208 TIIE FARMER AT HOME. 



ing flowers, single or double, white, yellow, red, or even almost black. 

 It is a hardy plant, and easily reproduced from seed. 



HONEY BEES. A species of animals remarkable for industry, 

 economy, and ingenuity. They have all things in common, and yet 

 live under inviolable laws. Mindful of the coming winter, they toil 

 in summer, and lay up food in common stock. Some are employed 

 in the fields, gathering honey and wax ; some construct the combs; 

 some fill the cells with honey ; some watch at the gates to observe 

 the weather, or receive the loads of those that return to the hive. All 

 have one time of labor ; all have one rest from work. In the morn- 

 ing they rush out of the gates without delay ; at evening all is hushed 

 for the night. It has been remarked, that " if Newton had been a 

 bee," he could not have constructed the combs or cells, with more 

 geometrical exactness. In a hive of bees are commonly found from 

 fifteen to eighteen thousand inhabitants ; over which there is always 

 a queen, that reigns absolute. The queen is distinguished from the 

 other bees, by the form of her body ; she is longer and larger than they 

 are, and her wings are much shorter than theirs in proportion to her 

 body. Her hinder parts are more taper than those of other bees ; her 

 belly and legs are of a deep golden yellow. A hive of bees cannot 

 subsist without a queen, as she lays all the eggs, and thus produces 

 the whole posterity. No other earthly monarch has such obedient 

 subjects. If you take the queen, wherever you put her in sight, the 

 whole hive will follow, and presently surround her ; and when a 

 queen happens to die, the bees of her hive immediately leave working, 

 consume their honey, fly about their own and other hives at unusual 

 hours when other bees are at rest, and pine away, if not soon supplied 

 with another sovereign. 



HONEYDEW. A term frequently applied to a clammy sac- 

 charine substance, which is often seen covering the leaves and other 

 parts of different kinds of trees and plants, at some particular seasons 

 of the year. It does not appear that the cause of this extraordinary 

 appearance is yet fully understood, as it has not by any means been 

 well ascertained whether it derives its origin from external circum- 

 stances, or some morbid affection of the vegetables themselves. 

 It is generally, however, supposed to be the production of insects. 



HOP. A plant with a creeping root, the stalks of which climb 

 and twist about whatever is near them ; wherefore, in hop grounds, 

 poles are fixed near to the plant for them to rise upon. Hops are 

 said to have been introduced into England from the Netherlands in 

 the sixteenth century : they are principally used to boil up with beer, 

 in order to prevent it from turning sour, and to give it a strengthening 

 quality. Hops require to be planted in open situations, and in a rich 

 strong ground. The two best sorts are the white and the gray kind. 

 These should be planted in hills about eight or nine feet asunder. 

 About the beginning of July hops begin to blow, and are ready to 



