12 THE PASTORAL BEES. 



in shallow cups while that of the clover is in deep 

 tubes. The bees are up and at it "before sunrise, 

 and it takes a brisk shower to drive them in. But 

 the clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and 

 is the staple source of supply of the finest quality of 

 honey. The red clover yields up its stores only to 

 the longer proboscis of the bumble-bee, else the bee 

 pasturage of our agricultural districts would be un- 

 equaled. I do not know from what the famous honey 

 of Chamouni in the Alps is made, but it can hardly 

 surpass our best products. The snow-white honey 

 of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly 

 sent to Constantinople for the use of the grand 

 seignior and the ladies of his seraglio, is obtained 

 from the cotton plant, which makes me think that the 

 white clover does not flourish there. The white clover 

 is indigenous with us ; its seeds seem latent in the 

 ground, and the application of certain stimulants to 

 the soil, like wood ashes, causes them to germinate 

 and spring up. 



The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields 

 no honey to the bee, unless the wild species be 

 sought by the bumble-bee. 



Among the humbler plants let me not forget the 

 dandelion that so early dots the sunny slopes, and 

 upon which the bee languidly grazes, wallowing to 

 his knees in the golden but not over-succulent past- 

 urage. From the blooming rye and wheat the bee 

 gathers pollen, also from the obscure blossoms of 

 Indian corn. Among weeds, catnip is the great favor- 



