1072 



BSE- CVLTURE 



Fig. 1442.— Cage for One Pound of Bees. 



the product of various resinous 

 buds, is ''soft and plastic when 

 warm, but hard and very ad- 

 hesive when cold, and is used 

 by the bees to fasten the combs 

 to their supports, and to fill up 

 crevices and rough places inside 

 the hive. 



Bees begin along in the, middle 

 of April to bring in honey from 

 fruit-bloom. For a few weeks at first, large quantities of honey and 

 pollen will be needed to feed the brood still filling the hives, until 

 they are all hatched out, and not until then should commence the 

 storing of honey ; for the bees 

 should have every facility for 

 brood-rearing. 



The honey which fills the store 

 cells is intended for daily con- 

 sumption, and also as a reserve 



for the period when the. flowers Fig. 1443— Perforated Zinc for Excluding Drones, 

 furnish no more. The empty 



cells are left open, the workers making use of them when they want 

 them, particularly, during rainy days, which keep them at home. 

 But the cells which contain the honey put by in reserve are closed. 



Fig. 1444. — The Jones Entrance Guard. 



Fig. 1445.— Galleria Cerella, 

 a Parasite of the Bee. 



"They are," says Reaumur, "like so many pots of jam or jelly, each 

 one of which has its covering; and a very solid covering it is, too." 

 This covering, composed of wax, hermetically seals the pots con- 

 taining this reserve of honey. The object of this is to keep the 

 honey in a state of liquidity, by preventing the evaporation of the 

 water it contains. It is a remarkable fact that it does not run out 

 of the cells which are open. 



Swarming. 



When the bees have the hive well filled with honey, a portion 

 of its population, taking along with it a queen-bee, wings its flight 



