100 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



just the same as so much water would settle there. This 

 may take an hour, or it may take six, according to cir- 

 cumstances. As often as they dig it down, I reverse the 

 position of the box, just whirling it around if it stands 

 on the edge of the ditch. This brings the meal again at 

 the raised end of the box. When the bees have it dug 

 down level there is little to be seen on the top except the 

 hulls of the oats, and what fun it is to see the bees bur- 

 row in this, sometimes clear out of sight. 



It is always a source of amusement to see the bees 

 working on this meal, and the young folks watch them 

 by the half-hour. By night the oat- meal and finer parts 

 of the corn are nearly all worked out, and after the bees 

 have stopped working, the boxes are emptied, piled up, 

 one on top of another, and at the top, one placed upside 

 down so that no dew or rain may affect them. If I think 

 it is not worked out pretty clean, I may let them work it 

 over next day, putting three or four times as much in a 

 box. When the bees are done with it, there will be 

 empty oat-hulls on top, and the coarse part of the corn on 

 the bottom. It does not matter if it is not worked out 

 clean, for it is fed to the horses or cows afterwards. 



After the first day's feeding, the boxes must be filled 

 in good season in the morning, or the bees annoy very 

 much by being in the way, and throughout the day, while 

 the bees are at work, if I go among the feed-boxes to 

 turn them, or for any other purpose, I must look sharp 

 where I set my feet, or bees will be killed, as they are 

 quite thick over the ground, brushing the meal off their 

 bodies and packing their loads. Before many days the 

 meal-boxes are deserted for the now plenty natural pollen, 

 although if you watch the bees, as they go laden into the 

 hives, even when working thickest in the boxes, you will 

 see a good many carrying in heavy loads of natural pollen. 



It seems to be a beneficent natural law, that bees do 

 not like to crowd one another in their search for pollen or 



