BEE-BREAD. 55 



CHAPTER XL 



BEE-BEEAD. 



This is the pollen, or farina of ilowers. Bees can ■with 

 great ease gather it, and carry it home in pellets sticking 

 to their hind legs. Some writers say that every bee is 

 furnished -with two baskets in which this pollen is carried 

 home. Of course the colour is different in different kinds 

 of flowers. Bees do not change its colour. Anciently it 

 was considered crude wax, and even now many think 

 it is made into wax. It is not capable of being made 

 into wax. It is used principally for feeding maggots in 

 their cells, and hence it is termed bee-bread. 



If it were required for the building of combs, swarms 

 put into empty hives would gather much' of it ; but we 

 find that all such swarms do not gather any pollen for 

 some days, or till combs are built to contain it. After 

 some combs are built, the bees are seen returning with 

 pellets on their legs. In most hives it is stored in their 

 centres where the young are hatched, and too often • 

 there is stored up more than is required. If cells are 

 filled, or half or quarter filled, with farina, they are useless 

 for the time being for breeding purposes. Some seasons 

 are remarkable for the abundance of it stored up, and 

 some hives have more than others. It is never a scarce 

 article, and the hive that has fewest cells filled or half 



