4 LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY 



blooms everywhere, and is the staple source of sup- 

 ply of the finest quality of honey. The red clover 

 yields up its stores only to the longer proboscis of 

 the bumblebee, else the bee pasturage of our agricul- 

 tural districts would be unequaled. I do not know 

 from what the famous honey of Chamouni in the 

 Alps is made, but it can hardly surpass our best pro- 

 ducts. 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 flour- 

 ish there. The white clover is indigenous with us; 

 its seeds seem latent in the ground, and the applica- 

 tion 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 bumblebee. 



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 pas- 

 turage. From the blooming rye and wheat the bee 

 gathers pollen, also from the obscure blossoms of In- 

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

 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 nov- 

 elty in the market. It would probably partake of 

 the aromatic properties of the plant from which it 

 was derived. 



