THE PASTORAL BEES 7 



person, taking a hint perhaps from the ancient 

 Egyptians, who had floating apiaries on the Nile, has 

 tried the experient of floating several hundred colo- 

 nies north on the Mississippi, starting from New 

 Orleans and following the opening season up, thus 

 realizing a sort of perpetual May or June, the chief 

 attraction being the blossoms of the river willow, 

 which yield honey of rare excellence. Some of the 

 bees were no doubt left behind, but the amount of 

 virgin honey secured must have been very great. 

 In September they should have begun the return 

 trip, following the retreating summer south. 



It is the making of the wax that costs with the 

 bee. As with the poet, the form, the receptacle, 

 gives him more trouble than the sweet that fills it, 

 though, to be sure, there is always more or less 

 empty comb in both cases. The honey he can have 

 for the gathering, but the wax he must make him- 

 self, must evolve from his own inner consciousness. 

 When wax is to be made, the wax-makers fill them- 

 selves with honey and retire into their chamber for 

 private meditation; it is like some solemn religious 

 rite: they take hold of hands, or hook themselves 

 together in long lines that hang in festoons from the 

 top of the hive, and wait for the miracle to transpire. 

 After about twenty-four hours their patience is re- 

 warded, the honey is turned into wax, minute scales 

 of which are secreted from between the rings of the 

 abdomen of each bee; this is taken off and from it 

 the comb is built up. It is calculated that about 

 twenty-five pounds of honey are used in elaborating 



