MARRIAGE PRIESTS OF THE FLOWERS 
7 1 
A pretty sight is a sunny field of clover alive with 
bees moving from blossom to blossom, the sunlight 
catching glints of iridescence from their wings. 
Winging straight from their hives they have come, 
in a direct “bee-line” across fields, hills, and woods. 
If the field of bloom is large, their loud constant 
hum becomes a veritable roar. The flowers seem 
to yield their nectar gladly, as if knowing their 
winged visitors may also act as fertilizing agents, 
brushing against their pollen-covered stamens and 
carrying the yellow dust to other eager members 
of their family. 
As a bee travels about on a pollen or honey collect¬ 
ing expedition, some pollen is inevitably brushed off 
its legs from one flower to another. So there are 
many times when the visits of honey bees insure re¬ 
production, and hives are very generally placed in 
orange groves and apple orchards for the specific 
purpose of fertilization. 
Observation of bees as distributors of pollen is 
very interesting, but the storing of honey is what 
most interests honey producers. This, too, requires 
close observation of flora, for how can a maximum 
honey crop be secured (no matter whether it be a 
question of bread and butter or just a matter of 
“brag”), unless the beekeeper knows what flowers 
