Crocus vernus.

HE season when the crocuses are ir their full splendour is pretty sure to give us a glorious burst of sunshine for a day, or even a week, and then the flowers expand to their utmost, and surprise us with their splendour. They seem to surprise the honey-bees no less, for the music they make as they brush up the pollen is just that of a crowd of working people rendered half delirious by the discovery of a gold-mine. And, indeed, it is a gold-mine to them, or, better still, a bread-mine, for the pollen becomes "bee-bread" when carried into the hive, and constitutes the first food of the callow-worm hidden in its cellular cot, and feeding itself

up to the point when it will emerge

as a perfect bee and join the general congregation. Beekeepers cannot have too many crocuses, because at the time they flower the bees are more or less distressed and cannot travel far, and it is of immense value to them to find