BEE FOOD PLANTATIONS. 267 



to its nature. It has the labour of returning home 

 laden, and of repeating that labour through the day. 

 All keepers of bees, therefore, who desire to profit 

 by them, should plant to a certain degree for their 

 provision, perhaps in any situation; but in those 

 which are unfavourable, ample successions of those 

 shrubs, flowers, or plants, most agreeable to their 

 taste, should be cultivated. It is obvious, the shorter 

 journeys the bees have to make, the quicker and 

 more ample will be their returns, and that chosen 

 food of the best species must also contribute to ex- 

 cellence in the quality, as well as the utmost increase 

 in quantity, of the honey and wax produced. 

 Hereafter follows a list of the chief articles of BEE 

 FOOD, which may easily be enlarged, if necessary* 

 by enquiries in the country. 



Lisle and the old Bee-masters recommend turnips 

 to be kept, the blossoms of which are the earliest 

 spring food ; the meadow and hedge-row flowers 

 soon succeed. The blossoms in May, of all fruit 

 trees ; all of the turpentine or pine class, and the 

 Linden tree. Vetches, beans, white clover, lucern, 

 and sanfoin ; but it is said the humble bee only is 

 able to feed on broad clover, from the length of its 

 proboscis. Buck wheat is an article of great conse- 

 quence, where food is raised expressly for the use 

 of bees. Heath, furze, and broom stand in the first 

 rank, as most sought and most salubrious to the 

 insects. 



With the view of imparting a fragrancy of flavour 

 to the honey, the odoriferous shrubs, thyme, laven- 

 der, sweet marjoram, and their like, with strawber- 



