that, when Corsica was subject to
the Romans, a tribute was imposed upon it of no less than two hundred
thousand pounds of wax yearly; but this is no proof of the excellence
of their honey, which, according to Ovid, was of very ill account, and
seems to be the reason why the tributary tax was exacted in wax, in
preference to honey.

The honey collected by the bees at all times retains qualities derived
from the kind of plant from whence it has been procured, as is manifest
not only by the peculiar odour of the honey, such as that collected from
leek blossoms and all the onion tribe, but by the effects produced by
the use of honey obtained from certain plants, chiefly from the subtribe
Rhodoraceae, such as the kalmia, azalea, rhododendron, &c., which yield a
honey frequently poisonous and intoxicating, as has been proved by the
fatal effects on persons in America. It is recorded by Xenophon in his
Anabasis that, during the retreat of the ten thousand, the soldiers
sucked some honey-combs in a place near Trebizonde, and in consequence
became intoxicated, and did not recover their strength for three or four
days; and these effects are supposed to have been produced from the
honey having been extracted by the bees from the rhododendron ponticum
or azalea pontica of Linnaeus.

Although many of these plants have been introduced into this country,
yet, probably from their small proportion to the whole of the flowers in
bloom, the honey collected by the bees has not been found to be injured
or to have produced any evil consequences.

The goodness and flavour of honey depend on the fragrance of the plants
from which the bees collect it, and hence it is that the honey of
different places is held in different degrees of estimation.

The honey gathered from the genus erica (termed _heather honey_) and
most labiate plants, is wholesome. That which is made early in the year
is preferred to what is collected in the latter end of the season.
Whilst on the subject of honey, I will add the directions given by
Wildman, how to separate the honey from the wax: "Take," he says, "the
combs which have been extracted from the different hives or boxes into
a close room, rather warm than otherwise, that the honey may drain more
freely, and keep the doors and windows shut, to prevent the bees from
entering, or else they will be very troublesome, and will attack and
carry away the greater part of the honey from the combs.

"Lay aside such comb