FORETHOUGHT 
When the country was new and there was much unused 
land which grew to a large variety of native plants, some- 
thing of a continuous nectar flow could more or less be 
taken for granted. But with the greater utilization of our 
land areas and with the mowing and spraying of our road- 
sides, our minor sources of nectar are greatly decreasing 
until in some localities there are not many places for the 
bees to forage between the main honey flows. The princi- 
pal honey flow may come from one or two plants which 
are often one or more of the agricultural crops of the local- 
ity. But also important is the presence of some nectar 
bloom between the main honey flows in order to maintain 
strong colonies ready to gather the honey at the opportune 
time and in so doing perform their essential pollination 
service. 
While the continuity of nectar flows may vary greatly 
according to locality, the problem created by the absence 
of minor flows has already become acute in many localities. 
At the same time and largely due to the same causes, the 
wild pollinating insects are decreasing which makes the 
presence of honey bees yet more essential to our agricult- 
ure. There are at least fifty of our agricultural crops which 
are dependent upon the honey bee in whole or in part for 
their pollination. Without this service, trees may not bear 
fruit or flowers set seed. In the old days the pollination 
was performed mostly by wild bees but with the advance of 
civilization their nesting places are largely destroyed and 
the present widespread use of sprays for the destruction 
of harmful insects is adding greatly to their extinction. 
Thus we have come to an era in which the prosperity of 
agriculture and the welfare of a nation are dependent 
upon the presence of honeybees for pollination. 
It is not only of first importance to beekeepers, but also 
of general public concern that conditions prevail which 
make keeping of more bees profitable. Thus we must look 
to our flower garden and shrubbery plantings, to roadside 
and park plantings, and where possible, to utilization of 
unused land to furnish the succession of nectar sources. If, 
in this way, we can make bee-keeping more successful, there 
will be present more honeybees to perform the great 
service of pollination. 
