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In Praise of Honeybees
by Cheryll Stanley
Read the following passage to discover more about why the honeybee has received North Carolina’s highest insect honor! Then answer the questions that follow.
Those of us who live in North Carolina know that the honeybee is our state insect. Have you ever wondered why?
Around the world, but especially here in North Carolina, people enjoy the fruits of the honeybee. Of course, most people know that honey is used as a sweetener. We also know that humans use the beeswax from the honeycomb to make candles, lipsticks, balms, and other products. When I say fruits, however, I mean fruits, and vegetables, too!
In North Carolina alone, the honeybee is responsible for the annual production of honey valued at over two million dollars. According to some, however, this industrious insect’s greatest contribution is its pollination of our state’s agricultural crops. “Few people know it,” said Helen Witt, an agriculturalist and editor of Insect Weekly, “but bees are farmers’ best friends.” As it collects pollen for its own honey, the honeybee carries the much-needed pollen from plant to plant, flower to flower, fertilizing our crops as it goes.
For instance, cucumber crops require thousands of honeybees for adequate pollination. Each female cucumber blossom can be pollinated for one day only. And, each blossom requires an average of eleven bee visits to create a well-shaped cucumber. Cucumber farmers need thousands of bees to carry out this task quickly. Those farmers with fields greater than three acres in size must employ one beehive for each additional acre of farmland. That’s nearly 40,000 bees for every 30,000 cucumbers!
In addition, the variety of plants and flowers pollinated by bees affects the flavor and color of the honey they produce. Most commercial honey comes from bees that pollinate clover flowers. Other popular varieties of honey, however, come from bees that have pollinated buckwheat, alfalfa, apple trees, and orange blossoms.
As you spread honey over your toast in the morning, take a moment to think about the honeybee. Think about just how important these diligent creatures are, not just for the honey they produce, but for the production of the very food we like to sweeten.
Those of us who live in North Carolina know that the honeybee is our state insect. Have you ever wondered why?
Around the world, but especially here in North Carolina, people enjoy the fruits of the honeybee. Of course, most people know that honey is used as a sweetener. We also know that humans use the beeswax from the honeycomb to make candles, lipsticks, balms, and other products. When I say fruits, however, I mean fruits, and vegetables, too!
In North Carolina alone, the honeybee is responsible for the annual production of honey valued at over two million dollars. According to some, however, this industrious insect’s greatest contribution is its pollination of our state’s agricultural crops. “Few people know it,” said Helen Witt, an agriculturalist and editor of Insect Weekly, “but bees are farmers’ best friends.” As it collects pollen for its own honey, the honeybee carries the much-needed pollen from plant to plant, flower to flower, fertilizing our crops as it goes.
For instance, cucumber crops require thousands of honeybees for adequate pollination. Each female cucumber blossom can be pollinated for one day only. And, each blossom requires an average of eleven bee visits to create a well-shaped cucumber. Cucumber farmers need thousands of bees to carry out this task quickly. Those farmers with fields greater than three acres in size must employ one beehive for each additional acre of farmland. That’s nearly 40,000 bees for every 30,000 cucumbers!
In addition, the variety of plants and flowers pollinated by bees affects the flavor and color of the honey they produce. Most commercial honey comes from bees that pollinate clover flowers. Other popular varieties of honey, however, come from bees that have pollinated buckwheat, alfalfa, apple trees, and orange blossoms.
As you spread honey over your toast in the morning, take a moment to think about the honeybee. Think about just how important these diligent creatures are, not just for the honey they produce, but for the production of the very food we like to sweeten.
Source: The Princeton Review (2001). READING STRATEGIES AND LITERARY ELEMENTS. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.pages 57-58