and its Economic Managemint. 35 



baskets, being hollow parts in the legs, with strong hair 



so overhanging that the load cannot fall. She enters the 



hive, travels up the comb to near the margin of the brood 



nest, and after finding a convenient cell, in which quite 



likely pollen has already been deposited, she pushes off 



her load with the middle legs, which Cheshire has shown 



have a peculiar instrument adapted to the purpose, and 



which is passed down the hollow behind the pollen, and 



thus it is forced off into the cell. The bee will then turn 



round and entering the cell, presses the pellets down into 



a thin layer, where probably many such are already placed, 



varying in colour according to the nature of the plant 



they may have been gathered from. It is well-known that 



the bee nearly always confines itself to one kind of flower 



when out foraging, hence its load of honey is of one kind 



only and the pollen is of one colour ; the bee-keeper may 



therefore frequently tell what his bees are working upon 



by carefully noting the colour being brought in. Thus 



mustard gives yellow pollen ; white clover, brown ; red 



clover, dark brown ; sanfoin, brown ; willow, yellow ; furze, 



dark orange ; dandelion, bright orange ; apple blossom, 



light yellow ; pear, crimson ; poppy, black ; blackberry, 



greenish white ; while the various garden flowers give 



every conceivable shade. 



It is but seldom a bee gathers a large load of both 

 pollen and honey on one and the same journey. A pollen 

 gatherer will have little honey, while those carrying the 

 most honey will seldom stay for a particle of pollen, more 

 than what may be brushed into honey as collected. The 

 pellets are brought in most freely up till 11 a.m. while 

 everything is moist from the dew of night ; or at any time, 

 immediately after a shower, if warm. The honey sources 

 of the day are about dried up by three p.m., and the bees 

 do not often work actively after that time. As in the early 



