THE PASTORAL BEES. 13 



ite. It lasts nearly the whole season and yields 

 richly. It could no doubt be profitably cultivated 

 in some localities, and catnip honey would be a 

 novelty in the market. It would probably partake 

 of the aromatic properties of the plant from which 

 it was derived. 



Among your stores of honey gathered before mid- 

 summer you may chance upon a card, or mayhap 

 only a square inch or two of comb, in which the 

 liquid is as transparent as water, of a delicious qual- 

 ity, with a slight flavor of mint. This is the product 

 of the linden or basswood, of all the trees in our 

 forest the one most beloved by the bees. Melissa, 

 the goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this 

 tree. The wild swarms in the woods frequently reap 

 a choice harvest from it. I have seen a mountain-side 

 thickly studded with it, its straight, tall, smooth, light- 

 gray shaft carrying its deep-green crown far aloft, 

 like the tulip or maple. 



In some of the Northwestern States there are 

 large forests of it, and the amount of honey reported 

 stored by strong swarms in this section during the 

 time the tree is in bloom is quite incredible. As a 

 shade and ornamental tree the linden is fully equal 

 to the maple, and if it was as extensively planted and 

 cared for our supplies of virgin honey would be 

 greatly increased. The famous honey of Lithuania 

 in Russia is the product of the linden. 



It is a homely old stanza current among bee folk 

 that 



