AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 87 



unless there is some special attraction in some other 

 direction, they generally go against the wind. They 

 would thus have the wind with them when they 

 returned home heavily laden, and with these little 

 navigators the difference is an important one. With 

 a full cargo, a stiff head-wind is a great hindrance, 

 but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with 

 more ease. Virgil says bees bear gravel stones as 

 ballast, but their only ballast is their honey bag. 

 Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to 

 windward of the woods in which the swarm is sup- 

 posed to have taken refuge. 



Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. 

 They do water their honey, especially in a dry time. 

 The liquid is then of course thicker and sweeter, and 

 will bear diluting. Hence, old bee-hunters look for 

 bee-trees along creeks and near spring runs in the 

 woods. I once found a tree a long distance from 

 any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter flavor 

 imparted to it, I was convinced, by rain water sucked 

 from the decayed and spongy hemlock tree, in which 

 I\Q swarm was found. In cutting into the tree, the 

 ncrth side of it was found to be saturated with water 

 like a spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a 

 bitter flavor. The bees had thus found a spring or 

 a cistern in their own house. 



Bees are exposed to many hardships and many 

 dangers. Winds and storms prove as disastrous to 

 them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in 

 wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day 



