LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY 



THE PASTORAL BEES 



rpHE honey-bee goes forth from the hive in spring 

 -^ like the dove from Noah's ark, and it is not 

 till after many days that she brings back the olive 

 leaf, which in this case is a pellet of golden 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 t^e sides of the buckets. They 

 wiU sometimes, in their eagerness, come about the 

 boiling-place and be overwhelmed by the steam and 

 the smoke. 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 pollen, is diligently sought for. My bees 

 get their first supplies from the catkins of the wil- 

 lows. How quickly they find them out! If but 

 one catkin opens anywhere within range, a bee is on 



