SPRING AND SUMMER NUMBERS 51 
those composing the honeycomb. In twenty-one days from the 
time the egg is deposited the worker emerges a fully developed 
bee ready to do the work of tending the larvae, gathering pollen 
and nectar from the field, and also acting in the capacity of 
guardian to the hive. The life of the worker during the busy 
season is usually about six weeks. However, those born in the 
late fall live through until the following spring. Very few die 
in the hive, especially during the busy season, as their wings 
wear out while flying to and fro and they drop to the ground. 
They apparently never rest when there is a good flow of nectar 
from the flowers, for during the day they are engaged in gather- 
ing the harvest, and all night long they work in the hive se- 
creting wax, which is necessary to build the honeycomb; and by 
keeping a constant circulation of air thruout the hive by means 
of their wings, they evaporate the moisture from the sweetened 
water, which is known as nectar, until nothing is left but the 
honey. In other words, while the bees gather nectar, they make 
the honey. 
In these troubled times, when we are all urged to do our ‘“‘bit’’ 
(“best”) in the great struggle for universal peace, when the 
farmer especially is asked to make his acres produce their 
maximum, there is nothing that can add to the general supply 
more than almost any kind of sweetening. 
- The production of honey, bee keeping, has always been quite 
an industry. Long before the dawn of history honey was used 
and prized highly as food. This valuable sweet, to the ancients 
of our race, was a perfectly concentrated sweetening ready for 
immediate use without any preparation. The first mention of 
this ready-made sweet in history is in Genesis, fourteen, eleven. 
“Take of the best fruits in the lands in your vessels, and carry 
down the man a present, a little balm and a little honey.” 
One who is well versed in the science of bee keeping, while 
traveling through the State of Florida, may see the enormous 
waste of the thousands of acres of flowers of numerous kinds. 
What I mean is that just about one per cent of the nectar 
produced by these flowers is being harvested by the honey bees. 
The census reports but $100,000.00 worth of honey produced 
annually in Florida, and there could easily be $1,000,000.00 
worth produced if enough bees were on the job and handled 
properly by competent bee keepers. 
Wild bees are common and the cutting down of bee trees with 
