THE MAGIC CITY 



103 



When they reached the apiary he called her 

 attention to the fact that there was not one 

 magic city but many of them, and in each lived 

 many thousands of busy inhabitants. The 

 Naturalist carried a smoker, an implement 

 used by every up-to-date beekeeper. In it he 

 set fire to some excelsior shavings and some 

 burlap, and by pressing the bellows, sent forth 

 a dense smoke. On approaching the hive they 

 stopped for a time to see how busily the bees 

 were engaged in carrying in their loads of 

 pollen in bright yellow balls. Others going in 

 carried nothing 

 that the visitors 

 could see, but 

 which, in fact, had 

 their honey sacs 

 full of nectar. 

 The Naturalist ex- 

 plained that the 

 pollen was to serve 

 as bread for the 

 baby bees, and that 

 they lived all the 

 time on bread and 

 honey. He ex- 

 plained also that 



i 



From roadside weeds they gathered a harvest of gold. 



