Honeybee Buzz

My great uncle kept honeybees in the Stony Fork section of Watauga County, North Carolina. There and at home in Wilkes County, I would often step on one barefooted and inevitably be stung. It got to be so common, I didn't mind it that much. I also realized the little creature would die after it lost its stinger.

When I taught in Roswell, New Mexico for two years, a trashcan near where the students were loaded into cars at the end of the day often attracted honeybees. When one landed on one of my fingers and I didn't swat it away, the students were amazed at my courage, but it wasn't courageous. I knew a honeybee is one of the least aggressive bees, and they rarely sting if not provoked. What I did was safer than hitting at it.

In colonial days, honey was one of the main sweeteners used, and

this extended for years in remote places like mountain areas. Producing honey is no easy task. For example, to produce a pound of honey, a bee must fly to 56,000 clover blossoms, where each bloom has about 60 tubes. The honeybee may travel up to eight miles to gather one small load. The type of flower that provides the nectar determines the color and quality of the honey.

When a bee finds a good source of nectar, it can communicate to the other bees the quality, direction, and distance. The dance it gives upon returning to the hive tells all this. After circling, the dancer runs in a straight line toward the direction the honey is located, the number of runs tell the distance, and the smell of the pollen attached to it tells the kind.

Although scientist have determined the components of honey, manufacturers have not been able to produce a product as successfully as the honeybee. Today there are less and less honeybees every year due to insecticides. There is a movement to get Congress to save the industrious bee that helps pollinate crops and provides sweet honey.

           

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