CHAPTER XIII. 



THE BEES WHICH WE PASS BY. 



The common honeybee {Apis mellifica)* is an 

 omnipresent little creature which is always in search 

 of honey and pollen among the roadside flowers. 

 What is most interesting about this insect is its 

 family history, which I will take it for granted 

 every one knows. The marvelous economy of the 

 beehive we have long since become familiar with 

 through the writings of Agassiz and Langstroth ; f 

 and as for Langstroth, we ought to be proud to 

 know that the world is indebted to him, an Amer- 

 ican, for enlarging the science of bee culture and in- 

 venting the one perfect and ingenious hive in univer- 

 sal use to-day. 



In late June, when the patches of raspberry bram- 

 bles are in full bloom beside the road which leads 



* The Italian bee (Apis Ligustica) is quite as common, 

 f Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was born in Philadelphia, 

 December 25, 1810. 



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