63 
however, appear of the same nature, and with which honey 
bees equally accommodate themselves. It will be seen by 
_ the sequel, that both derive their source from vegetables, 
though in a very different fashion. ? 
The first sort, which is the only one known to agricul- 
turists, passes for a sort of dew, which falls on trees, and 
is, however, nothing more than a transudation, or sensible 
transpiration of the sweet and melliferous juice, which, after 
having circulated with the sap, in different parts of certain 
vegetables, separates from it, and comes out in a state of 
preparation, either in the bottom of flowers, or on the upper 
parts of leaves. This is what is called mellifluous essence, 
or honey dew, and which rises in some plants in the greatest 
abundance, sometimes in the medullary or pithy stalk, as 
‘In sugar cane, and Indian corn or maize; sometimes in 
the pulp of fleshy fruits, which, in their maturity, have more 
or less of sweet savour, according as the melliferous juice 
is more or less confined, or developed by other principles. — 
Such is the origin of the manna of the ash trees (franes) 
and maples (érables) of Calabria and Briancon, which flows 
_ abundantly, when it is fluid, from the leaves and trunks 
_ of these trees, and assumes, when expissating, the concrete 
~ form, under which it is commonly employed. 
I had for along time conjectured, that the melliferous 
essence or honey dew, spread on the leaves of these trees, 
was nothing but a transpiration, although the form of drops 
_ did not much resemble it, but was more like a species of 
rain. On aclose examination of some of these honey-bearing 
trees, I by chance met, on a live oak, some of this recent — 
honey-dew, in its primitive form, which was that of trans- 
pired moisture. ‘The leaves were covered with many 
thousands of globules, or minute drops, rounded and close 
‘set, without touching, however, or mixing—very much as 
may be seen on plants, after a long and thick fog. The posi- 
tion of each globule, seemed already to indicate, not only 
the point whence it exuded,* but also the number of the 
pores or glands of the leaf, in which this honey-juice had 
been prepared. [I satisfied myself that this had all the 
colour of -honey, and that alone was sufficient to decide its 
* This discovery explains very fully, the particular cause of the 
superiority of the products of bees in the vicinity of woodlands and 
forests. They there always find a rich booty of honey-dew, particu 
larly on the renewal of the sap and vegetation in the month of Au- 
gust.—Mrench Editor. 
