§ III.] PASTURAGE FOR BEES. 295 



lands of New England, which abound with the wild red 

 raspberry, might 'be made almost as valuable as some 

 of the vine-clad terraces of the mountain districts of 

 Europe." The golden rod and also asters afford superior 

 honey for autumn gathering. Dzierzon strongly recom- 

 mends buckwheat being sown in the winter stubbles on 

 behalf of the bees, and he tries hard to persuade farmers 

 that it is to their interest to cultivate it. It should be 

 named that all the ordinary fruit blossoms, especially that 

 of the apple, supply abundant store for bees. 



It is, however, to wild or field flowers that the bee- 

 master must chiefly look for the raw material on which 

 his myriad artisans shall exert their skill. The white 

 clover of the pasture,* the wild thyme on the hill, the 

 heather on the moors, the furze and the broom on the 

 sandy waste, offer exhaustless stores for a greater number 

 of bees than can ever be located near them. Lime 

 trees, when in blossom, and mignonette are also most 

 valuable resources ; and there are two or three peculiar 

 sources of honey which one would not have suspected, 

 as, for instance, the blossoms of the onion plant, of 

 turnips, and, in still greater degree, the flower of the 

 mustard plant. 



In those districts of England where mustard seed is 

 cultivated so extensively, it would be well worth while 

 for the farmers to keep large colonies of bees. Another, 



* It is a good practice to induce the owners of adjacent fields to 

 sow clover seed. 



