HONKT. 
287 
sionally also on the cherry, currant, and other fruit trees. Some¬ 
times only one species of trees is affected at a time. The oak 
generally affords the largest quantity. At the season of its 
greatest abundance, the happy, humming noise of the bees may 
be heard at a considerable distance, sometimes nearly equalling in 
loudness the united hum of swarming .' 1 —Bevan. 
In some seasons, bees gather large supplies from these 
honey-dews, but it is usually abundant only once in three 
or four years. The honey obtained from it, though 
seldom light-colored, is generally of a good quality. 
The quality of honey varies very much: some kinds 
are bitter, and others very unwholesome, being gathered 
from poisonous flowers. A Mandingo African informed a 
lady of my acquaintance that his countrymen eat none 
that is unsealed until it has been boiled. In some of our 
Southern States, all that is unsealed is rejected. The 
noxious properties of honey gathered from poisonous 
flowers would seem to be mostly evaporated (p. 276) 
before it is sealed over by the bees. The boiling, how¬ 
ever expels them still more effectually, for some persons 
cannot eat even the best, when raw, with impunity. 
When honey is taken from the bees, it should be put 
where it will be safe from all intruders, and not exposed 
to so low a temperature as to candy in the cells. The 
little red and the large black ant are extravagantly fond of 
it, and will carry off large quantities if within their reach. 
Old honey is more wholesome than that freshly gathered 
by the bees.* 
* The following extract from the work of Sir J. More, London , 1707, will show 
the extravagant estimate which the old writers set upon beo-products: 
“ Natural wax is altered by distillation into an oyl of marvellous vertuo: it Is 
rather a Divine medicine than humnne, because, in wounds or inward diseases, it 
workoth miracles. The bee hclpeth to cure all your diseasos, and Is the best little 
friend a man has In tho world. Honey Is of subtil parts, and therefore doth 
plerco ns oyl, and easily passoth the parts of the body; it openeth obstructions, and 
rlearoth tho heart and lights of those humors which fall from tho head; it purgotb 
the foulness of the body curetb phlegmatlck mattor, and sharpenoth tho stomach; 
