268 TENNESSEE AGRICULTURE 



TWOFOlvD VAIVUB OF TH© HONEYB^^. 



By J, S. Ward, State Inspector of Apiaries. 



The majority of the people think that the only benefit humanity 

 receives from bees is the production of. honey and wax. This is 

 a great mistake. The annua! honey and wax harvest in Tennessee 

 will approximate a half million dollars, and yet the bees have a value 

 that is far greater than the wax and honey harvest. In the work 

 of pollinating and cross-pollinating seed and fruit-bearing plants, so 

 valuable to man, the bees do a work that has never been appreciated 

 and yet has a value that is almost that of the fruit harvest itself. 



In the transfer of pollen from stamens to stigmas, or from one 

 blossom to another, the wind is an effective agent with many plants, 

 provided it blows at the right time, in the right direction, and the 



Profitable Apiary 



puUen is rea(l\- to be thus scattered; but often this agent is non- 

 effective on account of the pollen being (<„-, moist and sticky because 

 of heavy dews, fogs or rain. Then the bees become the effective 

 agents in carrying the pollen from flo\xer to flou'cr, a little sunshine 

 between the showers will draw the busy workers from the hives and 

 send them scampering into the flowers for that food— protein— which 

 the bees must have for brood rearing. 



It is during fruit blooming time that brood rearing is at its heio-ht 

 and while the blooms j^ield the protein for the bees they in turn 

 polhnate and cross-pollinate the blossoms. The bees feed their grow- 

 ing young on a balanced ration of honey and protein. The honey 

 IS gathered in the fall and stored away m considerable quantity but 



