16 Pafturage of Bees. 
kinds. In fhort, 1 know no flower that they 
will refufe, when they are ata lofs for variety ; 
for, like the poor among mankind, when a 
choice is denied them, they will be contented: — 
with coarfe fare; but give them their option 
amongft a variety, and it will foon be perceived, 
how little they value the gaudy /bow, when put - 
incompetition with /alfance ; for they will fly 
over the fineft gardens, and the moft beautiful 
flowers, and cheerfully feed on their beloved 
turnips, runches, clover, and heath. 
There is one thing very obfervable, that 
whatever flower a bee firft pitches upon, fhe 
always continues to work upon the fame fpe- 
cies, till fhe is loaded, although fhe fhould be 
obliged to fly over better kinds, and even to 
fome confiderable diftance for them; but, if 
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the bees cannot obtain a fullloading from thofe — 
flowers which they prefer, they fometimes 
make up the remainder from other flowers. 
What the honey dew confifts of, is difputed 
among the learned. According to the ancients, 
it was an efflux of air, a dew which fell upon 
flowers. The moderns fay, it is rather a per- 
fpiration ef the fineft particles of the fap in 
plants, 
