BEE PASTURAGE, AND NUMBER OF HIVES. 163 
also capital stores of honey, and so are lime trees. 
Payne says, “‘I have always found the advantage of 
planting in the vicinity of my hives a large quantity of 
the common kinds of crocus, single blue hepatica, 
Helleborus niger, and Tussilago Petasites, all of which 
flower early, and are rich in honey and farina. 
Salvia nemorosa (of Sir James Smith), which flowers 
very early in June, and lasts all the summer, is in an 
extraordinary manner sought after by the bees; and, 
when room is not an object, twenty or thirty square 
yards of it may be grown with advantage. Origanum 
humile, and Origanum rubescens (of Haworth), and 
mignonette may also be grown. Cuscuta sinensis is a 
great favourite with them; and the pretty little plant 
Anacampseros populifolium, when in flower, is literally 
covered by them. Garden cultivation, beyond this, 
exclusively for bees, I believe answers very little 
purpose.” 
It will follow as a matter of course from what we 
have said, that the size of an apiary in any district 
must be mainly determined by circumstances. In 
some seasons, so prolific a harvest of blossoms and 
honey comes all at once, that a large number of hives 
may abundantly be filled together. The locality must 
be the chief guide ; and I have known instances where 
fewer stocks would have yielded a much better return, 
for one rich colony is worth more than two or three 
half-starved ones. 
The distance to which bees will resort during the 
honey harvest has been the subject of some in- 
teresting observations. Mr. Hibberd writes, “‘ The 
adventurous person who kept bees for many years in 
uM 2 
