Honey is a well known, sweet, tenacious, substance, which in fine weather is continually secreting in the nectaries of flowers, chiefly from certain vesicles or glands situated near the basis of every petal, from whence it is collected by bees and other insects. The domestic honey-bees consume a portion of this honey for food, at or near the time of gathering; but the principal part is regurgitated and poured into the cells of the hive, for the use of the community in winter:—so very abundant are these collections, in favourable seasons, as to afford to the apiarian an extensive share of them, without distressing the provident hoarders. Mr. Wildman states that in the year 1789, he purchased a glass filled with exceedingly fine honey-combs, weighing 63lbs., which had been collected within a month, and that the hive which it had surmounted still contained a full supply for the winter’s consumption of the bees. This however was an unusual quantity; a hive or box, of the dimensions recommended in this work, may be considered as well stocked when it yields from 30 to 40lbs. of honey.
The honey intended for early use, and for the nursing-bees and drones, is deposited in cells which are allowed to remain open, and is probably of an inferior sort; whilst the finest honey, which is laid up in store for winter, is placed in the most inaccessible parts of the hive, and closed in the cells with waxen lids.
“There cluster’d now clear wells of nectar glow,
Like amber drops that sparkle in the Po,
And now (so quick the change) ere one short moon
Shrinks with waned crescent mid the blaze of noon.
All veil’d from view, these amber drops are lost.
And each clear well with waxen crown embost.”
Evans.
In the Philosophical Transactions for 1792, Mr. Hunter has stated, that whatever time the contents of the honey-bags may be retained, they still remain pure and unaltered by the digestive process. Mr. Polhill, a gentleman to whom the public are indebted for several articles in Rees’s Cyclopædia appertaining to bees, is also of this opinion. Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not admit this statement: as the nectar of flowers is not of so thick a consistence as honey, they think it must undergo some change in the stomach of the bee. This opinion is strengthened by what has been stated by Reaumur: he observed that if there was a deficiency of flowers, at the season of honey-gathering, and the bees were furnished with sugar, they filled their cells with honey, differing in no other respect from honey collected in the usual way, but in its possessing a somewhat higher flavour and in its never candying, nor even losing its fluidity by long keeping. The same may be observed when they imbibe the juices of sweet fruits, for bees do not confine themselves solely to flowers and honey-dewed leaves; they will sometimes very greedily absorb the juice of raspberries for instance, and thus spoil them for the table; they also visit in crowds the vats of the cider and wine maker.
Reaumur has likewise remarked, that in each honey-cell there is a cream-like layer or covering, of a thicker consistence than the honey itself, which apparently serves to retain the more liquid collections that may from time to time be introduced under it. Messrs. Kirby and Spence say, that if honey were the unaltered nectar of flowers, it would be difficult to conceive how this cream could be collected in proper proportions. This observation is made, in consequence of their presuming that some of this cream-like covering is conveyed into the cells with each deposition of fresh honey; and it has been supposed that this cream was the last portion disgorged. According to an article in Rees’s Cyclopædia, probably written by Mr. Polhill, this cream-like matter is formed at the very first, and every addition of honey is deposited beneath it. The bee, entering into the cell as deeply as possible, puts forward its anterior pair of legs, and with them pierces a hole through the crust or cream: while this hole is kept open by the feet, the bee disgorges the honey in large drops from its mouth; these, falling into the hole, mix with the mass below: the bee, before it flies off, new-models the crust, and closes up the hole. This mode of proceeding is regularly adopted by every bee that contributes to the general store.
The power of regurgitation in the bee is very remarkable: its alimentary organs, like those of the pigeon, besides being subservient to the purpose of nutriment, afford it a temporary storeroom or reservoir. Ruminating animals may be considered as regurgitating animals, though in them the operation is performed for different purposes. In some it is exercised for the purpose of digesting the food, in others for feeding the young; but in bees its use is to enable them to disburden themselves of the honey which they gather for the winter’s store of the community.
The finest flavoured and most delicate honey is that which is collected from aromatic plants, and has been stored in clean new cells: it has been usually called virgin-honey, as though it were elaborated by a fresh swarm of bees; but this is not essential to the perfection of honey, for, provided the cells in which it is deposited have never contained either brood or farina, it is not material whether it have been collected by swarms or by old stocks; the season and the flowers having been the same, the quality of the honey will in both cases be alike. F. Lamberti asserts, that the best honey in the world is produced in Pontus, and that its superiority is attributable to the great quantity of balm growing there. In this quarter of the world, the Narbonne honey is regarded as the finest, owing to the rosemary which abounds in the neighbourhood of Narbonne. “The honey, for which Narbonne is so deservedly celebrated, is every year diminishing. Bees have ceased to be an object of attention to the peasantry; they now devote their time to the vineyards, and neglect the bees. The flowers of the wild plants, in the neighbourhood of Narbonne, are highly aromatic, and give the flavour which is peculiar to its honey: this peculiarity is attributed exclusively to the wild rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis.” (Duppa’s Miscellaneous Observations and Opinions on the Continent. 1825.) Attempts are said to have been made to imitate Narbonne honey, by adding to other honey an infusion of rosemary flowers.
Of the power which some flowers possess of imparting deleterious qualities to their honey, I have already spoken in the chapter on Pasturage. I will here add, however, what has been said of the appearance of this pernicious kind of honey. It is usually distinguished from what is innocent, by its crimson or reddish brown colour, its bitter flavour, and thicker consistence; but in Florida and Carolina it is so similar, in all respects, to innocent honey, that the hunters depend upon experience only, and, knowing that bad honey soon shows its effects, they at first eat very sparingly. The converse of this would appear in the “blood-red honey” found by Mr. Bruce at Dixan in Abyssinia, to which he ascribes no evil properties. (Travels to the Nile, vol. v.) Linnæus informs us, that in Sweden, the honey of autumn is principally gathered from the flowers of the Erica or Heath, and that it has a reddish cast. The honey of our native heaths is also of the same colour. Dr. Barton has observed that during his residence at Edinburgh, the Highland honey was often of a dirty brownish colour, which was supposed to be given to it by the “blooming hather,” as Burns calls it: the people of Edinburgh, however, though great consumers of it, never complain of any ill effects from it. It produced upon the Doctor a soporific effect. The most innocent honey will often disagree with those who take it in large quantities, or who have irritable bowels; usually, in such cases, it produces purging, and sometimes griping pain. The mischievous qualities of honey have been said to be destroyed by boiling and straining, or even by long keeping only; yet when made into metheglin, it has been found as deleterious as ever.
The quality of honey varies with the time of gathering, and that even though the whole season may have been favourable. The collection at the commencement of summer is regarded as the prime honey of the year, the flowers being then most abundant, and in the full glow of health; and that which is collected in spring is superior to the gleanings of autumn.