undoubtedly is, should have asserted in the most unqualified manner--that "honey alone is very injurious to Bees." Were this the fact, rich stocks, and all stocks that subsist upon "honey alone" during winter, would "in general" be affected with dysentery in the spring, which certainly is not the case. "In general" rich stocks are healthy and strong in the spring. Poverty is the predisposing cause of dysentery among Bees: a regular supply of their natural--their peculiar food, does not induce dysentery or disease of any sort. Had Mr. Huish analyzed the honey given to Bees as food, and which induced dysentery, he would, I suspect, have discovered that it was not "honey alone," but--_medicated honey_--_honey and brimstone_, or honey strongly tinctured either with brimstone or tobacco. That honey, tinctured with the pernicious qualities of those substances, should have a laxative effect upon impoverished, debilitated Bees, is no more than might be expected: but then it is not the honey that has the "injurious" effect, but the essence of the brimstone or of the tobacco that is administered along with it. What effect honey, that has not been stoved and saturated with brimstone or with tobacco, may have upon _weak_ Bees, when given to them for _spring food_, I pretend not to determine, because I have never tried the experiment. But I do say that before the arrival of spring, honey, that has been drained or expressed from the comb, undergoes fermentation, and that fermentation may, for aught I know, impart to it physical properties, which in its pure, liquid, unchanged state, in the warm hive, it does not possess. I am not chemist enough to venture to assert that it is so, but I think it highly probable that fermentation may alter the properties of honey, and perhaps may render it unwholesome to Bees. But fresh, unfermented honey, even that in the blackest and oldest combs--the very refuse, and all such as the cottage-housewife makes into common mead, if spread upon large dishes and placed in an apiary, will be banqueted upon by the Bees in the most eager manner, and is apparently much enjoyed by them. They soon carry into their hives what they do not consume on the spot, and suffer no inconvenience whatever from the treat. I have feasted my Bees in this way scores of times, and esteem it the very best mode of autumnal feeding, and the most profitable way of disposing of broken combs and refuse honey. "Honey alone" is the natural food of Bees, and if given to them pure and untainted, in its primitive, limpid state, so far from being injurious, it is highly beneficial to them; of this I have not the shadow of a doubt. For autumnal feeding, I prefer honey to all other substances, and recommend it as the most proper food that can be given to them. [Footnote I: Huish on Bees, page 272.] CHAPTER XV. CATALOGUE OF BEE-FLOWERS, &C.