PURCHASING BEES. 79 
Gooseberries, currants, raspberries, peach, nectarine, apple, pear, 
the locust, also, afford a rich yield of honey. Also, the bass-wood, 
(or Lyme as it is called in some sections,) affords a good pasture for 
some two weeks. Mustard, turnips, melons, squashes, &c., yield more 
or less. But of all the blossoms that tend to supply the honey bee 
with a bountiful harvest, none compare with the Dutch or white clover, 
(Trifolium repens,) either in the amount it yields, or the richness or 
purity of its flavor. Wherever white clover abounds, there bees will 
be sure to yield a rich harvest of honey, if properly managed. 
There are seasons in which the bees gather a large amount of 
honey from the leaves of forest trees, deposited by honey-dew, as it is 
termed. Honey-dew appears on the upper surface of the leaves of 
trees, is a tenacious, transparent substance, and as sweet as honey it- 
self’ Ihave seen it upon the leaves of the chestnut and the oak, 
when the leaves would glisten in the sun, as though they had re- 
ceived a cout of varnish. Various conjectures and speculations have 
been entertained by different writers, as to the causes that produce 
this substance, but I am strongly of the opinion that it descends from 
the heavens, the same as the natural dews of the evening. 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
PURCHASING BEES. 
In purchasing bees, their value depends upon the strength or 
population of the colony, its weight, and the ‘number of years they 
have occupied the hive. A good populous family should have in the 
fall from twenty to twenty-five lbs. of honey in store, for their winter 
supply; though they often consume much less; depending upon the 
season, and their exposure to the sudden changes from heat to cold, 
during winter. Still I do not consider it safe to commence the win- 
ter with less than twenty lbs. The number of years the colony have 
occupied the hive may be judged, pretty correctly, from the complex- 
ion of the combs. If it be a swarm of the previous year, the combs 
