THE farmer’s manual. 
195 
injure the Bees. Honey to be preserved, should Be 
put into close vessels, corked close, and put into a 
dry place to preserve it from souring ; it should 
never be mixed with honey that has acquired consis- 
tency ; this will cause a fermentation, and render 
both sour. The Abbe della Rocca says, that sixty 
pounds of honcy-comb, will yield six or seven pounds 
of wax ; but 1 coiihl never obtain more than three or 
four pounds of wax to a hundred pounds of comb. 
There is scarcely any article in commerce more adul- 
terated than honey ; it is generally sold by weight, 
and mixed with other farinaceous substances, by 
which means it is very seldom obtained pure, in 
market. Water is a test by which adulterated ho- 
ney may be discovered. Honey, impregnated with 
flour. gi\es to the water a milky' colour ; and, when 
boiled in water, gives a scum, which, when taken ofl 
and cooled, becomes a fine farinaceous substance. 
Honey is, however, not equal in its quality, but the 
choice is easy and important. The best honey, is 
new, transparent, of a ropy consistency, of a fra- 
grant and agreeable smell, rather aromatic, and of a 
sweet pungent taste. The white is preferable to the 
yellow ; the new to the old ; the honey of the spring, 
to that of the summer, or autumn ; and that when 
boiled, gives the least froth ; and that which gives 
a mild odour is preferable to that which gives a 
strong odour. These are the general characteristic 
features of honey. 
CHAP, XVH. 
On the Cause of the Mortality of Bees. 
The first of these are the diseases to which they 
are incfdent, and the casualties of life, togethe r with the 
c»uelty of man in robbing and destroying his swarni' 
