CHAPTER ^'I 

 THE GATHERING OF THE NECTAR 



DURING the honey-flow from white clover, basswood, 

 alfalfa, sage, goldenrod, or any other honey-plant 

 which yields nectar copiously the most intense excite- 

 ment and activity prevails in the apiary. Work begins early 

 in the morning and continues until late in the afternoon. The 

 air is filled with thousands of bees rushing to and from the fields, 

 and the roar of their wings may be heard at a distance from the 

 hives. Oblivious to everything else, they are obsessed with 

 the single purpose of garnering the golden store; and so dili- 

 gently do they labor that the life of a worker bee during the 

 summer is only forty days, whereas in winter they may live for 

 six months or more. In a colony of 50,000 bees it has been 

 estimated that there are 30,000 field-bees, and if each fielder 

 makes ten trips a day then there would be a total of 300,000 

 visits to flowers in a single day. About 37,000 loads of nectar 

 are required for the production of a pound of honey, and, 

 according to the locality, a hive may gain from 1 to 10 pounds of 

 honey in a day. It is clear that even a very slight saving of 

 time or labor becomes in the aggregate of great importance 

 to the colony. 



It is the diligence and skill of bees — honey-bees, bumblebees, 

 and solitary bees — in visiting flowers which makes them the 

 most valuable of pollinators. They learn quickly from observa- 

 tion and are subsequently guided by the memory of past experi- 

 ence. Buckwheat secretes nectar freely during the forenoon 

 and attracts thousands of bees; but during the afternoon the 



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