THE BEE. 153 



spring to the very latest autumn. It will be useful, therefore, to append 

 a list of bee-flowers. 



Spring. — Erica carnea,* winter aconite,* rosemary,* laurustinus, 

 hazel,* snow-drop, crocus,* willow,* osier,* primrose, hepatica, violet, 

 almond, wallflower* (single), borage,* onion, gooseberry, apricot, peach, 

 apple, gooseberry,* currant,* laurel, turnip,* cabbage, etc.,* strawberry, 

 tulip, hawthorn, gorse or furze, columbine, laburnum, berberry,* ribes 

 sanguineum, Dutch clover.* 



SUDimer. — Syringa, helianthemum, annual poppy,* sea-kale, French 

 willow, sweet-brier, bean, yellow lupine, mignonette,* blackberry, chest- 

 nut, mallow, lime,* hyssop, teazle, nasturtium, yellow vetch, sainfoin, 

 broom, wheat, viper's bugloss,* raspberry,* sympbora, racemosa. 



Autumn. — Michaelmas daisy, winter savory, purple houseleek, ivy, 

 honeysuckle, French buckwheat* sowed at midsummer, Spanish broom,* 

 hollyhock,* heath,* sunflower, lemon thyme,* St. John's-wort, melilo- 

 tus leucantha.* 



Those marked with an asterisk are understood to be the flowers espe- 

 cially favored by the bees. What a choice little garden for himself, as 

 well as for his bees, the apiarian may make from the above list, if he 

 does not choose to leave the bees dependent upon the stores of the 

 neighborhood at large ! 



TBANSPORTIIVG BEES.— Though few, in this country, it is presumed, will 

 adopt the plan recommended in the following paragraphs, yet they are 

 interesting as showing the pains taken elsewhere in the keeping of bees : 



" Should the surrounding neighborhood not furnish a sufficiency of 

 flowers, the practice of transportation, or shifting, is strongly recom- 

 mended by many authors. It is not in the power of every bee-keeper, 

 but as those whose home is placed by a river or canal, have a means at 

 hand for transporting their hives, we have chosen to mention it here. 

 In some countries, boats are built expressly for this purpose. They 

 receive a very large number of hives in each boat, and by traveling for 

 a few hours at night, the bees find themselves in a new country during 

 their working hours, and the hives are rapidly filled with honey and 

 wax of the best quality. The boatmen receive a small sum for each 

 hive that they transport, but wje rather fancy that their ingenuity does 

 not rest until it has extracted some portion of the honey fi-om the best- 

 filled hives. The Nile is much used for this purpose, and bees traverse 

 the entire length of Egypt during the summer. In China ducks are 

 subjected to the same migratory life, and thrive amazingly. Hives 

 may easily be carried on men's shoulders, as that mode of conveyance 

 shakes them less than carriage by wagon. Heaths are the best places 

 that bees can possibly live in, and in Scotland there are people who 

 make their living by taking care of hives during the time that the heath 

 is in blossom, a period of about two months, for which time a rent of 

 from one shilling to eighteen pence is paid by the proprietor. It is 

 always necessary while the bees are migrating, to take them at least ten 

 miles during the nocturnal journey, as they are otherwise apt to fiy 

 back to the former position of their hive, and to lose themselves in 

 searching for it. The distance to which bees can fly for food is shown 

 in the following anecdote, which has been recently published : 



