The marvelous organization of the bee colony with its vast number of workers and inimitable mechanical structure and chemical processes, is one of the wonders of the natural world. Its interior is an unapproachable model of immaculate cleanliness, order, and absolute economy. The mysterious division of labor and responsibility of its inmates has attracted the Interest and study of many of the world's greatest scholars and most profound thinkers.

For strength, beauty and compactness, no engineer has ever been able to surpass the hexagon design of the honeycomb. In converting a raw field product into an exquisite delicacy, its natural flavor and fragrance unchanged and eternal, no chemist has ever been able to equal the work of the bee. Raw sugar cane juice, and nectar as it comes from the flowers, are much the same chemically. From the cane juice the sugar factory produces sugar which is a very palatable food but one which many people find difficult to assimilate and therefore are compelled to eliminate from their diet.

Comes now the honeybee with her load of nectar from the depths of the flowers. As she flies homeward she extracts and expels the major portion of the surplus moisture from her burden. On entering the hive she deposits the remaining extract in the first convenient cell. Her duty as a field bee ends there so she flies forth for a fresh supply but the nectar she has contributed is not yet honey by any means. It must again be taken up by other bees, its water content still further reduced and its raw sugar converted into grape sugar before it is ready to be redeposited in the honeycomb and sealed over with snowy cappings. This conversion is effected by the chemical action of secretions from special glands located in the bee's abdomen. The finished product is literally a pre-digested food ready for immediate assimilation by the human system and is one of the greatest energy producers known. There is a close parallel between the service of the bee and that of the cow as converters of raw materials into highly nutritious food for man's use. The hen herself does not do a better job.

Only within comparatively recent years have dietitians and doctors fully realized the incomparable value of honey as a food for the infant, infirm and aged, as well as those in perfect health. As an infant food it has no equal save mother's milk.

The rapid progress in the production of honey, due to improved methods and modern equipment, has so increased the supply and reduced the cost that it is now found on the shelves of every grocer at a price within the reach of the average housewife's purse. California alone contains a quarter of a million colonies of bees and produces several hundred carloads of honey annually. Food value considered, honey is fully as cheap as ordinary syrups.

As a cooking material honey has no equal, especially in sweetening pastry. Honey-sweetened cookies and cakes retain their freshness and plasticity almost indefinitely. Ten cents sent to the American Honey Institute, of Madison, Wisconsin, will bring you fifty tested prize winning recipes for the use of honey in home cooking. The American Honey Institute is a research institution, maintained by the bee and honey interests of the country for the purpose of developing new uses for honey.

Conclusion

And now my allotted space is about used up, so I must begin looking for a place to put the end. In reviewing what I have written, I realize I have omitted many important subjects and dealt briefly with others. But then, as I said at the outset, I only intended to come to the rescue of the beginner by aiding him in getting off on the right foot and thereby helping him to avoid some of the pitfalls that I myself fell into.

I have endeavored throughout to adhere to the practical rather than the fascinating aspect of the business. If I have erred it has been on the side of the conservative. I have said so much about the drawbacks and things to be avoided, that the reader may get the impression that beekeeping generally is made up of more hard luck than profits. Such a conception would not be a true picture and does not square with the fact that thousands of families rely almost wholly upon the product of their bees for a livelihood and have as many cylinders in their cars, so to speak, as other agriculturists with similar capital investment. Certain it is that those who weather the first few years of apprenticeship and achieve a moderate measure of success, are loathe to give up the rough and ready outdoor freedom of the beekeper.