MAN'S WINGED ALLY, THE BUSY HONEYBEE 



427 



Drawinf; by Hashime JIurayama 

 THE honeybee's ANATOMY VIEWED THROUGH A MICROSCOPE 



The wax glands are located beneath the eight scales (A), that fit like shingles under the bee's 

 abdomen. The circles below show enlarged details of the stinger (F), including poison sacs and the 

 appendages that are left in the flesh. The stinger, highly magnified (G), is composed of two barbed 

 lancets, each sharper than the finest needle. Poison flows down a central canal formed between the 

 two lancets, which alternately work themselves deeper into the wound (see Plate IV). In the circle 

 (E) is a cross section of the hollow, hairy tongue which protrudes from the mouth (D) . The queen's 

 toothed jaw (B) contrasts with the smooth mandible (C) of the worker. The various types of hair 

 (H) that grow on a bee's body resemble certain plants. 



seed and fruit, than they are to their owner, 

 who is paid in honey and beeswax. 



The supposition that the keeper of bees 

 has nothing to do but watch the honey and 

 money roll in is fallacious. Keeping bees 

 is a specialized job, and one must have an 

 inherent love for them. A thorough knowl- 

 edge of bee behavior, gained only through 

 experience, is a primary requisite. 



Attention must be given to a vast num- 

 ber of details. There are plenty of griefs 

 in connection with the business: the loss 

 of bees during the winter is heavy; dis- 

 eases of bees take a large annual toll; and 

 wax moths, which destroy the combs, cause 

 further losses. The operation of an apiary 

 requires close personal supervision. Thus 

 the production of honey is largely a one- 

 man affair. In favorable locahties, how- 

 ever, honey production is as remunerative 

 as any other branch of agriculture. 



Although hundreds of plants secrete nec- 

 tar, only about two dozen species furnish 

 honey in market quantity. The layman 



thinks of a spacious garden as a rich 

 haven for honeybees, but often such is 

 not the case. All the flower gardens in 

 the beautiful city of Washington probably 

 would maintain not more than two dozen 

 colonies of bees. Honey production on a 

 commercial scale must be carried on where 

 there are many acres of a plant from which 

 the bees can obtain more nectar than is 

 needed for their immediate requirements. 



In most sections of the United States 

 there is usually one particular flower from 

 which the bees produce a surplus crop. In 

 carrying on brood rearing, and in obtain- 

 ing enough honey for their own needs, 

 they visit flowers of endless variety. Bees 

 freely visit apple blossoms, for example, 

 yet apple-blossom honey is practically un- 

 known. There are too few apple blossoms, 

 and the blossom period is in early spring 

 when honey requirements of the colony are 

 so great during brood rearing that the bees 

 consume the nectar as rapidly as it is gath- 

 ered. The same is true of many flowers. 



