PASTURAGE. 69 



same plant Kalmia latifolia. This led to a public 

 proclamation prohibiting the use of the pheasant 

 for food during that season. 



As most of the plants here enumerated are 

 now introduced into our gardens, they might be 

 supposed to injure the British honey. Most pro- 

 bably, however, their proportion to the whole of 

 the flowers in bloom is too small to produce any 

 such inconvenience ; whereas on their native con- 

 tinent they exclusively cover whole tracts of 

 country. 



I cannot close this chapter on Bee-Pasturage, 

 without adverting to what Linnaeus has said of 

 the Fritillaria imperialis or crown imperial, and of 

 the Melianthus or honey -flower. Of the former, 

 he observes that " no plant, melianthus alone ex- 

 cepted, abounds so much with honey, yet the bees 

 do not collect it." Of the latter he remarks " that 

 if it be shaken, whilst in flower, it distils a shower 

 of nectar." This observation applies more parti- 

 cularly to the Melianthus major. And with re- 

 spect to the Fritillaria^ Dr. Evans says, " that the 

 bees do sometimes visit it ; and he thinks that they 

 would do so oftener, but for the disagreeable fox- 

 like smell that emanates from it." 



The liquidambar and liriodendrum or tulip-tree, 

 both which are so ornamental, the former to our 

 shrubberies and the latter to larger plantations, 

 have been much extolled, as affording food for 



