The woods, the rivers, and the meadows green,
With his air-cutting wings he measured wide;
Ne did he leave the mountains bare unseen,

Nor the rank grassy fens delights untried.
But none of these, however sweet they been,

Mote please his fancy, nor himn cause abide.
His choiceful sense with every change doth flit;
No common things may please a wavering wit.
To the gay gardens his unstayed desire

Him wholly carried, to refresh his sprites,
There lavish Nature, in her best attire,
Pours forth sweet odours and alluring sights;
And Art, with her contending, doth aspire
T'excel the natural with made delights:
And all that fair or pleasant may be found,
In riotous excess doth there abound.
There he arriving, round about doth fly
From bed to bed, from one to other border,
And takes survey, with curious busy eye,

Of every flower and herb there set in order;
Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly,

Yet none of them he rudely doth disorder,
Ne with his feet their silken leaves deface,
But pastures on the pleasures of each place.
And evermore, with most variety

And change of sweetness (for all change is sweet),
He casts his glutton sense to satisfy;

Now, sucking of the sap of herb most meet,

Or of the dew which yet on them does lie,

Now in the same bathing his tender feet:
And then he percheth on some bank thereby,
To weather him, and his moist wings to dry.

Other insects now observed, are field crickets (gryllus campestris), the chaffer or may-bug (scarabæus melolontha), and the forest-fly (hippobosca equina), which so much annoys horses and cattle. The female wasp (vespa vulgaris) appears at the latter end of the month. For a full account of that curious fabric, a wasp's nest, see T. T. for 1815, p. 193.

About this time, bees send forth their early swarms. Nothing can afford greater amusement than to watch the members of this industrious community in their daily journies from flower to flower.-(See our last volume, p. 149.)

The following is a list of trees, plants, and flowers,

from which the bees extract their honey and wax: apple, arbutus, apricot, ash, almond, althea frutex, amaranth, aspin, balm, blackberry, burrage, betony, box, beans, buck-wheat, broom, burnet, cabbages, cauliflowers, cherry, clover, chesnut and horse chesnut, currants, cypress, dandelion, endive, elm, elder, furze, gooseberry, golden-rod, gourds, melons, cucumbers, hawthorn, heath, hyacinths, iris, jonquil, lucerne, lavender, laurel, lily, lemon-tree, mignionette, melitot (trifolium melitotus officinalis), mustard, marshmallows, oak, parsley, pear-tree, parsnip (in flower), poppy, primrose, plum-trees, rosemary, radishes, raspberry, strawberry, sage, savory, saffron, sainfoin, sunflower, single roses, turnips, thyme, willow, wild marjoram, vetches, violets, and all resinous trees.

In the list of these plants and flowers, the goldenrod must be particularly noticed, as it begins to flower when all the other flowers have faded, and continues in bloom until the middle of November. This flower is always covered with bees during the last months of the summer, and the two first of autumn, provided the weather will permit the bees at that season of the year to leave the hive. This plant should be particularly cultivated in the vicinity of an apiary. It will grow in the worst of soils; and an acre of unarable land planted with the golden-rod, would furnish at the close of the season a sufficiency for a hundred hives to complete their winter stock.

In general, all those plants ought to be cultivated which begin to blow in February and March, and those which keep flowering to the close of the season. The bees, always active and laborious, turn to advantage with the same ardour the last as well as the first moments of vegetation, and the flowering of the plants.

All vegetables contain more or less the principles of honey, only in a greater or less degree; consequently, the bees can maintain themselves every where, and gather a stock of honey proportionate to

the abundance which is offered to them in the country. which they occupy. It is, however, the rich and vast meadows well studded with flowers in which the useless daisy is not seen, the fields whitened with buckwheat, the plains gilded with the flower of the wild mustard, the turnip, and the cabbage, and the forests of oak, ash, elm, &c., that present to the bees a daily supply of excellent food, and an abundance of provisions, wherewith to fill their magazines ".

The BIRTH of the BEE.

With course unvarying, thus the mother bee
Lays in the comb her shell-bound progeny;
Four days the embryo rests in still repose,
Ere the fifth morn its brittle crust unclose.
Coiled in a ring her pliant folds she twines,
And round her frame the clear albumen shines;
While the fond parent, with instinctive zeal,
Brings to her eager grasp the fragrant meal.

Soon as four days their destined course have run,
And sunk beneath the wave th' unwearied sun,
The full-formed nymph clings to her close-sealed tomb,
Spins her own silky shrouds, and courts the gloom.
But, while within a seeming grave she lies,

What wondrous changes in succession rise!
Those filmy folds, which cased the slimy worm,
Now thrown aside, uncoils her length'ning form;
Six radiant rings her shining shape invest,
The hoary corslet glitters on her breast;
With fearful joy she tries each salient wing,
Shoots her slim trunk, and points her pigmy sting.
Though yet of tender mould, and faintest hue,
The pale Aurelia glimmers to the view;
Soon, black'ning by degrees each hardened scale,
Fringed with light hairs, she shows her plaited mail.

When twice six suns have on bright axle rolled,
And edged the parting clouds with fleecy gold,
To fresh existence called, she proudly scorns
Her limbs imprisoned, and her blunted horns,

1 See Mr. Huish's Treatise on Bees, p. 371, the last on this subject, and containing a mass of curious information relative to the natural history and management of this interesting insect.

New to the light, as sense impulsive leads,
She seeks at once the flow'r-enamelled meads,
Sucks the pure essence from each honeyed bell,
And bears within her breast the crystal well.
Wings through the rifted wax her easy way,
And hails, on fluttering wing, the cheerful day.

DR. EVANS'S BEES, a Poem'.

About the commencement of the month, the flowers of the lily of the valley (convallaria maialis) and the flowers of the chesnut tree (fagus castanea) begin to open; the tulip tree (liriodendron tulipfera) has its leaves quite out, and the flowers of the oak (quercus robur), the Scotch fir (pinus sylvestris), the honey-suckle, and the beech, are in full bloom. Towards the middle, the flowers of the white thorn are quite out, and the mulberry tree (morus nigra) puts forth its leaves; the walnut (juglans regia) has its flowers in full bloom; the flowers of the garden rose also begin to open.

Look, Delia, how w' esteem the half-blown rose,
The image of thy blush and summer's honour;

Whilst yet her tender bud doth undisclose
That full of beauty Time bestows upon her.

The WOUNDED CUPID.

CUPID, as he lay among
Roses, by a bee was stung.
Whereupon, in anger flying
To his mother, said thus, crying,
Help, O help, your boy's a dying!
And why, my pretty lad? said she.
Then, blubbering, replied he,
A winged snake has bitten me,
Which country people call a bee.

At which she smiled; then with her hairs

And kisses drying up his tears,
Alas, said she, my wag! if this
Such a pernicious torment is;

Come tell me then, how great's the smart
Of those thou woundest with thy dart?

HERRICK.

No sooner spreads her glory in the air,

But straight her wide-blown pomp comes to decline;
She then is scorned that late adorned the fair;

So fade the roses of those cheeks of thine.
No April can revive thy withered flowers,

Whose springing grace adorns thy glory now;
Swift speedy Time, feathered with flying hours,
Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow:
Then do not thou such treasure waste in vain,
But love now while thou may'st be loved again.

DANIEL.

The lilac (syringa vulgaris), the barberry (berberis vulgaris), and the maple (acer campestre), are now in flower. At the latter end of the month, rye (secale hybernum) is in ear; the mountain ash (sorbus aucuparia), laburnum (cytisus laburnum), the guelder rose (viburnum opulus), clover (trifolium pratense), columbines (aquilegia vulgaris), the alder (rhamnus frangula), the wild chervil (chorophyllium temulum), and the wayfaring tree, or guelder-rose, have their flowers. full blown.

The germander (veronica chamadrys) is seen in hedges, and various species of meadow grass are now in flower. Heart's-ease (viola tricolor) shows its interesting little flower in corn fields. In allusion to this last flower, observes Mr. Leigh Hunt', it is pleasant to light upon an universal favourite whose merits answer one's expectation. We know little or nothing of the common flowers among the antients; but as violets in general have their due mention among the poets that have come down to us, it is to be concluded that the heart's-ease could not miss its particular admiration,-if indeed it existed among them in its perfection. The modern Latin name for it is flos Jovis, or Jove's flower, an appellation rather too worshipful for its little sparkling delicacy, and more suitable to the greatness of an hydrangia, or to the diadems of a rhododendron.

› Feast of the Poets, Notes, p. 113.