man who has carefully _studied their habits_, will for a
moment, venture to affirm that they can, unless for the sake of "filthy
lucre," he is attempting to deceive an unwary community. What bee-keeper
does not know, or rather ought not to know that the quality of honey
depends entirely upon the sources from whence it is gathered; and that
the different kinds of honey can easily be distinguished by any one who
is a judge of the article.

Apple-blossom honey, white clover honey, buckwheat honey, and all the
different kinds of honey, each has its own peculiar flavor, and it is
utterly amazing how any sensible man, acquainted with bees, can be so
deluded as to imagine any thing to the contrary. But as this is a matter
of great practical importance, let us examine it more closely.

When bees are engaged in rapidly storing up honey in their combs, they
may be seen, as _soon_ as they return from the fields, or from the
feeding boxes, putting their heads at once into the cells, and
disgorging the contents of their "honey-bags." Now that the contents of
their sacs undergo no change at all, during the short time that they
remain in them, I will not absolutely affirm, because I have endeavored,
through this whole treatise, never to assert positively when I had not
positive evidence for so doing: but that they can undergo but a _very
slight_ change, must be evident from the fact that when thus stored up,
the different kinds of honey or sugar can be almost if not quite as
readily distinguished as before they were fed to the bees. The only
perceptible change which they appear to undergo in the cells, is to have
the large quantity of water evaporated from them, which is added from
thoughtlessness, or from the vain expectation that it will be just so
much water sold for honey, to the defrauded purchaser! This evaporation
of the water from the honey by the heat of the hive, is about the only
marked change that it appears to undergo, from its natural state in the
nectaries of the blossoms; and it is exceedingly interesting to see how
unwilling bees are to seal up honey, until it is reduced to such a
consistency that there is no danger of its souring in the cells. They
are as careful as to the quality of their nectar, as the good lady of
the house is, to have the syrup of her preserves boiled down to a
suitable thickness to keep them sweet.

Let all who for any purpose whatever, feed bees, keep this fact in mind,
and never add to the f