THE BEE 



69 



Where the Honey Comes From. Bees, with their 

 long tongues, take the sweet juice, or nectar, from 



Courtesy of "Bee Culture," Medina, Ohio 

 Fig. 44. A profitable apiary. 



flowers, clover, buckwheat, alfalfa, black gum, chest- 

 nut, and catnip. This nectar we may taste by pull- 

 ing a clover blossom to pieces, but only the bee 

 knows how to make it into honey. 



Pollen and Wax. It was once thought that the 

 bees used the little yellow balls, which we some- 

 times see clinging to their hind legs, for making 

 wax; but now we know the little yellow balls are 

 made of pollen which the bee gathers from flowers 

 for the purpose of feeding its young, and that the 

 wax is secreted from their own bodies in much the 



