SOURCES OF HONEY. 105 



is very sensitive to all atmospheric changes. A case 

 in point will show this : The bees are collecting; 

 honey abroad in the fields. The day is warm and 

 balmy. Suddenly there is the appearance of a 

 shower, and distant thunder is heard. Immediately 

 the bees come rushing in from the fields, in clouds. 

 They cover the entire front of their hives, in their 

 eagerness to gain a shelter from the approaching 

 rain. Again, if the morning is cloudy and dark, 

 with every appearance of rain, and you find the bees 

 leaving their hives for the fields, you may be quite 

 certain that rain is not near, and may expect soon 

 to see the sun break forth and the clouds disperse. 

 If on the other hand there is an appearance of rain, 

 and the bees are quiet in their hives, it is quite sure 

 to rain in a very short time. How wonderful are 

 the w^orkings of nature. How great the sagacity of 

 the little, busy bee. Who dares say that this won- 

 derful little insect does not possess the power of 

 reasoning.'' But I am disgressing from the sub- 

 ject. 



Bees, in their journeys to collect honey, seldom 

 visit more than one species of flower, plant or shrub 

 at one excursion ; and this is a wise provision of 

 nature, for were it otherwise, and any and all 

 species visited promiscuously, the vegetable world 

 would be thrown into chaos, by the fertilizing dust 

 of one species being imparted to another, through 

 the medium of the bee. 



Pollen as fast as collected is deposited in little 

 basket-like cavities on the inside of the bee's poste- 

 rior legs. It is packed in little pellets, varying in 



