§. V. POLLEN, OR BEE-BREAD.
Bees, when fully grown, feed almost wholly on honey; but the larvæ require for their development a more substantial kind of nourishment. Such solid fare is found by the bees in the pollen of flowers, a farina which contains the nitrogenous element of which honey is nearly destitute. The body of a worker bee is covered with hairs, to which the pollen adheres when, by contact with the bee, it is rubbed from the anthers of flowers (see [page 88]). Dewy mornings or humid bowers suit the bees for the gathering of the pollen. If the atmosphere be too dry for kneading it into pellets, they roll themselves in the blossoms, and on their return, with assistance from others, brush off the farina into the cells intended for it. A portion of this "bee-bread" is taken at once by the "nursing bees," who are supposed to subject it to some change before offering it to the larvæ; but the greater part of the pollen is stored away and reversed in the cells for future use. In April and May the bees are frequently busy "all the day" in gathering pollen, and often one community of bees will collect about twenty pounds weight of "bee-bread" in one season.
One of the objects of the apiarian is to assist the bees in providing for the nurslings of the hive. Dr. Dzierzon first suggested the plan of providing the bees with "unbolted rye meal" as a substitute for the farina of flowers. He had observed that, in early spring, before the flowers were open, his bees had entered a neighbouring cornmill, from whence they returned laden with rye flour. Since his discovery, some keepers, in early spring, have placed rye or wheat meal near the apiaries; to this artificial store the bees repair by thousands, and seek to rollick in the enjoyment of such plenty, many of them returning to the hive as dusty as millers. The object in thus supplying them is that the brood may be rapidly brought forward, and early swarming induced. In this way a few pounds of rye meal, at one penny per pound, may tend to the production of very many pounds of honey of twelve times the price.
In the British Bee Journal there is a recommendation to sprinkle pea flour amongst deal shavings in any open vessel, and place this near the hives so that bees have access to it. We can endorse this recommendation, for we know that it is freely taken by the bees.
If the bee-keeper ascertains that for some interval no pollen has been conveyed into any particular hive he may regard it as a sure sign that no young bees are there hatching, and consequently that the hive is without a queen. Mr. Mahan, of Philadelphia, once met with a hive which no pollen had been seen to enter for twenty-eight days; he put a queen into it, took out his watch, and observed in three and a half minutes a bee come in with pollen on its legs—many more speedily following!
Some remarks on the services which bees render to flowers will be found in the section upon "Faculties and Functions" ([page 55]).