, buckwheat, and other varieties of honey, have 
each their peculiar flavor, andcolor. The difference between 
the honey of one blossom, and that of another, is so great, 
that persons unacquainted with this diversity, when tasting 
honey different from that to which they are accustomed, 
imagine that either the one or the other is adulterated. 
The most prized and best flavored honey produced in this 
country, is that from white clover blossoms (712). Bass- 
wood honey, if unmixed with any other grade, is too strong 
in taste, but a slight quantity of it in clover honey makes a 
delicious dish. Both these grades, being very white, sell 
more readily than any other, in the comb (719). 
Smart-weed honey, -— which should properly be called 
knot-weed or Persicaria honey, — is of a pale yellow color 
and very fine in flavor. Asters produce honey nearly as 
white as clover. Different grades of fall-honey, from Span- 
ish needles, golden-rod, iron-weed, etc., are of a yellow 
color, and strong in taste. Buckwheat honey is dark; bone- 
set honey and honey dew are the ugliest and poorest in 
quality, looking almost like molasses. 
Some kinds of honey are bitter, and others very unwhole- 
® The honey of Hymettus, which has been so celebrated from the most 
ancient times, is of a fair golden color. The lightest-colored honey is vy a0 
means always the best. 
