Lessons from the Hive

Lessons from the Hive

A beehive, as any beekeeper can tell you, is far more than a chaotic coagulation of honey-makers; it’s one of the most complex communities in nature.

That complexity is what inspired Howard Scott, a beekeeper in Pembroke, Mass. (pop. 16,927), to write the book, Bee Lessons, in 2000. Now in its third printing, with more than 20,000 copies sold, the self-published book pulls from Scott’s 20 years of experience tending hives, together with his talent for drawing connections and contrasts between bee and human societies.

The book is composed of 42 “lessons.” For example, in the Queen Ministrations lesson, he tells readers: “The queen is always surrounded by attendants. They circle her, keeping her clean, providing her with food, fanning her with cool air, keeping her dry, discarding her eliminations, and combing her . . . About the only thing the queen never has is privacy.”

The lesson here: being a leader has its downside.

“Howard’s little yellow book, Bee Lessons, is delightful,” says Kim Hatton, president of the Plymouth County (Mass.) Beekeepers Association. “Howard has inspired many a garden club and bee school member with his presentations on the mystery and poetry of honeybees; not only here in Pembroke, or in just our county, but even worldwide with his travels. He exchanges ideas with beekeepers he meets on his travels throughout the world.”

Scott’s own interest in beehives began in college. “I majored in economics, which is the study of societies and how they manage,” he says. “I’ve always thought the bee world was a fascinating society in how they manage the issues of production, consumption, surplus and leadership. That’s really been the essence of my book—the amazing ways they manage. In a lot of ways, they are so much wiser than us.”

In the lesson Variety is Best, Scott shares this wisdom: “Tasks are age-related so that every worker bee does many jobs during a lifetime. She starts cleaning cells, then processes honey, then tends the queen, then guards the entrance, and finally forages for nectar and pollen . . . Moreover, she does each job with enthusiasm, working 24-hour days, taking short naps. There’s never any problem with slackers.”

The lesson here: job satisfaction can be found in variety.

Scott, who left a retail career to become a freelance writer, paved the way for his book by writing columns for bee-keeping trade journals. At the urging of readers, he wrote a 30-page booklet, The Magic of Bees. Encouraged when those 50 booklets sold out at a local fair, Scott went on to pen Bee Lessons. Orders have arrived from as far away as Scandinavia and Africa.

“A man from Norway bought 25 copies for his amateur baseball team, the Bees,” Scott says. A New Hampshire business owner called with an order for 30 books. “He wanted his employees to think about working cooperatively.”

Scott admits he is surprised by his book’s sweet reception. Perhaps it’s the sometimes humorous, sometimes stark, but always insightful wisdom that the 60-year-old beekeeper, or apiarist, has gleaned over the years from his selfless charges.

In addition to writing about bees and serving as a longtime member of the Plymouth County Beekeeping Association, Scott also teaches a beginner’s bee-keeping course each year and often speaks at area clubs. He says anyone can be a beekeeper, noting that it can cost about $200 for materials and bees to get started and requires roughly 10 hours a month in time.

“You harvest in September,” he says. “That’s a lot of work. In the spring, you have to manage the hive. But, otherwise, you essentially watch and just take pleasure in the whole experience.”

Gayle Goddard-Taylor is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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