the foliage sear,
When the light aphids, arm'd with puny spear,
Probe each emulgent vein, till bright below,
Like falling stars, clear drops of nectar glow."
_Evans._

"The _willow_ accommodates the bees in a kind of threefold succession;
from the flowers they obtain both honey and farina;--from the bark
propolis;--and the leaves frequently afford them honey-dew at a time
when other resources are beginning to fail."

"Honey-dew usually appears upon the leaves as a viscid, transparent
substance, as sweet as honey itself, sometimes in the form of globules,
at others resembling a syrup; it is generally most abundant from the
middle of June to the middle of July, sometimes as late as September."

"It is found chiefly upon the _oak_, the _elm_, the _maple_, the
_plane_, the _sycamore_, the _lime_, the _hazel_, and the _blackberry_;
occasionally also on the _cherry_, _currant_, and other fruit trees.
Sometimes only one species of trees is affected at a time. The oak
generally affords the largest quantity. At the season of its greatest
abundance, the happy humming noise of the bees may be heard at a
considerable distance from the trees, sometimes nearly equalling in
loudness the united hum of swarming."

In some seasons, extraordinary quantities of honey are furnished by the
honey-dews, and bees will often, in a few days, fill their hives with
it. If at such times, they can be furnished with empty combs, the amount
stored up by them, will be truly wonderful. No certain reliance,
however, can be placed upon this article of bee-food, as in some years,
there is scarcely any to be found, and it is only once in three or four
years, that it is very abundant. The honey obtained from this source, is
generally of a very good quality, though seldom as clear as that
gathered from the choicest blossoms.

The quality of honey is exceedingly various, some being dark, and often
bitter and disagreeable to the taste, while occasionally it is gathered
from poisonous flowers, and is very noxious to the human system.

An intelligent Mandingo African informed a lady of my acquaintance, that
they do not in his country, dare to eat _unsealed_ honey, until it is
first _boiled_. In some of the Southern States, all unsealed honey is
generally rejected. It appears to me highly probable that the noxious
qualities of the honey gathered from some flowers, is, for the most
part, evaporated, bef