Literature and Art 



pollen upon each hip, usually obtained from the 

 alder or swamp willow. In a country where maple 

 sugar is made the bees get their first taste of sweet 

 from the sap as it flows from the spiles, or as it 

 dries and is condensed upon the sides of the 

 buckets. They will some- 

 times, in their eagerness, , 

 come about the boiling 

 place, and be over- 

 w helmed by the 

 steam and the sfnoke. But 

 bees appear to be more eager 

 for bread in the spring than for honey; 

 their supply of this article, perhaps, does 

 not keep as well as their stores of the 

 latter ; hence fresh bread, in the shape of new pol- 

 len, is diligently sought for. My bees get their first 

 supplies from the catkins of the willows. How 

 quickly they find them out. If but one catkin t opens 

 anywhere within range a bee is on hand that very 

 hour to rifle it, and it is a most pleasing experience 

 to stand near the hive some mild April da}^ and see 

 them come pouring in with their little baskets 

 packed with the first fruitage of the spring. They 

 will have new bread now; they have been to mill in 



