HONEY (Fn., Mid; GER., Honig).
Honey is a substance possessing a pleasant saccharine taste, produced from the nectar of flowers by the aid of certain insects, of which the bee is the most important and familiar. The saccharine matter is obtained from flowers in infiniteahnal proportions, about 2} million flowers being required to contribute 1 lb. of honey. The nectar of flowers contains cane-sugar or saccharose whioh is converted, during or after its retention by the insect, into " inverted sugar," or a compound of dextro-glucose (dextrose) and heva-glucose (lievulose), both of which are represented by the formula or (see Sugar). The presence of cane-sugar in honey is as stoutly denied by sumo chemists as it is asserted by others. This disagreement may perhaps result from the examination of samples of different ages. Dr. J. Campbell Brown gives the following analyses of genuine bee-honey :— The honey of the honey-wasp of Tropical America (Polybia apidpennis) yields large eryatals of cane-sugar ; that of the honey-ant of Mexico (Myrmecocystus mexicanus) is nearly a pure solution of uncrystallizable auger ; while the subterranean tazma honey of Ethiopia contains 32 per cent. of mixed fermentable sugars, and 28 per cent. of dextrose, with no trace of cane-sugar.
Wild honey is collected by primitive peoples in almost all climes which favour the growth of the necessary flowers. The tazma honey is deposited without wax by an insect resembling a large mosquito, in subterranean cavitiea ; it is sought for by the natives of Ethiopia, and used by them to cure throat-diseases. The honey-making ant of Texas and New Mexico is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Santa Fe. The Mexicans esteem this honey very highly, and uae it not only as food, but as a medicinal agent. Very little has been done in the way of domesticating or cultivating the two honey-producing insects just alluded to, and the same may be said of the honey-wasp of the American tropics.
The familiar honey-bee is of two species, Apis mellifica and A. ligustica. The former, which is the most widely known and the most highly prized as a honey-maker, is said to be a native of Asia, whence it has spread over all Europe and a great portion of N. America, and has been introduced with signal success into our S. African and Australian colonies, and many of the islands in the S. Pacific.
Apiculture bas advanced considerably in France of late years, and the number of cultivated swarms of bees in that country is• now placed at 2-2i millions. The industry is becoming more general, and owners of more than 400-500 colonies are rare. The production of honey and wax is now valued at 22-23 million francs annually, while the yield of honey from each swarm has grown. from 15-16 kilo. to an average of 20-25 kilo. The introduction of the Ligurian bee is receiving much attention. Of the 2,073,703 swarms officially returned in France at the end cif 1873, there were 96,038 in Ille-et-Vilaine, 63,207 in Finistere, 60,000 in Cotes-du-No•d, and over 40,000 in Ardeche, Loire-Inferieure, Manche, Morbihan, and Saone-et-Loire. The products of Gatinais and Brittany are most renowned. The total yield of honey in France in 1873 was 93,112 metric quintals (of 1.96 cwt.). The export of honey from Honfleur, Trouville, &c., was 11 tons in 1876, and 10 tons in 1877. In some districts of Switzerland, bee-keeping is conducted with great energy and success, and instructions are widely circulated by paid lecturers every year. The local consumption of honey is too great to leave any for export. The German government goes so far as to compel all school masters to pass an examination in apiculture, besides fostering the industry in many other ways. Germany (including Hanover and Hesse Cassel), in 1873, bad a total of 1,453,764 stocks ; Bavaria, 338,897. Somewhat behind are Austria and Hungary in this respect, yet the exports of honey from
Vienna were 5163 metric centnera (of 1101 lb.) in 1877, 301,695 in 1878, and 321,849 in 1879 ; and from Fiume (including wax), 594 cwt. in 1877, and 1224 cwt. in 1878. In ordinary seasons, Servia produces about 50001. worth of honey for export, besides the large quantity consumed locally. The peasants of Poland, Russia, and Siberia, are most industrious apiarians. A number of systems are in vogue in different parts of the country ; at Nock, in Ostrolenka, and in the woody part of Lithuania called Polesie, bees are reared in excavated tree-trunks in the forests. The famous "Kovno" or "lipiec " honey acquires its flavour from the flowers of the linden-tree, so abundant in the Lithuanian woods. In this province (Kovno), the Tchmude tribe is almost exclusively occupied with bee-keeping. The industry flourishes also in the Altai mountains, and is followed by the Meretinzes and Grusinians in the Caucasus. The Russian province of Pultowa has about 500,000 stocks, and Ekaterinoslav, 400,000. The annual honey production of European Russia is placed at 600,000-700,000 lb. Italy produces large quantities of honey, though the peasants are very back ward in apiculture. The total yield in 1868 was as follows :—Piedmont and Liguria, 380,000 kilo. ; Lombardy, 179,880 ; Venetia, 174,160 ; Emilia, Umbria and the Marches, 189,840 ; other provinces, 600,000. The best are from Bonnie, in Lombardy, from Empoli, iu Tuscany, and from Otranto. Immense quantities of honey were formerly produced in Corsica ; much is still collected there, but, except the small proportion obtained in early spring, it acquires such a bitter flavour, from the arbutus-blossoms which the bees frequent, as to be scarcely edible. Grecian honey has been cele brated from the earliest times, but apiculture is quite neglected by the modern Greeks. Syra, in 1877, exported 1671. worth of honey to France, and 1601. to the Danubian Principalities ; and in 1878, 1721. to Turkey, 1061. to Great Britain, 821. to Egypt, 551. to Austria, and 71. to Italy. In Asia Minor, very large quantities of honey are produced, chiefly for local consumption; the port of Dedeagatell shipped 80 barrels, value 2001., in 1879. The natives of many parts of India are most industrious bee-keepers. But the New World bids fair to eclipse all competitors in the science of bee rearing and the production of honey. In the United States, honey-raisiug is a distinct industry, and men are found who own 2000-12,000 swarms, which they farm out to owners of fruit-gardens during the blossoming season. The orangeries and other orchards of Florida, and the gardens of California, offer the best inducements, but the culture is by no means confined to those states. Florida; in 1878, produced over 170,000 lb. of honey ; and one bee-farm in San Diego Co., California, afforded 150,000 lb. of honey in 1874. Every scientific contrivance has been adopted, and some bee-farmers despatch floating hoe-houses along suitable rivers, to take advantage of the progression of the seasons, and supply the Lees with a succession of flowers. It is even proposed to send the swarms to the W. Indies during the winter. Already very large quantities of honey are produced in the W. Indies, but it is chiefly in the foreign islands, and our colonists there have not shown much zeal in adopting this most remunerative culture, despite the almost unsurpassed conditions which it presents. San Domingo, in 1878, exported 38,770 gal. of honey to the United States ; and in 1879, 506,640 gal. to the United States, and 2700 gal. to France. Chili produces 50001. worth of honey and wax yearly, which is mostly exported.