Wild honey

“ This is the product of the linden or basswood, of all the trees in our forest the one most beloved by the bees. Melissa, the goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this tree. The wild swarms in the woods frequently reap a choice harvest from it. I have seen a mountain-side thickly studded with it, its straight, tall, smooth, light gray shaft carrying its deep green crown far aloft, like the tulip-tree or the maple. ”

“ The light of the hour, in its subdued but golden tone, fell with singular clearness upon all nature, giving to it that tranquil beauty which makes every thing the eye rests upon glide with quiet rapture into the heart. The moth butterflies were fluttering over the meadows, and from the low stretches of softer green rose the thickly-growing grass-stalks, laying their slender ear’s bent with the mellow burthen of wild honey—the ambrosial feast for the lips of innocence and childhood. ”

“ The Indians visit Fort Pierce, on the Indian River, as a trading-point, when they bring buckskins, potatoes, pumpkins, and honey, to sell. The wild honey brought to market from all parts of the State is a sufficient proof of its adaptability to the production of that commodity for settlers to engage in the enterprise of bee-culture. In addition to the blossoms of annuals and orange-trees, a honey-dew exudes from some of the trees at certain seasons—the magnolia, poplar, wahoo, and sweet-gum—from which the bees can gather largely. ”

“ When on the wing, these delicate creatures make marvelous progress against the northeast monsoon, though they are of such frail construction that one would think the slightest puff of wind must dismember their bodies. Where there are so many blossoms and odorous flowers, Nature did not forget also to supply myriads of the delightful little humming-birds, which are seen, with breasts and throats of gold and purple, stealing their sweets all day long, yet leaving enough for the innumerable wild honey bees, and to flavor the air with exquisite odors. ”

“ But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his keen power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow too small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the bottom. ”

“ No doubt for ages past it has been the custom of men to obtain honey from the store of wild bees. For instance, we read in the Bible that John the Baptist lived for some time in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey. The earliest records in existence show us that the Egyptians kept bees in some kind of hive, and that they carefully studied their habits. ”

“ They live entirely on meat, but have a drink which they make from the wild honey. A remarkable thing in connexion with this honey is that they are often shown where to find it by following a bird, which they call the honey bird. One day, when out hunting, I noticed a small bird of a brownish colour, not much larger than a sparrow, which was twittering on a bush close at hand. Presently it flew towards me, twittering overhead, and afterwards alighted on a tree, still twittering, and the Wanderobo began to talk to it. ”

“ The little honey-flies are like white men. They gather much honey for many days of rain and for all the moons of winter. They make a store in a big tree and fill it with honey, so they can stay at home and eat honey till the maple buds break and till the wild plums and wild strawberries hang out their white flowers. ”

“ This species, which is met with from Southern Africa to sixteen degrees north latitude, subsists almost entirely upon wild honey, and has obtained its name from the fact that it frequently materially [106] assists the natives in their search for the combs by flying before them and constantly uttering its sharp, peculiar cry. In the African deserts it is heard morning and evening, and is eagerly listened for by the natives, who at once reply to it, and hasten to the spot indicated. ”

“ THE sources from which bees collect honey are various and almost innumerable. Almost every flower, tree, plant, shrub and vine, in field, forest, pasture and garden yield honey to some extent. White clover is, perhaps, the greatest source of honey in the New England and Middle States, it being found in a greater or less extent in almost every field and pasture. South and West there is, in many localities, a profusion of wild flowers, producing considerable quantities of honey. ”

“ None saw their spirits’ shadow shake the grass,
Or stood aside for the half used life to pass
Out of those doomed nostrils and the doomed mouth,
When the swift iron burning bee
Drained the wild honey of their youth. ”

“ Then as soon as the bee arrives near the summit of the spike she will withdraw fresh pollinia, will fly to the lower flowers on another plant, and fertilize them; and thus, as she goes her rounds and adds to her store of honey, she continually fertilizes fresh flowers and perpetuates the race of autumnal spiranthes, which will yield honey to future generations of bees. ”

“ The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed of all, is the wild honey, known by the name of ericæum.44 It is collected by the bees after the first showers of autumn, when the heather45 alone is blooming in the woods, from which circumstance it derives its sandy appearance. It is mostly produced 15at the rising of Arcturus, beginning at the day46 before the ides of September. ”

“ The first spring wild-flowers, whose sly faces among the dry leaves and rocks are so welcome, are rarely frequented by the bee. The anemone, the hepatica, the bloodroot, the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, the corydalis, etc., woo all lovers of nature, but seldom woo the honey-loving bee. The arbutus, lying low and keeping green all winter, attains to perfume and honey, but only once have I seen it frequented by bees. ”

“ Bees will go three or four miles in quest of honey, but it is a great advantage to move the hive near the good pasturage, as has been the custom from the earliest times in the Old World. Some enterprising person, taking a hint perhaps from the ancient Egyptians, who had floating apiaries on the Nile, has tried the experiment of floating several hundred colonies north on the Mississippi, starting from New Orleans and following the opening season up, thus realizing a sort of perpetual May or June, the chief attraction being the blossoms of the river willow, which yield honey of rare excellence. ”

“ It is a poor hunter that cannot overcome obstacles that spring up in his way.
When the tree is located, trouble begins. There are two ways of taking up the honey. One way is to plug the hole where the bees enter the tree, and then cut or bore a hole near the ground and insert the nose of an old tea-kettle filled with burning brimstone. The next day the bees will be dead, and the honey will be cool to handle. ”

“ However much we may be cautioned by the apiculturalists against honey made from laurel nectar, the bees themselves ignore all warnings and apparently without evil results - happily for flowers dependent upon them and their kin. ”

“ Everywhere during our journey we found honey was always to be purchased; and it is used by the natives for many culinary purposes, and especially - 211 - for the preparation of sweet cakes. It has the delicate aromatic flavour of the thyme-scented honey of Hybla or Hymettus.
"But, however extensive are the bee-colonies of the villages, the number of wild bees of the same species is far greater. The innumerable fissures, and clefts of the limestone rocks, which everywhere flank the valleys, afford in their recesses secure shelter for any number of swarms ”

“ In Maine the bees resorted to hollow trees, mostly pine; and in the old days many farmers lost swarms, which helped to stock - 224 - the woods. In any locality where there are large trees bees can be found, because some of the trees are sure to be hollow. The amount of honey made by a wild swarm will run from a few pounds to two hundred pounds. The size of the hollow in the tree regulates the amount of honey. If the hollow is large enough to hold the young bees, no swarm will be sent out, so a large quantity of honey will be stored. ”

“ The celebrated honey of Narbonne in the south of France is obtained from a species of rosemary. In Scotland good honey is made from the blossoming heather.
California honey is white and delicate and highly perfumed, and now takes the lead in the market. But honey is honey the world over; and the bee is the bee still. “Men may degenerate,” says an old traveler, “may forget the arts by which they acquired renown; manufactures may fail, and commodities be debased ”

“ When the world turns completely upside down
You say we'll emigrate to the Eastern Shore
Aboard a river-boat from Baltimore;
We'll live among wild peach trees, miles from town.
You'll wear a coonskin cap, and I a gown
Homespun, dyed butternut's dark gold color.
Lost, like your lotus-eating ancestor,
We'll swim in milk and honey till we drown. ”

“ There is nothing more wonderful in a man talking than a bird singing, save that speech is a higher order of utterance. Dumb nature performs marvels every day as mighty and wonderful as man’s talking. The honey-bee builds its cells, ignorant of the fact that such construction is the solution of a problem which had troubled men for centuries to solve. At what point shall certain lines meet so as to give the most room with the least material and have the greatest strength in the building? ”

“ When one thinks of honey one instinctively closes the eyes and a mental picture of fruit trees laden with snowy bloom, of beautiful clover fields, of green forests in a setting quiet and peaceful, comes before the mind so realistic that the delicate perfume of the fragrant blossoms is almost perceptible and the memory of the musical hum of the little honeybee as she industriously flits from blossom to blossom, or wings her homeward way heavily laden with the delicious nectar, rests one’s jaded nerves. ”

“ We may well conclude that it is owing to the keenness of this sense that they perceive the presence of flowers containing nectar; and, guided by it, they wing their flight to distant fields where the white clover attracts them, or to more barren districts where the heath promises them abundant pasturage. It is very certain that the fragrant aroma of honey is at once perceived by them at many feet from their dwellings ”

“ The queen must have perished in the winter. These bees were all old ones from the last season, and they had no possibility of rearing any young. In a little while longer they would all have died, and they were well aware of their desperate state. They were intensely nervous and fierce-tempered, yet their indomitable instinct for work had led them to keep gathering honey. As they had no brood to feed it to, and adult bees eat little, they had accumulated almost two combs full of fresh honey from the willows and maples. ”

“ Who, in passing an apple or peach orchard in full bloom, has not noticed the delicious fragrance, which is undoubtedly honey, which has evaporated from the myriads of blossoms. It is very plain to the close observer that nature has placed in the cups of flowers this honey, expressly as food for the honey bee, and that it is in harmony with all her great and wonderful works. ”

“ They stare amazedly round them, convinced that they must be victims of some mistake; and the mother-idea of their life being first to assert itself in their dull brain, they take a step towards the vats of honey to seek comfort there. But ended for them are the days of May honey, the wine-flower of lime trees and fragrant ambrosia of thyme and sage, of marjoram and white clover. Where the path once lay open to the kindly, abundant reservoirs, that so invitingly offered their waxen and sugary mouths, there stands now a burning-bush all alive with poisonous, bristling stings. ”

“ They are then quickly in the fields again in quest of a fresh supply. Thus, throughout the spring, summer, and autumn, whenever the weather is favourable, and even in unfavourable weather, if they are much in want of food or other materials, to use the language of the poet, the bees are to be seen,
"Gathering honey from every opening flower." ”

“ A piece of meat hung on a tree, high enough to make him jump to reach it, and a short spear, with its handle firmly planted in the ground beneath, are used as a device to induce the hyena to commit suicide by impalement.
The honey-guide is an extraordinary bird; how is it that every member of its family has learned that all men, white or black, are fond of honey? The instant the little fellow gets a glimpse of a man, he hastens to greet him with the hearty invitation to come, as Mbia translated it, to a bees’ hive, and take some honey. ”

“ Alice also recognized it. Willow-herb—also known as “fireweed,” because it always springs up in the track of forest fires—is one of the best honey-yielding plants in America. It flowers in late summer, and lasts until frost kills it, secreting nectar heavily whenever the weather is at all favorable. A single colony of bees has been known to gather the almost incredible amount of four hundred pounds of honey from this plant alone. ”

“ These little lovers of sunshine contrive, through a constant and simultaneous beating of their wings, to maintain in their hive a degree of warmth that shall equal that of a day in spring. And they owe this to the honey, which is itself no more than a ray of heat which has passed through their bodies, and now gives its generous blood to the hive. ”

“ The workers fly off to the fields to gather honey from the flowers, and they also gather something else.”
“I know!” cried Russ. “Our teacher in school told us! They gather yellow stuff. It is called——”
“Pollen!” exclaimed Rose. “I know that.”
“Yes,” her father answered, “the bees gather pollen, or the yellow dust from the flowers, and by mixing this yellow dust with some juices from their bodies they make beeswax, from which the cells are built to hold the sweet honey juice.”
“But I thought you said only one queen bee could live in a swarm,” said Violet. ”