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The Swarm: Isle

Menzel tells us that in Russia, whose steppes afford the bees rich nourishment, is found honey of all colors, white, yellow, brown, yes black, sold in the cleanest vessels. He also tells us that in Siberia there are white bees whose honey is also white; that from the Isle of Bourbon and the Isle of France there comes a green honey that is very valuable; that a green honey in red wax cells is found in Africa; that in Madagascar is a very thin but brown honey made by little black stingless bees; and in Brazil are black bees whose wax is also black.

The comb of the Apis Mellifica, our hive-bee, is often very white and delicate when first made, though sometimes it is yellow and delicate, depending upon the kind of flowers the honey eaten by the bees to produce wax was gathered from. But as time goes on it becomes dark colored, particularly where brood and honey are alternately placed in the same cells, and old combs are sometimes found which are almost black which is probably the explanation of Pliny's great German comb eight feet long and black on the convex side. The honey in an old beetree is much of it darker and stronger than that in one newly occupied.

The nectar of some flowers is poisonous to man and particularly in the tropics one should taste wild honey with caution.