Honey - France

Honey - France


With the possible exception of the Germans and the Slavic races, there are only a few nations on the European continent who held honey in higher esteem than the French. The French regarded it as a life-giving substance much the same as bread and milk. Their folklore, fables, laws and religious customs give evidence of the importance of honey in the daily life of the nation.

Historical records substantiate the fact that bee keeping was a foremost industry in France. The ancient Barons derived considerable revenue from taxes imposed upon beehives. The lords of the land were permitted to collect tax from the people who hunted for honey in their forests and, at a later period, from those who cultivated bees there. A certain proportion of honey and wax had to be relinquished by the vassals. The French Government also imposed taxes on beehives. In 1791, when the government demanded from the prefects of the provinces an exact record of hives, the population, fearing an additional tax, destroyed their hives in preference to paying higher taxes. After that, for a long time, apiculture was wholly neglected in France.

The taxation of bee keeping in France was not solely a medieval custom. A fairly recent fiscal legislation (1934) imposes a tax on beehives. According to this new law, if a beekeeper feeds his bees on his own property he is assessed with a tax on agricultural products; but if his bees feed on the grounds of his neighbors the tax is higher because the revenue classes as non-commercial business. [The revenue collectors must have a difficult time keeping their eyes on the bees, to ascertain whether they remain at home or pay business or social calls.]

The Island of CORSICA, comprising 3790 square miles, had to pay 200,000 pounds of wax as a yearly tribute to the Romans, which means that they produced at least three million pounds of honey. HOLLAND,especially Friesland, had several thousand hives to the square mile. SPAIN teemed with beehives. Ex-King Alfonso was an ardent bee lover and was keenly interested in apiculture. In the park of the royal palace he had about a thousand colonies of bees and many more hives on his country estates. The leading apiculturist of Spain, Antonio Garay Victoria, had 1500 colonies on his estate in Claveria.