THE INDISPENSABLE HONEYBEE 



By James I. Hambleton 



Division of Bee Culture 



Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 



U. 8. Department of Agriculture 



[With 4 plates] 



Of all the insects in the world probably no one species is more widely 

 distributed than the honeybee. Its habitat ranges from Alaska to 

 the Tropics. It is found in all intervening places in that great stretch 

 of latitude — in the mountains, in the sultry valleys below sea level, 

 in the deserts, plains, in fact wherever flowering plants occur. Honey- 

 bees are not indigenous to all continents of the world, but they have 

 become introduced and established essentially in all parts occupied 

 by man. 



If the statement seems too strong that the honeybee is more widely 

 distributed than any other of our common insects, it can be said con- 

 servatively that the product of the bee is the most widely produced of 

 man's food. Even such common foods as wheat and milk are not so 

 universally known. 



Honeybees were busily engaged in making honey and beeswax before 

 the advent of man. Honey and wax of the bee were waiting in readi- 

 ness for our earliest ancestors at the beginning of their evolutionary 

 climb. In time they learned of the sweetness of honey and that wax 

 could be employed for many purposes. For centuries honey was the 

 only sweet, and it and beeswax were regarded so highly by the ancients 

 that they wove into their religious ceremonies in one way or another 

 frequent references to honey, wax, and bees. Symbols representing 

 various phases of bee husbandry are found in the earliest recorded 

 histories. Man throughout his existence has been closely associated 

 with the honeybee. 



Honey and beeswax were used in the payment of taxes and as 

 indemnity. Conquered tribes and peoples paid off reparations in 

 the form of honey and wax. To the present day beeswax plays an 

 important part in the rites of the church. A beehive forms the 

 central motive of the great seal of the State of Utah. 



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