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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Drawing by Hashime ^lurayama 

 THE worker's legs AND FEET ARE VERSATILE AND ITS EYES ALL-SEEING 



With the broad lower segment of its hind leg (A — inside left, outside right) the honeybee 

 brushes sticky pollen from its body and sweeps it into the basket formed by the stiff hairs on the 

 longer joint immediately above. In an aperture on each front leg (B) is a handy and perfect comb 

 (C — magnified) with which the worker cleans its rodhke antennae. The sharp claws on each 

 foot (D) enable the honeybee to cling to rough surfaces, while the pad between, kept moist with 

 a sticky liquid, serves well on hard and slippery surfaces. Some 5,000 hexagonal-shaped facets, with 

 interspersed hairs (E), make up each of two compound eyes. In addition, the honeybee has three 

 simple eyes. 



The average colony consumes from 30 to 

 50 pounds of honey during the winter and 

 early spring, the quantity depending upon 

 its strength, prevailing temperatures, and 

 the condition of the hive. A thoughtful bee- 

 keeper packs his colonies in sawdust or 

 other insulating material (see page 413), or 

 places the bees in a properly constructed 

 cellar during winter. Thus he decreases 

 the consumption of honey and prevents the 

 bees from aging too rapidly, insuring them 

 sufficient vitahty in the spring to renew 

 brood-rearing activities. 



The U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 estimates that there are approximately 

 4,650,000 honeybee colonies in the United 

 States. This number will require about 165 

 million pounds of honey for its own con- 

 sumption during winter; and, to carry on 

 brood rearing and honey production during 

 the active season, will need double this 

 amount. Thus honeybees in this country 

 gather some 500 million pounds of honey 

 to maintain themselves during the year, 



without a drop being available to place on 

 our tables. 



The marketable crop of honey in the 

 United States varies widely from year to 

 year, but a fair average is about 200 

 milhon pounds, making a grand total of 

 approximately 700 million pounds credited 

 to the labor of this insect. It has been 

 estimated that if a single worker bee could 

 gather enough nectar to make one pound 

 of honey, she would have to work every 

 day in the year for more than eight years, 

 and in doing so she would travel approxi- 

 mately three times around the earth. 



BEEKEEPING BENEFITS THE COMMUNITY 



These astounding figures indicate the 

 tremendous benefit honeybees render to our 

 agriculture. To gather so much honey, 

 they must visit myriads of plants in which 

 polHnation is effected. Therefore it can 

 be understood why honeybees are of infi- 

 nitely greater value to the community in 

 which they are kept, in producing crops of 



