70 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



whiich bear yellow flowers, beautifully conspicuous, in early 

 spring, which are much visited by bees. 



The border hyacinths of our gardens — the same sort as 

 are forced to decorate and scent our conservatories — fur- 

 nish bees with many a sweet mouthful 



Single wallflowers — grown largely in some localities for 

 cut flowers and seed — are excellent for bees. 



The flowers of gooseberry and plum trees are super- 

 excellent, yielding honey of the finest quality in great 

 abundance. 



Apple, pear, and currant trees are also of great value to 

 bees, furnishing the bees with rich and large stores of honey. 

 Cherry, peach, and apricot are also honey-yielding plants. 



Field-mustard (sinapis aruensis), which is a weed, super- 

 abounding in some districts, frequently covering our corn- 

 fields with its yellow flowers, is an invaluable thing for 

 bees. In Derbyshire this plant is called Icetlock, in 

 Lanarkshire it is called skelloch, and in Wigtownshire it 

 is termed ranches. Here, in Lancashire and Cheshire, it 

 is called the yellcno flower. It continues a long time in 

 flower, and the honey gathered from it is very clear and 

 excellent. The flowers of turnip, cabbage, and all the 

 brassica tribe, are exceedingly tempting to bees, and yield 

 them large supplies. 



Field-beans are about as rich in honey as they can be 

 — rich in quantity and rich in quality. There is some 

 mystery as to the means employed to extract it from the 

 flowers of beans, which are tubular in shape, and of con- 

 siderable thickness. The honey, of course, lies at the 

 bottom of these flowers — deeper than the length of a bee's 

 proboscis. The tubes are pierced or tapped near their 

 bottoms, and through the holes thus made the bees ex- 

 tract much rich treasure. It has been said that bees are 

 unable to pierce the tubes of the flowers, and that the 



