HONEY-BEES IN RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. 



By Dr. Burton N. Gates, Amherst, Mass. 



Delivered before the Society, with stereopticon illustrations, 

 February 24, 1917. 



Honey-bees in all ages have been of service to man; first as a 

 source of food; later in his gradually acquired arts; and but 

 recently subjugated to his scientific and technical needs. The 

 keeping of bees is old; but the utilization of bees is older, in fact, 

 older without doubt, than man's first utilization of the dog, the 

 first domesticated animal. Hence, man's interest in bees and 

 perhaps the keeping of them, is the oldest art under the sun. What 

 is there more ancient unless it be man himself? Thus through a 

 succession of ages are transmitted with increasing serviceableness, 

 the inestimable honey-bee. To the ancients they were a source 

 of food; more recently they were found to supply wax; but a half 

 century ago commercial beekeeping came into being; and only 

 today are we beginning to appreciate their greatest benefit, their 

 invaluable service in the setting of our crops of seeds, fruit, and 

 vegetables. Thus to the labors of the honey-bees, who work the 

 world over, unnoticed and often unappreciated, may be credited 

 millions and billions of dollars of service; yet to the unthinking 

 mind a bee is merely a sharp sting, something to be avoided, 

 shunned, or at the best, merely to gladden the taste with a drop of 

 honey. 



There are two kinds of bees, solitary and colonial (social). Soli- 

 tary bees live isolated and singly, seldom becoming numerous. 

 Among the colonial bees are the bumblebee and honey-bee. While 

 the honey-bee may be classed as wild when colonies escape from 

 apiaries, wild bees may be considered to include particularly all 

 bees, solitary and colonial, other than the honey-bee. 



When we speak of bees, the majority think of keeping bees for 

 honey production, or sometimes one of the many other specialized 



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