66 REJUVENATION 



unusual for a bee which starts out to visit one 

 particular flower, to go to any other kind on the 

 same journey. If a gooseberry bush in full bloom 

 is watched closely, a bee may be seen flying round 

 it and going from flower to flower with most 

 orderly movement, not leaving until it is satisfied 

 that all that seem fruitful have been visited. 



Before the currants have finished, the plums 

 are in bloom, and then, in rapid succession, 

 frequently simultaneously, in fact, come the 

 cherries and pears. Cherries are great favourites 

 of bees, and are thronged on fine days if there 

 are beehives near. They hum round in hundreds, 

 and carry away large stores of nectar and pollen. 

 It is not often one succeeds in getting surplus 

 from the cherry, though once, in a remarkably 

 forward season, I managed to get some. It is 

 rather dirty-coloured, and consequently would 

 not be very marketable if it could be procured, 

 but the flavour is better than the appearance. 



The first tree from which really large quantities 

 of honey are obtained— at any rate, in quantity 

 sufficient to provide any harvest for the bee- 

 keeper — is the apple, with the advent of which 

 comes the real work of the year. Colonies reach 

 their maximum and begin to throw off swarms. 

 With this strenuous time we have already dealt. 



