ples, a
tree so clean and wholesome, and full of such virtues every way, would
be something to put one's tongue to. Or that from the blossoms of the
apple, the peach, the cherry, the quince, the currant,--one would like
a card of each of these varieties to note their peculiar qualities. The
apple-blossom is very important to the bees. A single swarm has been
known to gain twenty pounds in weight during its continuance. Bees love
the ripened fruit, too, and in August and September will suck themselves
tipsy upon varieties such as the sops-of-wine.

The interval between the blooming of the fruit-trees and that of the
clover and the raspberry is bridged over in many localities by the honey
locust. What a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth at this
season. I know nothing about the quality of the honey, but it ought to
keep well. But when the red raspberry blooms, the fountains of plenty
are unsealed indeed; what a commotion about the hives then, especially
in localities where it is extensively cultivated, as in places along the
Hudson. The delicate white clover, which begins to bloom about the
same time, is neglected; even honey itself is passed by for this modest
colorless, all but odorless flower. A field of these berries in June
sends forth a continuous murmur like that of an enormous hive. The honey
is not so white as that obtained from clover but it is easier gathered;
it is in shallow cups while that of the clover is in deep tubes. The
bees are up and at it before sunrise, and it takes a brisk shower to
drive them in. But the clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and
is the staple source of supply of the finest quality of honey. The
red clover yields up its stores only to the longer proboscis of the
bumble-bee, else the bee pasturage of our agricultural districts would
be unequaled. I do not know from what the famous honey of Chamouni
in the Alps is made, but it can hardly surpass our best products. The
snow-white honey of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly sent
to Constantinople for the use of the grand seignior and the ladies of
his seraglio, is obtained from the cotton plant, which makes me think
that the white clover does not flourish these. The white clover is
indigenous with us; its seeds seem latent in the ground, and the
application of certain stimulants to the soil, such as wood ashes,
causes them to germinate and spring up.

The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields no h