THE INDUSTRIES OF THE HIVE 59 



125,000,000 pounds per year, which shows that it has 

 retained its value as a food, though it must compete 

 with cheaper cane- and beet-sugars. It still remains 

 the most wholesome and digestible of all the forms 

 of sugar, and should be used even more generally 

 than it is at present. 



THE MAKING OF BEE-BREAD 



Flower wisdom is scarcely appreciated by those 

 who deem all wisdom the product of consciousness; 

 but if wisdom may be attained through the ex- 

 periences of living and overcoming difficulties, then 

 there must be such a thing as flower wisdom. Other- 

 wise there would not have been such a prodigal 

 production of pollen that a tithe could be spared for 

 the bees, to induce them to become common carriers 

 of the flower world. Many blossoms which do not 

 secrete nectar pay their taxes in pollen, the bread- 

 stuff of the bees, while others pay in both com- 

 modities. 



A bee when gathering pollen for food collects it 

 with her tongue and forelegs, mixing it, perhaps, 

 with nectar or saliva so it will hold together. It is 

 cleaned off the tongue and front legs by the middle 

 and hind legs, and by them packed in the pollen 

 baskets on the tarsi of the hindlegs, and moulded 

 there into great golden balls. Little wonder that 

 the ancient Greeks, noticing bees thus laden, and 

 consequently flying low, declared that the bees of 

 Hymettus tied pebbles on their legs to weigh them 

 down. (Plate VII, A, B.) 



