THE PASTORAL BEES. 69 



odorless flower. A field of these berries in June 

 sends forth a continuous murmur like that of an 

 enormous hive. The honey is not so white as that 

 obtained from clover, but it is easier gathered ; it i' 

 in shallow cups while that of the clover is in deeL 

 tubes. The bees are up and at it before sunrise, 

 and it takes a brisk shower to drive them in. But 

 fche clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and 

 is the staple source of supply of the finest quality of 

 honey. The red clover yields up its stores only to 

 the longer proboscis of the bumble-bee, else the bee 

 pasturage of our agricultural districts would be un- 

 equaled. I do not know from what the famous honev 

 of Chamouni in the Alps is made, but it can hardly 

 surpass our best products. The snow-white honey 

 of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly 

 sent to Constantinople for the use of the grand seig- 

 nior and the ladies of his seraglio, is obtained from 

 the cotton plant, which makes me think that the 

 white clover does not flourish there. The white clover 

 is indigenous with us ; its seeds seem latent in the 

 ground, and the application of certain stimulants to 

 the soil, such as wood ashes, causes them to germinate 

 and spring up. 



The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yield. 1 - 

 no honey to the bee, unless the wild species be sough. 

 by the bumble-bee. 



Among the humbler plants, let me not forget th» 

 dandelion that so early dots the sunny slopes, ana 

 sipon 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 

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



