56 PASTURAGE. 



to, yet it is by no means the first in the order 

 ^of the seasons. 



" First the gray willow's glossy pearls they steal, 

 Or rob the hazel of its golden meal, 

 While the gay crocus and the violet blue 

 Yield to the flexile trunk ambrosial dew." EVANS. 



The earliest resources of the bee are the willow, 

 the hazel, the osier, the poplar, the sycamore and 

 the plane, all which are very important adjuncts to 

 the neighbourhood of an apiary. The catkins of 

 several of them afford an abundant supply of 

 farina, and attract the bees very strongly in early 

 spring when the weather is fine. Mr. Kirby, in 

 his Monographia Apum Anglice, considers the 

 female catkins of the different species of Salix as 

 affording honey, the male ones, pollen. 



To these may be added the snowdrop, the crocus, 

 white alyssum, laurustinus, &c. 



Orange and lemon trees also, and other green- 

 house plants, afford excellent honey, and might be 

 advantageously presented to the bees at this 

 season. 



Gooseberry, currant and raspberry trees likewise, 

 with sweet marjoram, winter savory and peppermint, 

 should not be far off them. From the early 

 blossoming of the two first, and from their 

 yielding an extraordinary quantity of honey, they 

 form some of the first sources of spring food for 



