[Illustration: WILD BEE GARDEN.]
The plow has not yet invaded the forest region to any appreciable
extent, neither has it accomplished much in the foot-hills. Thousands of
bee-ranches might be established along the margin of the plain, and up
to a height of 4000 feet, wherever water could be obtained. The climate
at this elevation admits of the making of permanent homes, and by moving
the hives to higher pastures as the lower pass out of bloom, the annual
yield of honey would be nearly doubled. The foot-hill pastures, as we
have seen, fail about the end of May, those of the chaparral belt and
lower forests are in full bloom in June, those of the upper and alpine
region in July, August, and September. In Scotland, after the best of
the Lowland bloom is past, the bees are carried in carts to the
Highlands, and set free on the heather hills. In France, too, and in
Poland, they are carried from pasture to pasture among orchards and
fields in the same way, and along the rivers in barges to collect the
honey of the delightful vegetation of the banks. In Egypt they are taken
far up the Nile, and floated slowly home again, gathering the
honey-harvest of the various fields on the way, timing their movements
in accord with the seasons.
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