TASTURAGE. 293 



source alone. The honey, though dark,* is of a good 

 flavor. This tree often attains a height of over one hun- 

 dred feet, and its rich foliage, with its large blossoms of 

 mingled green and yellow, make it a most beautiful 

 sight. 



The linden, or bass-wood (Tilia Americana) yields an 

 abundance of white honey of a delicious flavor, and, as it 

 blossoms when both the swarms and parent-stocks are 

 usually populous, the weather settled, and other bee- 

 forage scarce, its value to the bee-keeper is very great.f 



" Here their delicious task r the fervent bees 

 In swarming millions tend : around, athwart, 

 Through the soft air the busy nations fly, 

 Cling to the bud, and with inserted tube, 

 Suck its pure essence, its etherial soul." THOMSON. 



This majestic tree, adorned, so late in the season, with 

 beautiful clusters of fragrant blossoms, is well worth 

 attention as an ornamental shade-tree. By adorning our 

 villages and country residences with a fair allowance of 

 tulip, linden, and such other trees as are not only beautiful 

 to the eye, but attractive to bees, the honey-resources of 

 the country might, in process of time, be greatly increased. 



The common locust is a very desirable tree for the 

 vicinity of an Apiary, yielding much honey when it is 

 peculiarly needed by the bees. In many districts, locust 

 and bass-wood plantations would be. valuable for their 

 timber alone. 



Hives in the vicinity of extensive beds of seed-onions 

 will speedily become very heavy ; the offensive odor of 



* The honey of Hymettus, which has been so celebrated from the most ancient 

 times, is of a fair golden color. The lightest-colored honey Is by no means always 

 the best. 



t Judge Fishback says that nearly all his surplus honey is gathered from the 

 linden. A correspondent of the Jiienenzeitunff, in Wisconsin, states that, in 1858, 

 several of his hives increased in weight one hundred pounds each, while this tree 

 was in blossom. 



