292 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
CHAPTER XVII. 
BEE-PASTURAGE — OVER-STOCKING. 
Every bee-keeper should carefully acquaint himself 
with the honey-resources of his own neighborhood. My 
limits will allow me to mention only some of the most 
important plants from which bees draw their supplies. 
Since Dzierzon’s discovery of the use which may be made 
of rye flour, early blossoms, producing pollen only , are 
not so important. 
All the varieties of willow abound in both bee-bread 
and honey, and their early blossoming gives them a 
special value : 
“ First the gray willow’s glossy pearls they steal, 
Or rob the hazel of its golden meal, 
While the gay crocus and the violet blue, 
Yield to their flexile trunks ambrosial dew.”— Evans. 
The sugar-maple (Acer saccharinus ) yields a large 
supply of delicious honey, and its blossoms, hanging in 
graceful fringes, will be alive with bees. 
^ Of the fruit trees, the apricot, peach, plum, cherry, and 
pear, are great favorites; but none furnishes so much 
honey as the apple. 
The dandelion, whose blossoms furnish pollen and 
honey, when the yield from the fruit trees is nearly over, 
is worthy of a high rank among honey-producing plants. 
The tulip tree (Liriodendron), often called “ poplar ” 
and u white wood,’’ is one of the greatest honey-producing 
trees in the world. As its blossoms expand in succession, 
new swarms will sometimes fill their hives from this 
