HONE

hone, william (1780-1842), english writer and bookseller, was born at bath on the 3rd of june 1780. his father brought up his children with the sectarian narrowness that so frequently produces reaction. hone received no systematic education, and was taught to read from the bible only. his father having removed to london in 1783, he was in 1790 placed in an attorney's office. after two and a half years spent in the office of a solicitor at chatham he returned to london to become clerk to a solicitor in gray's inn. but he disliked the law, and had already acquired a taste for free-thought and political agitation. hone married in 1800, and started a book and print shop with a circulating library in lambeth walk. he soon removed to st martin's churchyard, where he brought out his first publication, shaw's _gardener_ (1806). it was at this time that he and his friend, john bone, tried to realize a plan for the establishment of popular savings banks, and even had an interview on the subject with the president of the board of trade. this scheme, however, failed. bone joined him next in a bookseller's business; but hone's habits were not those of a tradesman, and bankruptcy was the result. he was in 1811 chosen by the booksellers as auctioneer to the trade, and had an office in ivy lane. independent investigations carried on by him into the condition of lunatic asylums led again to business difficulties and failure, but he took a small lodging in the old bailey, keeping himself and his now large family by contributions to magazines and reviews. he hired a small shop, or rather box, in fleet street but this was on two separate nights broken into, and valuable books lent for show were stolen. in 1815 he started the _traveller_ newspaper, and endeavoured vainly to exculpate eliza fenning, a poor girl, apparently quite guiltless, who was executed on a charge of poisoning. from february 1 to october 25, 1817, he published the _reformer's register_, writing in it as the serious critic of the state abuses, which he soon after attacked in the famous political squibs and parodies, illustrated by george cruikshank. in april 1817 three _ex-officio_ informations were filed against him by the attorney-genera, sir william garrow. three separate trials took place in the guildhall before special juries on the 18th, 19th and 20th of december 1817. the first, for publishing wilkes's _catechism of a ministerial member_ (1817), was before mr justice abbot (afterwards lord tenterden); the second, for parodying the litany and libelling the prince regent, and the third, for publishing the _sinecurist's creed_ (1817), a parody on the athanasian creed, were before lord ellenborough (q.v.). the prosecution took the ground that the prints were calculated to injure public morals, and to bring the prayer-book and even religion itself into contempt. but there can be no doubt that the real motives of the prosecution were political; hone had ridiculed the habits and exposed the corruption of the prince regent and of other persons in power. he went to the root of the matter when he wished the jury "to understand that, had he been a publisher of ministerial parodies, he would not then have been defending himself on the floor of that court." in spite of illness and exhaustion hone displayed great courage and ability, speaking on each of the three days for about seven hours. although his judges were biassed against him he was acquitted on each count, and the result was received with enthusiastic cheers by immense crowds within and without the court. soon after the trials a subscription was begun which enabled hone to get over the difficulties caused by his prosecution. among hone's most successful political satires were _the political house that jack built_ (1819), _the queen's matrimonial ladder_ (1820), in favour of queen caroline, _the man in the moon_ (1820), _the political showman_ (1821), all illustrated by cruikshank. many of his squibs are directed against a certain "dr slop," a nickname given by him to dr (afterwards sir john) stoddart, of _the times_. in researches for his defence he had come upon some curious and at that time little trodden literary ground, and the results were shown by his publication in 1820 of his _apocryphal new testament_, and in 1823 of his _ancient mysteries explained_. in 1826 he published the _every-day book_, in 1827-1828 the _table-book_, and in 1829 the _year-book_; all three were collections of curious information on manners, antiquities and various other subjects. these are the works by which hone is best remembered. in preparing them he had the approval of southey and the assistance of charles lamb, but pecuniarily they were not successful, and hone was lodged in king's bench prison for debt. friends, however, again came to his assistance, and he was established in a coffee-house in gracechurch street; but this, like most of his enterprises, ended in failure. hone's attitude of mind had gradually changed to that of extreme devoutness, and during the latter years of his life he frequently preached in weigh house chapel, eastcheap. in 1830 he edited strutt's _sports and pastimes_, and he contributed to the first number of the _penny magazine_. he was also for some years sub-editor of the _patriot_. he died at tottenham on the 6th of november 1842. hone (in o. eng. _han_, cognate with swed. _hen_; the root appears in skt. _cana_, _co_ to sharpen), a variety of finely siliceous stone employed for whetting or sharpening edge tools, and for abrading steel and other hard surfaces. synonyms are honestone, whetstone, oilstone and sharpening stone. hones are generally prepared in the form of flat slabs or small pencils or rods, but some are made with the outline of the special instrument they are designed to sharpen. their abrading action is due to the quartz or silica which is always present in predominating proportion, some kinds consisting of almost pure quartz, while in others the siliceous element is very intimately mixed with aluminous or calcareous matter, forming a uniform compact stone, the extremely fine siliceous particles of which impart a remarkably keen edge to the instruments for the sharpening of which they are applied. in some cases the presence of minute garnets or magnetite assists in the cutting action. hones are used either dry, with water, or with oil, and generally the object to be sharpened is drawn with hand pressure backward and forward over the surface of the hone; but sometimes the stone is moved over the cutting edge. the coarsest type of stone which can be included among hones is the bat or scythe stone, a porous fine-grained sandstone used for sharpening scythes and cutters of mowing machines, and for other like purposes. next come the ragstones, which consist of quartzose mica-schist, and give a finer edge than any sandstone. under the head of oilstones or hones proper the most famous and best-known qualities are the german razor hone, the turkey oilstone, and the arkansas stone. the german razor hone, used, as its name implies, chiefly for razors, is obtained from the slate mountains near ratisbon, where it forms a yellow vein of from 1 to 18 in. in the blue slate. it is sawn into thin slabs, and these are cemented to slabs of slate which serve as a support. turkey oilstone is a close-grained bluish stone containing from 70 to 75% of silica in a state of very fine division, intimately blended with about 20 to 25% of calcite. it is obtained only in small pieces, frequently flawed and not tough, so that the slabs must have a backing of slate or wood. it is one of the most valuable of all whetstones, abrading the hardest steel, and possessing sufficient compactness to resist the pressure required for sharpening gravers. the stone comes from the interior of asia minor, whence it is carried to smyrna. of arkansas stones there are two varieties, both found in the same district, garland and saline counties, arkansas, united states. the finer kind, known as arkansas hone, is obtained in small pieces at the hot springs, and the second quality, distinguished as washita stone, comes from washita or ouachita river. the hones yield on analysis 98% of silica, with small proportions of alumina, potash and soda, and mere traces of iron, lime, magnesia and fluorine. they are white in colour, extremely hard and keen in grit, and not easily worn down or broken. geologically the materials are called novaculites, and are supposed to be metamorphosed sandstone silt, chert or limestone resulting from the permeation through the mass of heated alkaline siliceous waters. the finer kind is employed for fine cutting instruments, and also for polishing steel pivots of watch-wheels and similar minute work, the second and coarser quality being used for common tools. both varieties are largely exported from the united states in the form of blocks, slips, pencils, rods and wheels. other honestones are obtained in the united states from new york, new hampshire, vermont, ohio (deerlick stone) and indiana (hindostan or orange stone). among hones of less importance in general use may be noted the charley forest stone--or whittle hill honestone--a good substitute for turkey oilstone; water of ayr stone, scotch stone, or snake stone, a pale grey carboniferous shale hardened by igneous action, used for tools and for polishing marble and copper-plates; idwal or welsh oilstone, used for small articles; and cutlers' greenstone from snowdon, very hard and close in texture, used for giving the last edge to lancets. honey (chin. _me_; sansk. _madhu_, mead, honey; cf. a.s. _medo_, _medu_, mead; gr. [greek: meli], in which [theta] or [delta] is changed into [lambda]; lat. _mel_; fr. _miel_; a.s. _hunig_; ger. _honig_),[1] a sweet viscid liquid, obtained by bees (see bee, _bee-keeping_) chiefly from the nectaries of flowers, i.e. those parts of flowers specially constructed for the elaboration of honey, and, after transportation to the hive in the proventriculus or crop of the insects, discharged by them into the cells prepared for its reception. whether the nectar undergoes any alteration within the crop of the bee is a point on which authors have differed. some wasps, e.g. _myrapetra scutellaris_[2] and the genus _nectarina_, collect honey. a honey-like fluid, which consists of a nearly pure solution of uncrystallizable sugar having the formula c6h14o7 after drying in vacuo, and which is used by the mexicans in the preparation of a beverage, is yielded by certain inactive individuals of _myrmecocystus mexicanus_, wesmael, the honey-ants or pouched ants (_hormigas mieleras_ or _mochileras_) of mexico.[3] the abdomen in these insects, owing to the distensibility of the membrane connecting its segments, becomes converted into a globular thin-walled sac by the accumulation within it of the nectar supplied to them by their working comrades (wesmael, _bull. de l'acad. roy. de brux._ v. 766, 1838). by the rev. h. c. m'cook, who discovered the insect in the garden of the gods, colorado, the honey-bearers were found hanging by their feet, in groups of about thirty, to the roofs of special chambers in their underground nests, their large globular abdomens causing them to resemble "bunches of small delaware grapes" (_proc. acad. nat. sci. philad._, 1879, p. 197). a bladder-like formation on the metathorax of another ant, _crematogaster inflatus_ (f. smith, _cat. of hymenoptera_, pt. vi. pp. 136 and 200, pl. ix. fig. 1), which has a small circular orifice at each posterior lateral angle, appears to possess a function similar to that of the abdomen in the honey-ant. it is a popular saying that where is the best honey there also is the best wool; and a pastoral district, since it affords a greater profusion of flowers, is superior for the production of honey to one under tillage.[4] dry warm weather is that most favourable to the secretion of nectar by flowers. this they protect from rain by various internal structures, such as papillae, cushions of hairs and spurs, or by virtue of their position (in the raspberry, drooping), or the arrangement of their constituent parts. dr a. w. bennett (_how flowers are fertilized_, p. 31, 1873) has remarked that the perfume of flowers is generally derived from their nectar; the blossoms of some plants, however, as ivy and holly, though almost scentless, are highly nectariferous. the exudation of a honey-like or saccharine fluid, as has frequently been attested, is not a function exclusively of the flowers in all plants. a sweet material, the manna of pharmacy, e.g. is produced by the leaves and stems of a species of ash, _fraxinus ornus_; and honey-secreting glands are to be met with on the leaves, petioles, phyllodes, stipules (as in _vicia sativa_), or bracteae (as in the _maregraviaceae_) of a considerable number of different vegetable forms. the origin of the honey-yielding properties manifested specially by flowers among the several parts of plants has been carefully considered by darwin, who regards the saccharine matter in nectar as a waste product of chemical changes in the sap, which, when it happened to be excreted within the envelopes of flowers, was utilized for the important object of cross-fertilization, and subsequently was much increased in quantity, and stored in various ways (see _cross and self fertilization of plants_, pp. 402 sq., 1876). it has been noted with respect to the nectar of the fuchsia that it is most abundant when the anthers are about to dehisce, and absent in the unexpanded flower. pettigrew is of opinion that few bees go more than 2 m. from home in search of honey. the number of blossoms visited in order to meet the requirements of a single hive of bees must be very great; for it has been found by a. s. wilson ("on the nectar of flowers," _brit. assoc. rep._, 1878, p. 567) that 125 heads of common red clover, which is a plant comparatively abundant in nectar, yield but one gramme (15.432 grains) of sugar; and as each head contains about 60 florets, 7,500,000 distinct flower-tubes must on this estimate be exhausted for each kilogramme (2.204 lb.) of sugar collected. among the richer sources of honey are reckoned the apple, asparagus, asters, barberry, basswood (_tilia americana_), and the european lime or linden (_t. europaea_), beans, bonesets (_eupatorium_), borage, broom, buckwheat, catnip, or catmint (_nepeta cataria_), cherry, cleome, clover, cotton, crocus, currant, dandelion, eucalyptus, figwort (_scrophularia_), furze, golden-rod (_solidago_), gooseberry, hawthorn, heather, hepatica, horehound, hyacinth, lucerne, maple, mignonette, mint, motherwort (_leonurus_), mustard, onion, peach, pear, poplar, quince, rape, raspberry, sage, silver maple, snapdragon, sour-wood (_oxydendron arboreum_, d.c.), strawberry, sycamore, teasel, thyme, tulip-tree (more especially rich in pollen), turnip, violet and willows, and the "honey-dew" of the leaves of the whitethorn (bonner), oak, linden, beech and some other trees. honey contains dextroglucose and laevoglucose (the former practically insoluble, the latter soluble in 1/8 pt. of cold strong alcohol), cane-sugar (according to some), mucilage, water, wax, essential oil, colouring bodies, a minute quantity of mineral matter and pollen. by a species of fermentation, the cane-sugar is said to be gradually transformed into inverted sugar (laevoglucose with dextroglucose). the pollen, as a source of nitrogen, is of importance to the bees feeding on the honey. it may be obtained for examination as a sediment from a mixture of honey and water. other substances which have been discovered in honey are mannite (guibourt), a free acid which precipitates the salts of silver and of lead, and is soluble in water and alcohol (calloux), and an uncrystallizable sugar, nearly related to inverted sugar (soubeiran, _compt. rend._ xxviii. 774-775, 1849). brittany honey contains couvain, a ferment which determines its active decomposition (wurtz, _dict. de chem._ ii. 430). in the honey of _polybia apicipennis_, a wasp of tropical america, cane-sugar occurs in crystals of large size (karsten, _pogg. ann._, c. 550). dr j. campbell brown ("on the composition of honey," _analyst_ iii. 267, 1878) is doubtful as to the presence of cane-sugar in any one of nine samples, from various sources, examined by him. the following average percentage numbers are afforded by his analyses: laevulose, 36.45; dextrose, 36.57; mineral matter, .15; water expelled at 100 deg. c., 18.5, and at a much higher temperature, with loss, 7.81: the wax, pollen and insoluble matter vary from a trace to 2.1%. the specific gravity of honey is about 1.41. the rotation of a polarized ray by a solution of 16.26 grammes of crude honey in 100 c.c. of water is generally from -3.2 deg. to -5 deg. at 60 deg. f.; in the case of greek honey it is nearly -5.5 deg. almost all pure honey, when exposed for some time to light and cold, becomes more or less granular in consistency. any liquid portion can be readily separated by straining through linen. honey sold out of the comb is commonly clarified by heating and skimmimg; but according to bonner it is always best in its natural state. the _mel depuratum_ of british pharmacy is prepared by heating honey in a water-bath, and straining through flannel previously moistened with warm water. the term "virgin-honey" (a.-s., _hunigtear_) is applied to the honey of young bees which have never swarmed, or to that which flows spontaneously from honeycomb with or without the application of heat. the honey obtained from old hives, considered inferior to it in quality, is ordinarily darker, thicker and less pleasant in taste and odour. the yield of honey is less in proportion to weight in old than in young or virgin combs. the far-famed honey of narbonne is white, very granular and highly aromatic; and still finer honey is that procured from the corbieres mountains, 6 to 9 m. to the south-west. the honey of gatinais is usually white, and is less odorous and granulates less readily than that of narbonne. honey from white clover has a greenish-white, and that from heather a rich golden-yellow hue. what is made from honey-dew is dark in colour, and disagreeable to the palate, and does not candy like good honey. "we have seen aphide honey from sycamores," says f. cheshire (_pract. bee-keeping_, p. 74), "as deep in tone as walnut liquor, and where much of it is stored the value of the whole crop is practically nil." the honey of the stingless bees (_meliponia_ and _trigona_) of brazil varies greatly in quality according to the species of flowers from which it is collected, some kinds being black and sour, and others excellent (f. smith, _trans. ent. soc._, 3d ser., i. pt. vi., 1863). that of _apis peronii_, of india and timor, is yellow, and of very agreeable flavour and is more liquid than the british sorts. _a. unicolor_, a bee indigenous to madagascar, and naturalized in mauritius and the island of reunion, furnishes a thick and syrupy, peculiarly scented green honey, highly esteemed in western india. a rose-coloured honey is stated (_gard. chron._, 1870, p. 1698) to have been procured by artificial feeding. the fine aroma of maltese honey is due to its collection from orange blossoms. narbonne honey being harvested chiefly from labiate plants, as rosemary, an imitation of it is sometimes prepared by flavouring ordinary honey with infusion of rosemary flowers. adulterations of honey are starch, detectable by the microscope, and by its blue reaction with iodine, also wheaten flour, gelatin, chalk, gypsum, pipe-clay, added water, cane-sugar and common syrup, and the different varieties of manufactured glucose. honey sophisticated with glucose containing copperas as an impurity is turned of an inky colour by liquids containing tannin, as tea. elm leaves have been used in america for the flavouring of imitation honey. stone jars should be employed in preference to common earthenware for the storage of honey, which acts upon the lead glaze of the latter. honey is mildly laxative in properties. some few kinds are poisonous, as frequently the reddish honey stored by the brazilian wasp _nectarina_ (_polistes_, latr.[5]) _lecheguana_, shuck., the effects of which have been vividly described by aug. de saint-hilaire,[6] the spring honey of the wild bees of east nepaul, said to be rendered noxious by collection from rhododendron flowers (hooker, _himalayan journals_, i. 190, ed. 1855), and the honey of trebizond, which from its source, the blossoms, it is stated, of _azalea pontica_ and _rhododendron ponticum_ (perhaps to be identified with pliny's _aegolethron_), acquires the qualities of an irritant and intoxicant narcotic, as described by xenophon (_anab._ iv. 8). pliny (_nat. hist._ xxi. 45) describes as noxious a livid-coloured honey found in persia and gaetulia. honey obtained from _kalmia latifolia_, l., the calico bush, mountain laurel or spoon-wood of the northern united states, and allied species, is reputed deleterious; also that of the sour-wood is by some good authorities considered to possess undeniable griping properties; and g. bidie (_madras quart. journ. med. sci._, oct, 1861, p. 399) mentions urtication, headache, extreme prostration and nausea, and intense thirst among the symptoms produced by a small quantity only of a honey from coorg jungle. a south african species of _euphorbia_, as was experienced by the missionary moffat (_miss. lab._ p. 32, 1849), yields a poisonous honey. the nectar of certain flowers is asserted to cause even in bees a fatal kind of vertigo. as a demulcent and flavouring agent, honey is employed in the _oxymel_, _oxymel scillae_, _mel boracis_, _confectio piperis_, _conf. scammonii_ and _conf. terebinthinae_ of the _british pharmacopoeia_. to the ancients honey was of very great importance as an article of diet, being almost their only available source of sugar. it was valued by them also for its medicinal virtues; and in recipes of the saxon and later periods it is a common ingredient.[7] of the eight kinds of honey mentioned by the great indian surgical writer susruta, four are not described by recent authors, viz. _argha_ or wild honey, collected by a sort of yellow bee; _chhatra_, made by tawny or yellow wasps; _audalaka_, a bitter and acrid honey-like substance found in the nest of white ants; and _dala_ or unprepared honey occurring on flowers. according to hindu medical writers, honey when new is laxative, and when more than a year old astringent (u. c. dutt, _mat. med. of the hindus_, p. 277, 1877). ceromel, formed by mixing at a gentle heat one part by weight of yellow wax with four of clarified honey, and straining, is used in india and other tropical countries as a mild stimulant for ulcers in the place of animal fats, which there rapidly become rancid and unfit for medicinal purposes. the _koran_, in the chapter entitled "the bee," remarks with reference to bees and their honey: "there proceedeth from their bellies a liquor of various colour, wherein is a medicine for men" (sale's _koran_, chap. xvi.). pills prepared with honey as an excipient are said to remain unindurated, however long they may be kept (_med. times_, 1857, i. 269). mead, of yore a favourite beverage in england (vol. iv. p. 264), is made by fermentation of the liquor obtained by boiling in water combs from which the honey has been drained. in the preparation of sack-mead, an ounce of hops is added to each gallon of the liquor, and after the fermentation a small quantity of brandy. metheglin, or hydromel, is maufactured by fermenting with yeast a solution of honey flavoured with boiled hops (see cooley, _cyclop._). a kind of mead is largely consumed in abyssinia (vol. i. p. 64), where it is carried on journeys in large horns (stern, _wanderings_, p. 317, 1862). in russia a drink termed _lipez_ is made from the delicious honey of the linden. the _mulsum_ of the ancient romans consisted of honey, wine and water boiled together. the _clarre_, or _piment_, of chaucer's time was wine mixed with honey and spices, and strained till clear; a similar drink was _bracket_, made with wort of ale instead of wine. l. maurial (_l'insectologie agricole_ for 1868, p. 206) reports unfavourably as to the use of honey for the production of alcohol; he recommends it, however, as superior to sugar for the thickening of liqueurs, and also as a means of sweetening imperfectly ripened vintages. it is occasionally employed for giving strength and flavour to ale. in ancient egypt it was valued as an embalming material; and in the east, for the preservation of fruit, and the making of cakes, sweetmeats, and other articles of food, it is largely consumed. grafts, seeds and birds' eggs, for transmission to great distances, are sometimes packed in honey. in india a mixture of honey and milk, or of equal parts of curds, honey and clarified butter (sansk., _madhu-parka_), is a respectful offering to a guest, or to a bridegroom on his arrival at the door of the bride's father; and one of the purificatory ceremonies of the hindus (sansk., _madhu-prasana_) is the placing of a little honey in the mouth of a newborn male infant. honey is frequently alluded to by the writers of antiquity as food for children; it is not to this, however, as already mentioned, that isa. vii. 15 refers. cream or fresh butter together with honey, and with or without bread, is a favourite dish with the arabs. among the observances at the fandroana or new year's festival, in madagascar, is the eating of mingled rice and honey by the queen and her guests; in the same country honey is placed in the sacred water of sprinkling used at the blessing of the children previous to circumcision (sibree, _the great african is._ pp. 219, 314, 1880). honey was frequently employed in the ancient religious ceremonies of the heathen, but was forbidden as a sacrifice in the jewish ritual (lev. ii. 11). with milk or water it was presented by the greeks as a libation to the dead (_odyss._ xi. 27; eurip. _orest._ 115). a honey-cake was the monthly food of the fabled serpent-guardian of the acropolis (herod, viii. 41). by the aborigines of peru honey was offered to the sun. the hebrew word translated "honey" in the authorized version of the english bible is _debash_, practically synonymous with which are _ja'ar_ or _ja'arith had-debash_ (1 sam. xix. 25-27; cf. cant. v. 1) and nopheth (ps. xix. 10, &c.), rendered "honey-comb." _debash_ denotes bee-honey (as in deut. xxxii. 13 and jud. xiv. 8); the manna of trees, by some writers considered to have been the "wild honey" eaten by john the baptist (matt. iii. 4); the syrup of dates or the fruits themselves; and probably in some passages (as gen. xliii. 11 and ez. xxvii. 17) the syrupy boiled juice of the grape, resembling thin molasses, in use in palestine, especially at hebron, under the name of _dibs_ (see kitto, _cyclop._, and e. robinson, _bibl. res._ ii. 81). josephus (b.j., iv. 8, 3) speaks highly of a honey produced at jericho, consisting of the expressed juice of the fruit of palm trees; and herodotus (iv. 194) mentions a similar preparation made by the gyzantians in north africa, where it is still in use. the honey most esteemed by the ancients was that of mount hybla in sicily, and of mount hymettus in attica (iii. 59). mahaffy (_rambles in greece_, p. 148, 2nd ed., 1878) describes the honey of hymettus as by no means so good as the produce of other parts of greece--not to say of the heather hills of scotland and ireland. that of thebes, and more especially that of corinth, which is made in the thymy hills towards cleonae, he found much better (cf. xi. 88). honey and wax, still largely obtained in corsica (vi. 440), were in olden times the chief productions of the island. in england, in the 13th and 14th centuries, honey sold at from about 7d. to 1s. 2d. a gallon, and occasionally was disposed of by the swarm or hive, or _ruscha_ (rogers, _hist. of agric. and prices in eng._, 1. 418). at wrexham, denbigh, wales, two honey fairs are annually held, one on the thursday next after the 1st of september, and the other--the more recently instituted and by far the larger--on the thursday following the first wednesday in october. in hungary the amounts of honey and of wax are in favourable years respectively about 190,000 and 12,000 cwt., and in unfavourable years, as, e.g. 1874, about 12,000 and 3000 cwt. the hives there in 1870 numbered 617,407 (or 40 per 1000 of the population, against 45 in austria). of these 365,711 were in hungary proper, and 91,348 (87 per 1000 persons) in the military frontier (keleti, _ubersicht der bevolk. ungarns_, 1871; schwicker, _statistik d. k. ungarn_, 1877). in poland the system of bee-keeping introduced by dolinowski has been found to afford an average of 40 lb. of honey and wax and two new swarms per hive, the common peasant's hive yielding, with two swarms, only 3 lb. of honey and wax. in forests and places remote from villages in podolia and parts of volhynia, as many as 1000 hives may be seen in one apiary. in the district of ostrolenka, in the government of plock, and in the woody region of polesia, in lithuania, a method is practised of rearing bees in excavated trunks of trees (stanton, "on the treatment of bees in poland," _technologist_, vi. 45, 1866). when, in august, in the loftier valleys of bormio, italy, flowering ceases, the bees in their wooden hives are by means of spring-carts transported at night to lower regions, where they obtain from the buckwheat crops the inferior honey which serves them for winter consumption (ib. p. 38). in palestine, "the land flowing with milk and honey"[8] (ex. iii. 17; numb. xiii. 27), wild bees are very numerous, especially in the wilderness of judaea, and the selling of their produce, obtained from crevices in rocks, hollows in trees and elsewhere, is with many of the inhabitants a means of subsistence. commenting on 1 sam. xiv. 26, j. roberts (_oriental illust._) remarks that in the east "the forests literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees, as you pass along, full of honey." in galilee, and at bethlehem and other places in palestine, bee-keeping is extensively carried on. the hives are sun-burnt tubes of mud, about 4 ft. in length and 8 in. in diameter, and, with the exception of a small central aperture for the passage of the bees, closed at each end with mud. these are laid together in long rows, or piled pyramidally, and are protected from the sun by a covering of mud and of boughs. the honey is extracted, when the ends have been removed, by means of an iron hook. (see tristram, _nat. hist. of the bible_, pp. 322 sqq., 2nd ed., 1868). apiculture in turkey is in a very rude condition. the bali-dagh, or "honey mount," in the plain of troy, is so called on account of the numerous wild bees tenanting the caves in its precipitous rocks to the south. in various regions of africa, as on the west, near the gambia, bees abound. cameron was informed by his guides that the large quantities of honey at the cliffs by the river makanyazi were under the protection of an evil spirit, and not one of his men could be persuaded to gather any (_across africa_, i. 266). on the precipitous slopes of the teesta valley, in india, the procuring of honey from the pendulous bees'-nests, which are sometimes large enough to be conspicuous features at a mile's distance, is the only means by which the idle poor raise their annual rent (hooker, _him. journ._ ii. 41). to reach the large combs of _apis dorsata_ and _a. testacea_, the natives of timor, by whom both the honey and young bees are esteemed delicacies, ascend the trunks of lofty forest trees by the use of a loop of creeper. protected from the myriads of angry insects by a small torch only, they detach the combs from the under surface of the branches, and lower them by slender cords to the ground (wallace, _journ. linn. soc., zool._, vol. xi.). (f. h. b.) footnotes: [1] the term honey in its various forms is peculiar to the teutonic group of languages, and in the gothic new testament is wanting, the greek word being there translated _melith_. [2] see a. white, in _ann. and mag. nat. hist._ vii. 315, pl. 4. [3] wetherill (_chem. gaz._ xi. 72, 1853) calculates that the average weight of the honey is 8.2 times that of the body of the ant, or 0.3942 grammes. [4] compare isa. vii. 15, 22, where curdled milk (a.v. "butter") and honey as exclusive articles of diet are indicative of foreign invasion, which turns rich agricultural districts into pasture lands or uncultivated wastes. [5] _memoires du museum_, xi. 313 (1824). [6] _ib._ xii. 293, pl. xii. fig. b (1825). the honey, according to lassaigne (_ib._ ix. 319), is almost entirely soluble in alcohol. [7] for a list of fifteen treatises concerning honey, dating from 1625 to 1868, see waring, _bibl. therap._ ii. 559, new syd. soc. (1879). on sundry ancient uses for honey, see beckmann, _hist. of invent._ i. 287 (1846). [8] in sanskrit, _madhu-kulya_, a stream of honey, is sometimes used to express an overflowing abundance of good things (monier williams, _sansk.-eng. dict._, p. 736, 1872).