152 The Honey-Makers 



The queen and drones, feeding largely upon a concen- 

 trated food, have little excretion and that of an inoffensive 

 nature, so although they do not, like the workers, leave the 

 hive, their presence there is unobjectionable. 



This and the habits of the workers account for the 

 marvellous cleanliness of everything in the hive, and for the 

 exquisite purity of the honeycomb. During the winter 

 the bees are almost dormant, eating comparatively little, the 

 workers being able to retain the residue of their food until 

 they can take their spring flight. 



According to the ancient writers when bees flew abroad 

 on windy days they carried a httle stone in their feet for 

 ballast. But modern bees do not do this, and probably the 

 ballast of the bees of the ancients was a misconception on 

 the part of the observers. 



Bees were also said to lie on their backs to keep their 

 wings dry when belated and obliged to lie abroad all night, 

 but this too is foreign to the habits of modern bees. 



Bees hatched early in the season when there is much 

 honey to gather often wear themselves out by excessive 

 labor in six weeks or even less time, while if they would 

 but take life easily they might linger for several months, 

 nine months probably being the maximum period of a 

 worker's life. 



During a great honey flow one colony of bees has been 

 known to store seven hu?idred pounds of surplus honey in 

 one season. This is very unusual, though it is not unusual 

 for them to store a hundred pounds. A hundred pounds 

 of cured honey means fifty gallons of nectar brought drop 

 by drop from the flowers to the hive. No wonder such 

 a task wears out the bees. In the frenzy of tlieir desire to 

 get all there is they sometimes work by moonlight when the 

 lindens are in bloom or other easily obtainable nectar is 

 flowing in abundance. There is nothing in a bee's mind 



