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HONEY AND BEEHIVES.
[Class Ilf.
Borneo and Singapore both supply trepang (beehe demer, or sea-slug), in considerable abundance; and mag*nitieent specimens are exhibited in the Chinese Depart-ment by II. Hamilton Lindsay (11, p. 1422).
Swallows’ nests, used extensively for soup by the Chi-nese and natives of the Eastern Archipelago, are exhibitedof very high quality, by II. H. Lindsay (11, p. 1422), inthe Chinese Department, together with an excellent modelof the mode of attachment to the sea-cliffs, adopted by thebirds for their nests. The material used is believed to be 'a sea-weed, resembling in form and substance the Carra-geen moss of the Irish seas, which becomes glutinous ;when thrown up on the beach and decomposing; a pe-culiar fluid secreted by the swallow aids in the processof constructing the nest. Borneo and Ceylon supply in-ferior nests, and Java some of good quality.
Malacca, Singapore , and Macassar, all send agar-agar,a very similar natural production to that from which theswallows’ nests are formed, and employed for the samepurposes.
New Zealand, Manilla, and Malacca send sharks’ fins,which are another favourite article of food with theChinese .
II. V. — Honey.
There is a considerable variety of specimens of honey,both in the comb and run: also of hives, simple and com-plicated, for practical or scientific purposes, but no noveltyof importance. Among 38 hives exhibited, none pre-sent any practical improvement. Only one, which datesupwards of two centuries ago, is really adapted to therequirements of the bees. To this the depriving system ■(which deprives the bees of a portion of their honey, with- :out destroying them) was added a century later. Muchingenuity has since been expended, chiefly in complicat-ing hives with various contrivances for ventilation, &c.,in no instance producing a return correspondent to theincreased expenditure, the chief result being a hindranceto the extension of bee culture. !
British . —Among many hives and exhibitors, one alonehas been selected as worth}-of a Prize Medal; viz., J. Mil-ton (Cl. IX., 201, p. 402 \ who sends an improved cottagehive, with single glass and cover. Simplicity and adapt-ation to practical purposes are here the objects aimed at; thehive is cheap and available for all classes. Mr. Miltonalso exhibits bees well managed and working profitablyin a “ mansion of industry,” a leaf-hive, on Hubert’splan, for scientific investigation;—of merit, for its correctproportion and adaptation to the purposes required ; alsobeautiful honey.
Of the various samples of honeycomb, that of W. C.Kitchener, Newmarket (Cl. III., 5, p. 201), has been 'selected as of great superiority, that in the upright glassbeing perfect in every point. The glass of honey in comb,exhibited by Miss Mortlock, is of equal beauty. Bothhave been rewarded with Honourable Mention. Fohtnumand Mason’s exhibition of various honeys (55, p. 204) isgood and curious, and well worthy of attention; it is theresult of much pains to illustrate this branch of trade.
2. Canada (131, p. 966) exhibits honey, but coarse,and of dark colour.
3. British Gttiana. —The produce of a native bee,said to be of easy domestication, is exhibited from Wood-land’s Plantation (Mahaica River) (124, p. 986). Its qua-lities appear remarkably good, particularly as to flavourand sweetness, but it has undergone fermentation. Thehoney is the produce of a stingless bee; it is deposited inpouches, from which it is extracted by puncture, afterwhich the bee stops up the orifice and refills the pouch.
4. The Cape of Good Hope sends excellent honey (52, 'p. 952), fit for the English market, firm, finely granulated,n\ther opaque, but of good pale-yellow colour, and delicateflavour. Honourable Mention was made of the exhibitor,J. G. Joubert.
5. Tasmania produces excellent honey; and several
samples were forwarded to the Exhibition, but the jars :arrived in a broken state. ;
6. France . —Chevalier De Beauvoys (47, p. 1173) ;exhibits a large series of bee-hives and apiarian apparatus,all manufactured for practical purposes. The workman-
ship, generally good, is in parts unequal. Some of theappliances are better suited to the climate of France thanof England. A Prize Medal is awarded for the hive onHuber’s plan, well adapted to the climate of France .The same exhibitor sends various honeys and strainingapparatus.
The artificial honeycomb of M. Damainville, ofCressy (153, p. 1178), is a clever and apparently new con-trivance, well adapted to the breeding of bees, thoughperhaps it would be better so if the cells were less deep.It has been rewarded with a Prize Medal.
Honourable Mention is made of a coopered cask of runhoney, of the finest quality as to granulation, consistency,delicate colour, and fine flavour. It is properly exhi-bited in hulk (1558, p. 1251), sent by Chailloux Le-page and Pochon.
An equally fine and perhaps higher-flavoured honey,from the Basses Alpes , is exhibited bv M. Laucieii(1640, p. 1255).
7. Spain . —Much of the honey from this country isadmirable: but it is to be regretted that all the samples inthe Catalogue are not forthcoming, particularly theHinojos honey, said to he the chief product of the district.The El Morai virgin-honey (180, p. 1340 s ), exhibited byA. Molina, is excellent, of good colour and granulation,delicate and highly flavoured, and of remarkable sweet-ness in after-taste. It is rewarded with Honourable Men-tion.
Many of the orange-flower honeys are good, especiallythose of Guadalajuna, the great orange-flower honey pro-ducing district of Spain ; but all are injured by trans-ference to stoppered bottles.
8. Portugal . — All the honeys, six samples, are dete-riorated by being put in stoppered bottles. HonourableMention is made of No. 593 (p. 1314), from J. B. DeMattos.
9. Sardinia sends two samples of honey, one sweet,and one bitter.
10. Switzerland contributes a beehive, neat, strong,and larger than those of English make. It is on the de-priving system, consisting of a conical stock-hive, with acap, and is exhibited by L. Destraz (71, p. 1271), ofwhose invention Honourable Mention is made.
11. Germany exhibits fair wood-hives, on the storiedprinciple, probably well fitted for the climate.
12. Greece . —Ajar of llymettus honey, from A. Tsrr-zimdakos, of Athens (13, p. 1402), deserves HonourableMention. The specimens were brought over in the ori-ginal jars, and part removed into glass jars, whereby thequality is injured. The Rhodomeli honey, from Carzeto,in Euboea , exhibited by the Bishop of Eubcea (14, p.1402), also receives Honourable Mention. It is rathermore aromatic and pungent than that of llymettus.
13. Austria sends honey, and a Canadian apiary:neither is remarkable.
14. Egypt . —Various honeys, in large jars, dirty, oflead colour, and peculiar flavour, and all in a state of fer-mentation.
15. Turkey. —The honeys are generally of good colourand flavour. Of one sample (2918, p. 13*86) HonourableMention is made : it is of a fine rose flavour, yellow, andsemitransparent.
16. Tunis exhibits a sample of honey of the Egyptian character, and not fitted for the European market.
17. Russia. — A strong straw hive is exhibited.
18. United States.— Joseph Hall, Burlington, NewJersey , sends a hive of living bees.
IL VI.— Preparations of Blood .
The only examples are those of P. Brocchieri (16),who attempts to utilise the nutritious principles of theblood of animals killed for food, by reducing it to a con-centrated and dried state, for preservation during longperiods. The first step is to prepare a liquid, consideredinnocuous and antiseptic by the exhibitor, by whichvarious bloods are kept fluid and apparently fresh. Sam-ples of these are exhibited. Another series of specimensshows the solid parts forming the crassamentum, or clot,in a dried and semicrystalline state. These solid .consti-tuents, including the gelatine, albumen, and fibrine, are