I 82 The Honey-Makers 



honey is the black sheep in this white flock; but there is 

 spirit and character in it. It lays hold of the taste in no 

 equivocal manner, especially when at a winter breakfast it 

 meets its fellow, the russet buckwheat cake. Bread with 

 honey to cover it from the same stalk is double good for- 

 tune. It is not black, either, but nut-brown, and belongs 

 to the same class of goods as Herrick's 



' Nut-brown mirth and russet wit.' 



How the bees love it ! and they bring the delicious odor 

 of the blooming plant to the hive with them, so that in the 

 moist, warm twilight the apiary is redolent with the perfume 

 of buckwheat." 



In France the rosemary of Narbonne has made the honey 

 of that region famous ; but we learn that this, like the honey 

 of Hymettus, is living principally upon its past reputation, 

 for the peasants have turned their attention to the vine- 

 yards to the neglect of the bees, so that the supply of rose- 

 mary honey from Narbonne is yearly diminishing. 



Languedoc also supplies rosemary honey of high renown, 

 while the balm of Pontus has given that honey a name. 



" A species of broom (Spartium nubigerum), growing 

 abundantly in the Canary Islands, renders the Peakof Tene- 

 riffe productive of a very pure and transparent honey, of a 

 delicious aromatic taste, and superior to that of Hymettus," 

 says Bevan. 



Nearly all fragrant and bright flowers yield nectar, fra- 

 grance, and color, being the plant's invitation to its insect 

 guests to come and feast, and in return convey pollen to it 

 from other plants of the same species, and bear away its 

 pollen to cross-fertihze its neighbors. 



Many plants are so modified in form that self-fertilization 

 is impossible, they being dependent upon the pollen brought 

 by visiting insects. 



