43 pages • 1 hour read
Meredith MayThe Honey Bus
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Environmental Context: Bee Pollination
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of the same flower or another flower of the same species. This transfer of pollen is essential for the fertilization of plants and the production of fruits and flowers. Plants that are not pollinated cannot reproduce, making pollination an essential environmental process.
The most common and efficient mode of pollination is by insects such as bees. Bees visit flowering plants to gather nectar to turn into honey and pollen to feed their young. The bees collect pollen by rubbing their bodies against the anther, then use their legs to collect the pollen and push it into structures on their hind legs called pollen baskets. As the bees move from flower to flower, some of this pollen is lost and transferred to the stigma of other flowers. Honey bees and bumblebees are known to practice flower constancy, exclusively visiting a single species of flowering plant even when other sources are available. This is mutually beneficial, ensuring the plant’s survival and increasing the bees’ chances of finding productive sources of nectar and honey.
Globally, bee populations have declined significantly in the last century. Possible explanations for declining bee populations include exposure to pesticides, widespread habitat destruction, and air and light pollution. As Grandpa explains to Meredith throughout The Honey Bus, there are severe consequences to pollinator loss: Nearly 90% of the world’s flowering plants are pollinated by animals such as honey bees. If populations continue to decline, these species are at risk.
Cultural Context: Beekeeping in the United States
Honey bees are not native to the United States. In the 17th century, American colonists imported honey beehives in order to continue the beekeeping traditions established in Europe. Until the 19th century, beekeeping in the United States was practiced primarily for the collection of honey and beeswax, which was used to produce candles. Since the advent of industrial farming in the 19th century, some beekeepers have focused exclusively on pollination, renting their hives to industrial farmers with crops in need of pollinators. The majority of American beekeepers are hobbyists or small-scale keepers like Meredith May’s grandfather, selling their honey directly to neighbors and local businesses.
The most common type of beehive used by American beekeepers is the Langstroth hive. Patented in 1852 by Philadelphia native Lorenzo Loraine Langstroth, the Langstroth hive is used by both hobby and professional beekeepers in a variety of contexts. The beehives described in The Honey Bus are Langstroth hives. Langstroth’s patent relies on his observation that if bees were constrained to between six and nine millimeters of space, they would not build comb or seal the space with propolis. Langstroth’s discovery of this so-called “bee space” inspired him to build a beehive built of stackable boxes filled with wooden frames spaced at this precise measurement. Bees introduced into the hive build comb onto the frames for a variety of purposes, such as honey production and the nursing of larvae. Because of the spacing of the frames, the bees do not build between frames, so the beekeeper can remove frames from the hive without damaging the hive.
