SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
135 
Such are briefly the chief characteristic of the system 
built up and sustained by the Foreign Slave Trade. The 
demand for slaves on the Airican coast, created by this 
Trade, by exciting the cupidity of the interior chieftains, 
kindles wars which otherwise would never have been 
thought of, causes the shedding of blood where else all 
had been peace, and adds in a tenfold degree to the horrors 
and hopelessness of savage existence. A conscientious man 
cannot sustain a trade whose direct tendency is to bring 
about such results 
The slaveholder may, therefore, consistently carry on 
the Potomac trade while he prohibits, under heavy penal- 
ties, that with Africa. The repugnance felt by slavehold- 
ers to the Foreign Slave Trade cannot be construed into 
tender-footedness diS regards their own slaveholding. 
There is no objection to the “fruit” of the “tree” which 
grows and flourishes in America. The fear is, that by 
overcrovMing this “tree” you may so deteriorate and viti 
ate its fruit as to render it unpalatable. It is not “the in- 
crease of an intrinsically had tking'^ which is dreaded ; it 
is making of di good thing evil, which enters more largely 
than any other consideration into the opposition to the 
proposed policy. There zvt political considerations also, 
which have great influence with the opponents of the 
measure But I refrain from any discussion of these as 
unsuited to the design of your journal. Sigma, 
Holly Springs, Ark., March 5 1>^59. 
“SOURCES AND QUALITY OF HONEY,?? AGAIN. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — The March number 
of the Southern Cultivator contains a communication 
relative to this subject, which I desire, itriefly, to notice, 
if only through courtesy to the writer, who, with so much 
solici ude for “the cause of truth,” warns of the danger of 
advancing theories, unsupported by sound philosophical 
reasoning, and considerately endeavors to lift from ones’ 
mind the yoke of error. 
The indulgence of your valuable pages is asked for 
with hesitancy, as it is known that the subject of dispute 
is of little moment in a practical point of view ; however", 
there are, in Mr. LaTaste's “examination,” some inaccur- 
acies and omissions that require correction. 
He asserts, as a plea for his review, that an article, pub 
lished some months ago in the Medical Journal, was in- 
tended as a reply to one from him that appeared in the 
same periodical. It is hoped that he will excuse the 
declaration, that such was not the fact, and pardon it, to 
zeal for “the cause of truth.” Indeed it is strange that he 
should suppose so, since it was distinctly announced in 
the article, that an oflfer of it was induced in consequence 
of the importance which an interesting editorial had at- 
tached to “the question of poisonous honey,” and, too, as 
it entirely coincides with the only point contained in his 
article, to wit: “whether honey is, within itself, a poison- 
ous substance.” 
In discussing the sources of honey, he proposed, in 
order to do full justice, to quote all that was written in re 
ference to it. This he did not do ; but, on the contrary, 
omitted some most important facts and corroborating 
circumstances which had been adduced in the narrative 
for the purpose of connectedly sustaining it, and proving 
that the observations were, as pronounced, matter of fact 
Some of these inadvertanries will be noticed in the order 
that they occur, though doing so must necessarily render 
this communication desultory in its character. 
Mr. La Taste formally announces that he is an inde- 
pendent thinker, and that he “must have reasoning, facts, 
indisputable facts, before he can yield arquiescer.ee”— to 
what, he does not say, and, being left to ctmjecture, ii is 
presumed that he means anything, which he is not pre 
pared to believe, or which d oes not readily accommodate 
itsell to the caliber of his comprehension. It is presumed 
that he is, also, one who claims no more for himself than 
he is willing to concede to another, and it would seem, 
that while disbelieving statements, merely because he did 
not see what they represent as true, and while his credul- 
ity and comprehension demand for their satisfaction 
“reasoning and indisputable facts,” he ought not to essay 
to teach and convince others by those means which he 
declares inadequate to his own conviction. But is this 
so I 
He asserts that bees never starve if the weather permits 
of their egress fro n the hive; but what surety does he 
offer for the correctness of this assertion I What reason or 
indisputable fact does he set forth to sustain and prove 
ill Why, forsooth, Afs personal experience with bees, 
surrounded by syrups, sugar hogsheads, soda fountains, 
and confectionaries! — backed by an '■'it is said/^ argu- 
ment propounded by himself!! — but it all does not afford 
“indisputable” proof that the hunter’s bees, which, un- 
fortunatfly had none of the city resources above named, 
would not have perished in a few weeks longer, had their 
store of honey continued to decrease from what it was 
when exhibited with the comb all perfectly prepared ; yet, 
without a drop of new honey, and the old supply nearly 
exhausted; nor does it explain why there was no new 
honey in all that empty comb, notwithstanding the entire 
face of the earth had been covered with flowers for more 
than two months, as it was then the middle of June. 
Passing by Mr. LaTaste’s digressive allusion to poeti- 
cal thoughts and the bird of Paradise, as matters wholly 
foreign to the subject, I must declare that he is not jusiified 
in the assumption that I suppose bees can live upon 
nothing but honey-dew; for, on the contrary, it is readi- 
ly conceded that they can derive sustenance from sacchar- 
ine matters; but, in doing so, it is by no means admitted 
that they can extract genuine honey from sugar or mo- 
lasses; and, in all probabili'y, the hunter would not have 
been afraid of his bees starving had they been provided 
with syrups, a soda fountain and eonfeclionary, tnough 
with these resources at hand, he might have remained 
si-liciious about his honey crop. But, to return, Mr. La- 
Taste admits “that bees do gather from honey dew,” but 
denies that they re'^ort to it for their nlire suppK , then, 
will he give the indisputable reason why the hunter’s 
swarms had collected no honey up t<> the middle of June, 
notwithstanding they were out and upon myriads of 
flowers all the while! and, moreover, if they do not de- 
pend upon the honey-dew for their entire supply, will he 
offer an explanation of the faxt, that while, up to the time 
of its appearance, they had stored not a diop of honey, 
with a world of flowers round them, after it was dis- 
covered, ea< h swarm succeeded ingathering from twenty- 
five to thirty pounds of pure and beautiful honey in the 
short space of two or three weeks! Dots Mr. LaTasie think 
such an amount could have been xtracted from flowers in 
the same space of time! He will doubtless attempt to 
parry these questions, by declaring that he did not see 
what is described, that it must be an error, perhaps a de- 
lusion ! at most, an "it is said'' argument, and in this 
way, can he always escape; for, in the communication, 
which he volunteers to review and question, no theory was 
offered ; but a simple statement of facts was made, the 
truth of which was tested by the senses, and they were 
set forth not as hypothesis, but as “matter-of-fact observa- 
tions.” and it would seem that an issue of veracity, is the 
only ground upon which an attack upon them should be 
attempted 
Mr. LaTasie says that one can be convinced that bees 
extrav^t honey from flow'ers, provided they take the trouole 
to ob'<^rve them while at work upon blooms, for the rea- 
son that while sonr.e will be seen going: with their load of 
pollen, others will tie noticed to carry nothing, and that, 
therefore, ‘ the conclusion is ir esistable,” that they are 
laden with honey; for, he says, it “must oe known that 
