One can hardly believe that this small, ever busy creature each year gathers many million dollars worth of products for man in this country alone to say nothing of its inestimable value on the farm and especially in the orchard, where it assists in carrying pollen from blossom to blossom. It is of far greater value to man as a carrier of pollen than it is as a honey gatherer and yet under especially favorable conditions in one year a strong colony may produce between twenty-five and thirty dollars worth of honey.

The general habits of the bee are fairly well known by all. They live in colonies consisting largely of workers, one female or queen and males or drones. Whenever the number of workers becomes sufficiently large to warrant a division of the colony, a young queen is reared by the workers and just before she matures, the old queen leaves with about half of the workers to establish a new colony. This division of the colony is called swarming. If a hive, box or other acceptable home is not provided soon after the swarm comes out and clusters, it may fly to the woods and establishes itself in a hollow tree where the regular work of honey gathering is continued. This accounts for so many bee-trees in the woods. The bee has been handled by man for ages, but it readily becomes wild when allowed to escape to the woods.

The bee colony offers one of the best examples to show what can be accomplished by united effort where harmony prevails. Certain of the workers gather honey, others are nurses for the queen and young brood in the hive, others guard the hive and repel intruders, and others care for the hive by mending breaks and providing new comb as it is needed. Each knows its work and goes about it without interfering with the work of others. It is one huge assemblage of individuals under one roof where harmony and industry prevail.

Throughout the long, hot summer days the workers are busy from daylight until dark gathering nectar, while at night they force currents of air thru the hive to evaporate the excess water from the nectar. When flowers are not available near the hive they simply fly until they find them, be it one, two or more miles. As long as they are able to gather honey they continue to do so and when they give out they drop in the field and are forgotten, others rushing to take their place. Often when winter is approaching and the store of honey is low the less vigorous ones are cast out from the hive and left to die. If man could learn a few of the lessons which the bee teaches, he would be a better, a more useful and a wiser addition to society.

Observations and Studies

Go into the fields and study the work of the bee. Follow it from flower to flower. See if it visits different kinds of flowers or if it gathers its whole load of honey from one kind. Make a list of all the blossoms you find bees visiting. Does the bee move slowly from flower to flower? Can you see it thrust its tongue into the flower? How long does it stay on one blossom? Does it visit red clover? Pull a red clover blossom apart and compare the depth of the blossom with the length of the honey bee's tongue, and determine the reason why it does not visit red clover. The bumble-bee has a much longer tongue so it can get the nectar from red clover blossoms. Without the bumble-bee clover seed could not be successfully grown. Can you see small balls of yellow pollen on the hind legs of the bee? The pollen is collected from blossoms and is pasted on to the outside of the hind legs in the pollen basket. When the bee returns to the hive, it stores the small balls of pollen in the cells of the comb for use later in the preparation of bee-bread. When the bee is disturbed in the field does it fly away or will it sting? When it stings does it always lose its sting? What makes the sting of the bee poisonous? Examine the wings of bees in the field and note how they are torn from continued work of gathering honey. The older ones often lose so much of their wings, that they can no longer carry loads of honey. Where is the honey carried and how is it placed in the honey cells in the hive?

Go now to a hive and study the bees as they go and come. Do those returning fly as fast as those which leave? Why not? When they return do they come direct to the mouth of the hive? Do those which leave fly direct from the hive or circle about first? Can you detect guards which move about at the entrance of the hive? What happens when a fly or other insect alights near the opening? Will the bees sting when you disturb them about the hive? If possible study the colony inside the hive. To do this you will need smoke to subdue the guards and a veil to protect the face. Can you find the queen? Is she larger than the workers? Examine for honey-comb, bee-bread, worker brood, queen cells and drone cells. If possible study the actions of a colony while swarming.

Write a brief report of what you can learn of the life, work and habits of the honey bee.

—From The Greek of Anacreon.