THE PASTORAL BEES. G7 



sides of the buckets. They will sometimes, in fcheii 

 eagerness, come about the boiling place and be o\ 

 whelmed by the steam and the smoke. But fo 

 appear to be more eager for bread in the spring i 

 for honey ; their supply of this article, perhaps, docs 

 not keep as well as their stores of the latter ; hence 

 fresh bread, in the shape of new pollen, 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 opens anywhere within ran . 

 s 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 day and see them come pouring in with 

 their little baskets packed with this first fruitage of 

 the spring. They will have new bread now ; they 

 have been to mill in good earnest ; see their dusty 

 coats, and the golden grist they bring home with 

 them. 



When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he ad- 

 vances to the cell in which it is to be deposited and 

 kicks it off as one might his overalls or rubber boots, 

 making one foot help the other ; then he walks off 

 without ever looking behind him ; another bee, one 

 of the indoor hands, comes along and rams it down 

 •with his head and packs it into the cell as the dairy- 

 maid packs butter into a firkin. 



' The first spring wild-flowers, whose shy faces among 

 the dry leaves and rocks are so welcome, yield no 

 honey. The anemone, the hepatica, the bloodroot, 

 the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, 

 the corydalis, etc., woo all lovers of nature, hut do 

 not woo the honey-loving bee. It requires more sun 

 and warmth to develop the saccharine element, and 

 the beauty of these pale striplings of the woods and 



