256 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



adapted to its wants, and in tlie superal^undance of ])olltHi^ 

 when mingled witli lioney and water and partiallv digested 

 by nnrsing bees, just the food best adapted to the wants of 

 their young. 



Further, the instincts of the bee teacli it, when on a for- 

 aging expedition, to visit only one species of plants, as is 

 proved by the pellets of pollen on its legs as it enters the 

 hive, and also to lay by in seasons of abundance for that 

 season when no flowers are found, that its existence may be 

 perpetuated and repay man for its care ; and, lest some 

 lesB industrious but stronger creature should appropriate 

 their sweets, they ai-e provided with a weapon, tiny, but 

 powerful, to defend their stores. 



The plant is without power to curry the fertilizing dust 

 from one to another ; the bees have this power, and the 

 plant repays them for their labor hy furnishing them with 

 jdl their food. The great object for which the l)ees were 

 formed in the economy of nature, it seems to me, was to 

 act as agents in carrying this fecundating powder from one 

 plant to another, and this nectar and superabundance of 

 pollen to supply them with food. Let us here introduce a 

 few facts to corroborate these statements. In 1T74, Count 

 Anthony, in Bavaria, President of the Academy of Science 

 at Munich, proved by oflicial family records that, a century 

 earlier, when bees were kept l)y every tenant on the estate, 

 fruit was abundant, whereas then, when only seven kept 

 bees and none of these kept more than three colonies, fruit 

 was scarcer than ever among his tenantry. Some years 

 ago, a wealthy lady in Germany established a green-house 

 at considerable cost, and stocked it with a great variety of 



