68 BEES. 
groves is their sole and sufficient excuse for being. 
The arbutus, lying low and keeping green all winter, 
attains to perfume, but not to honey. 
The first honey is perhaps obtained from the flow- 
ers of the red maple and the golden willow. The 
latter sends forth a wild, delicious perfume. The 
sugar maple blooms a little later, and from its silken 
tassels a rich nectar is gathered. My bees will not 
label these different varieties for me as I really wish 
they would. Honey from the maple, a tree so clean 
and wholesome, and full of such virtues every way, 
would be something to put one’s tongue to. Or that 
from the blossoms of the apple, the peach, the cherry, 
the quince, the currant,— one would like a card of 
each of these varieties to note their peculiar qualities. 
The apple-blossom is very important to the bees. A 
single swarm has been known to gain twenty pounds 
in weight during its continuance. Bees love the 
ripened fruit, too, and in August and September will 
suck themselves tipsy upon varieties like the sops-of- 
wine. | | 
The interval between the blooming of the fruit- 
trees and that of the clover and raspberry is bridged 
over in many localities by the honey locust. What 
a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth 
at this season. I know nothing about the quality 
of the honey, but it ought to keep well. But when 
the red raspberry blooms, the fountains of plenty 
are unsealed indeed; ‘what a commotion about the 
hives then, especially in localities where it is ex- 
tensively cultivated, as in places along the Hudson. 
The delicate white clover, which begins to bloom 
about the same time, is neglected; even honey it 
self is passed by for this modest, colorless, all but 
