Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/168

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164
APIARIES.

addition to the gooseberry, currant, and raspberry bushes, and the several orchard trees, the flower-borders in his garden should be well stocked with snow-drops, crocuses, wall-flower, and, above all, with mignonette, which affords honey of the richest flavour, and which continues flowering till the near approach of winter. The rich melliferous blossoms of the Buddlea globosa, too, the bees are very fond of; and some of the Cacalia tribe afford an ample store. "The Cacalia suaveolens," says Darwin, "produces so much honey, that on some days it may be smelt at a great distance from the plant. I remember once counting on one of these plants, besides bees of various kinds without number, above 200 painted butterflies, which gave it the beautiful appearance of being covered with additional flowers."[1] Besides these, the plants of Borage, (Borago,) and viper's Bugloss, (Echium vulgare) yield a very considerable quantity of the rich liquid. The former is eagerly resorted to by the Bees; it is an annual, and blossoms during the whole season till destroyed by frost. In cold and showery weather, the Bees feed on it in preference to every other plant, owing to its flowers being pendulous. The Bugloss appears as a troublesome weed among corn, and grows on dry soils in great profusion; it is a biennial plant. Turnips, particularly the early garden kind, should be sown and allowed to remain in their beds during the winter; and they will in consequence, by their early flowering, afford a season-

  1. Economy of Vegetation, Canto IV.