Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-01-25
THE HONEY BEE A MOST I'M
PORTANT ACTOR liz THE
PROMOTION OF CIyILI-
,ZATION
(By T. X. Massie)


way than by the production Of seeds.
1t may be claimed that man, by
grating and building, does this but
man, by his artificial process, only
works with that which nature has
furnished him and transfers one var
;ety to the tree of mother variety.
He does not add one single new tree
or new variety to the sum total of
either
How do the bees promote and foster
civilization? The foundation of all
civilization is agriculture, History
discloses the fact that ancient civil
lization had its climax in Egypt,
Babylon and the adjoining lands of
China and nowhere else. 1t is also
shown by history that classic civili-
cation reached an apex of greatness
in the Tuscan culture, the Greek
learning and the Roman efficiency,
and it is of the utmost Importance to
those who are leaders in the affairs
Of the world to observe these things
and give ear to their great ifnpor-
lance. 1t is of utmost Importance
that our legislators, state and nation
al, heed these points and give ade-
quate appropriations to the upbuild-
ing of the much neglected agricultural
branch of agriculture.
And, as agriculture is the founda-
ton of all civilization, so is soil fert-
ility the basis of successful agricul-
ture. If the fertility of the soil is
not maintained the crops fail and the
people perish. Then, if civilization is
to be permanently maintained in any
location on the globe, it must be sup
ported by soil fertility
The grains are the principal plants
grown for food and naturally serve
to deplete plant nutrition in the soil.
1t is common knowledge that each
crop OF grain produced and taken
from the land removes certain per
cent food from the land. This depict
ion must be restored if the soil is to
be used in future crop production. The
process employed in maintaining the
useful soil and at the same time US
ing it profitably is called crop rota-
ton. The principal element of plant
food is nitrogen and it is most econ
omically obtained from the air by tn
clovers and other legumes ON whose
roots the heterogeneous bacteria are
caused to abound Nature provides
that legumes cannot perpetuate them
selves in the process Of maturing
seeds without the aid of insects to
complete the poIIination of the bloom.
1t is therefore an economic duty of
the legume plants to renew the supply
of nitrogen in the soil and these as
well as other crops cannot be profit
ably produced on land that is not rich
IN nitrogen. OF course, there are arti-
fetal ways of temporarily injecting
nitrogen by the proper uses of com
mercial fertilizers, but the only way
to be ultimately successful in pro-
ducing crops is to restore soil ferti-
lily by the natural processes.
The honey bee is the most impor-
tant Of all the insects-is practically
the only insect-which is numerous
enough to perform the important
work of completing the poIlination of
the legume blossoms. With proper
pollination seeds cannot be matured,
the legume plants become eftinct and
thus bring about depletion of, plant
food In the soil, finally resulting in
famine and the ultimate destruction of
civilization. The point to which at
tention is especially drawn is the fact
that civilization either ancient or mod
ern, as is revealed by study of the
bee liturature CONFIDENT with those,
times, has never developed beyond
rudimentary stage wherever there
has been lack of bees. On the other
hand where bees have been present
and reached their highest pinnacle
of success civilization has develop
ed and flourished Too much i'm
portance, therefore, cannot we'll be
attached to the bees the farmers
tireless and most efficient assistants.
In this connection the State De-
partment of Agriculture is expanding
great effort and all the money avail
able for such purposes in aiding and
encouraging the bee idustry in West
Virginia. Many thousand pounds Of
honey is lost each year because of the
lack of a sufficient number of bees to
gather and store this delicious and
wholesome food called honey and
make it ready for mans use. To say
nothing of the economic loss Of the
honey itself, the people are deprived
of the yaluahle service If these in