304 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



and away goes the swarm, leaving the young queen and 

 the young bees in full possession of the old home. 

 The swarm may fly a few feet, or several miles away. 

 Finally it settles on a limb. When the bees are thus 

 settled on a limb they are easily captured and placed 

 in a new hive. If the bee-keeper fails to catch them 

 they usually find their way to a hollow tree, or into the 

 wall of a building, and there set up their housekeeping. 



Products of the Bee. The best-known product of 

 the bee is honey. The flavor of honey, as well as its 

 color, is determined mainly by the kinds of flowers 

 from which the bees obtain nectar, for honey is merely 

 the nectar of flowers brought to the hive, stored in the 

 cells of the comb and allowed to evaporate until it is 

 thick enough to " keep." 



Beeswax is not gathered from flowers, but is secreted 

 by glands located on the under side of the workers' 

 abdomens. From the wax the comb is built, the bees 

 using their jaws to mold and plaster the particles of 

 wax into cells. Propolis, or " bee-glue," is a sticky sub- 

 stance gathered from certain flowers and used by the 

 workers to stop up cracks in the hive. 



EXERCISE. Visit open flowers and notice bees at work. Observe 

 how the long tongue is thrust deeply into the flower to sip up the 

 nectar. If the bee is gathering pollen see where it is placed. Does 

 the bee carry the pollen away on the outside of its body? Where? 



Get an experienced bee-keeper in the community to give the class 

 a talk on bees, illustrating it with implements used in bee-keeping, 

 such as smoker, veil, honey-knife, etc. On a warm, bright day take 

 the class to visit a bee-yard or " apiary," if any is near at hand. 



SECTION XLIX. WILD BIRDS. 



By PROF. E. H. FORBUSH, 

 State Ornithologist of Massachusetts. 



The relations of birds to agriculture are not yet fully 

 understood. Nevertheless it is safe to say that the 

 great majority of birds that frequent farm lands, as 

 well as most of the species living in inhabited regions, 

 are either beneficial to man or neutral rather than in- 



