Literature is filled with the Honey makers and their incomparable gift, which appears now as ambrosia, now as nectar, and always as the synonym of sweetness unsurpassed.

At the present time sugar has superseded honey as an article of every-day use. Honey has lost most of its importance in the family life; but not so the bee, for we now know that it does inestimable service in perfecting the fruits of the earth, and that without it our orchards would be lean and our gardens barren.

This knowledge makes a scientific study of the bee as fascinating as is the story of honey and its maker in relation to the individual life of the races of men that have preceded us. Since the bee existed before literature and history, the true sequence in treating it is, first, its structure and habits, and then its place in song and homily.

In the second part of the book the bee is set up to be looked at in the light of mythology, the legend, poetry, history, and literature; and an astonishing insect it has proved to be under this examination.

With this slight introduction we will proceed to a more careful consideration of the organs and activities of our subject. 

From the beginning of the book