TYPICAL INSECTS 



209 



common locust, raspberry, white clover, alsike clover, bass- 

 wood, sweet clover, buckwheat, wild aster, and goldenrod. 

 Bees range several miles in search of ilowers and use the 

 pollen extensively for food, especially for the brood. They 

 keep it stored in cells. 



Bees also collect the gummy juice that exudes from some 

 trees, such as the plum 

 and cherry, This sub- 

 stance is called propolis, 

 and is used for cementing 

 up the cracks of the hive. 



In the work of collect- 

 ing pollen and nectar the 

 bees perform a great ser- 

 vice to plants. They 

 carry pollen from one 

 flower to another, and 

 thereby bring about what 

 is called cross-pollination, 

 which results in fertiliza- 

 tion of the ovules and 

 the formation of seed and 

 fruit. An apiary in con- 

 nection with an orchard is a very practical and profitable 

 arrangement. 



In early summer when things are going well in the hive, 

 honey is abundant, the colony has increased to uncom- 

 fortable size, and new queens are nearly ready to emerge from 

 their cells, the old queen leaves the hive, followed by a large 

 part of the workers in search of a new home. Generally 

 she first alights on the branch of a tree or shrub, and the 



Fig. 70. Brood Comb Inside a Hornet's Nest. 



(The capped cells co[itajn larva;.) 



