In the old days when it was the custom to cut the combs from the hives and mash them up and strain the honey through a cotton cloth, it was noted that some combs were filled with pollen. This abundant store which usually was placed next to the brood nest was commonly called "Bee Bread. " Strained honey has long ago disappeared from the market in most localities. In its stead we find extracted honey which is removed from the combs by centrifugal motion. After the honey is removed the combs are returned to the bees to be filled again. Although it is a much better product, produced in a sanitary manner, the uninformed continue to speak of it as "strained honey. "

Fifty years ago, bee bread and strained honey were common topics among those who had bees. Now-a-days we seldom hear of bee bread since the methods of removing the honey leave the pollen store for the bees. However, the term "Bee Bread" is quite appropriate for it serves the bees to supplement the honey and balance the ration.

In the opening flower the bee finds her complete food supply. In fact she needs but little of anything not found there. Even her water supply is gathered in part from the moisture within the blossoms. The propolis or glue with which she seals the crevices of her dwelling she secures from the buds of trees, but all other raw materials come from the flowers.

It is difficult to appreciate fully the far reaching influence of the honeybee in her search for this "bread. " The fertilizing dust of the blossoms must be carried from one to another if the flowers are to be followed by fruit. The honeybee is one of nature's most efficient agents in the distribution of pollen. Many strange tales are told of the change that has come to orchards when bees were brought ' to localities where they had not been previously.

Curious investigators have enclosed fruit trees with cages which excluded the insects to see what happened. A Jonathan apple tree thus enclosed set fruit on less than one percent of its blossoms while a similar tree with a hive of bees in the cage set fruit on nearly one half of its flowers.

Much has been written about the 22-year-old orchard of W. R. Roach, near Hart, Michigan. In 1927 the crop was 700 bushels and the largest crop ever gathered up to that time was 1600 bushels. Then the bees were given a chance to see what they could do. 200 colonies were brought in when the trees were in bloom and the resulting crop was 4000 bushels.

Not only do the apples, pears, plums and cherries profit from the visits of the bees, but cucumbers, clovers and numerous other crops must have similar attention in order to produce abundantly.

Thus the honeybee, intent only on her own business of securing food for her offspring, renders a very important service. While she loads the pollen baskets on her legs she gets dusted all over with the precious element. Inadvertently she leaves some behind with each flower she visits. The ripe pollen grains coming in contact with the receptive stigma of the blossom insure fruitfulness instead of barrenness.

Returning to the hive with her load of pollen she . stores it in the cells surrounding the area where the young bees are reared. The cells are only partly filled with pollen and the remaining space filled with honey. When the filling is completed the cells are capped over or sealed. Thus the honeybee preserved her food supply for centuries before mankind learned how to preserve perishable supplies by canning and preserving. Honey is one of the best known preservatives. Germs are unable to live in it, hence it is one of the safest foods. If the bee should neglect to cover her stored pollen with honey, it would soon become mouldy and spoil.

An abundant supply of pollen is essential to the prosperity of the hive. Without it the bees would soon perish. In some desert regions where there are long periods of time with no flowers because of drouth, the bees are sometimes lost from lack of pollen. Although the beekeepers feed them liberally with sugar syrup, they are unable to rear any young bees without it and so the colony is lost in spite of the beekeepers' efforts.

The available pollen supply throughout the year is one of the most important considerations on the part of the beekeeper in determining the value of a beekeeping location. In a region where there is always fresh natural pollen available during the time of year when the bees fly freely, beekeeping is a rather simple matter. Many operations which might otherwise be necessary can be dispensed with and the losses common to other regions are greatly reduced.

In some of our Northeastern States the beekeeper needs have little concern on this score. From the time when the frost leaves the ground in early spring and the first willows begin to bloom, until a late freeze kills the last of the asters, there is always something which will provide pollen. The greater the variety of the flora of a region the more abundant the supply of pollen. Thus it happens that some neighborhoods which are very safe for the bees do not yield large crops of surplus honey, because there is no one major honey plant present in large acreage.

The thing which makes for large crops of honey does not always provide the safest location. In the tupelo regions of west Florida enormous crops of honey are often harvested and yet there is little for the bees during the remainder of the year. It is difficult to maintain them between the honey-flows for lack of a pollen supply at other seasons.

There are likewise some places in the Dakotas and other Plains States where big crops of honey may be gathered from sweet clover, yet beekeeping is rather difficult for lack of pollen in spring and fall.

It often happens that the thing which determines the number of colonies of bees which can safely be kept in one place is the variety of pollen sources within reach. If there be a large acreage of a prolific honey plant like buckwheat, sweet clover, alsike, or tupelo apiaries may be of large size if there is a sufficient variety of the pollen producers to support the bees during the remainder of the year.