_Furze, broom, heath_ and _saintfoin_, are good neighbours to an apiary. The blossoms of furze so abound with honey as to be pervaded strongly by the scent of it, and the broom has been extolled ever since the days of Pliny. Mr. Bradley speaks in the highest terms of its blossoms, as affording a great quantity of honey; but he greatly prefers the Spanish broom, and says that an acre of it would maintain ten stocks. The culture of saintfoin as a bee-pasture is also well worthy of the apiarian's attention in some situations; for though it flourishes best in a calcareous soil, it will thrive in soils which are too poor either for grass or tillage. Furze and broom are particularly serviceable on account of their blossoming early and long, and abounding in farina. On the other hand, the lateness of its bloom makes _ivy_ a very valuable resource for the bees. On a fine day at the end of October, among the ivy-mantled towers of an old castle, I have heard their humming noise, so loud as scarcely to be exceeded by that which they make, among the trees affected with honey-dew, in summer. I should however conceive that the ivy blossom is principally serviceable as affording pollen, which the bees probably warehouse, for feeding the young larvæ in the ensuing spring. Mr. Hunter recommends St. John's wort (_Hypericum perforatum_), which also comes in late, as a favourite plant for collecting pollen, for winter's store. This stored pollen is used for feeding the earliest hatched larvæ, though it is evident that the bees prefer fresh for the purpose, from their collecting it as early in the spring as possible, and from the quantity of stored pollen that is found in every old hive. _Commons surrounded by woods_ are well known to make an apiary productive, the commons abounding with wild thyme and various other flowers, which the scythe never touches; and the trees, in addition to their farina, affording in some seasons a profusion of honey-dew. The forwardness and activity of hives thus situated, may, in part, be attributed to the sheltering protection of the woods. Keys says he never observed bees to be particularly fond of the wild thyme. In this he is opposed to almost all the authors who have written upon the subject. Theophrastus, Pliny, Varro, Columella, and various other writers, speak in the highest terms of it. The Abbé Barthelemy speaks thus of bees. "These insects are extremely partial to Mount Hymettus, which they have filled with their colonies, and which is covered almost every where with wild thyme and other odoriferous plants; but it is chiefly from the excellent thyme the Mount produces, that they extract those precious sweets, with which they compose a honey in high estimation throughout Greece."