STATE HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 167 



flowers that yield no honey, and therefore are not visited by in- 

 sects, have to produce enormous quantities of pollen to secure 

 fruit fertilization. Among these we will cite corn and rag-weed. 

 And these plants have to be congregated in large numbers in order 

 to secure fertilization even then ; for the winds may blow the pollen 

 away from a single plant, so that it gets none of it. Many have 

 probably noticed that a single corn stalk, in a field, will often 

 prove barren after having bloomed profusely, owing to its pollen 

 having been blown away, without reaching the female blossom. 



It is not the bee alone who is needed for the fertilization of 

 flowers, but other insects as well. For instance, red clover whose 

 corolla is usually too deep for the bee, needs the agency of the 

 bumble-bee, in order to become fertile. It is well-known to ag- 

 riculturists that the first crop of red clover gives much less seed 

 than the second crop, but they do not all know the reason of 

 this is that the bumble-bees are more abundant in summer than 

 in spring. 



Do bees or insects in general ever damage blossoms by too 

 frequent travels over them? No, indeed, for in this case they 

 would long ago have destroyed white clover, smart weed and 

 Spanish needles which yield more honey than other blossoms and 

 are therefore oftener visited by bees. 



The relation of bees to fruits is a very much vexed question, 

 owing to the fact that a great many horticulturists are prone to 

 regard the bee as an enemy, without investigating the question 

 thoroughly. During seasons of scarcity of blossoms, dry seasons 

 especially, bees feed on the juices of different fruits, but always 

 on damaged fruit. The nutriment that they get therefrom is 

 always of very poor quality, as the juices of damaged fruits are 

 generally more or less fermented already, when the bee appro- 

 priates them, except perhaps in cases where the fruits have just 

 been punctured by birds. Fruit juice is also much inferior to 

 the nectar of blossoms, and can never take the place of honey 

 in bee-economy. 



Can bees injure sound fruits? No, emphatically no. If they 

 could tear the skin of our tenderest fruit they could readily open 

 the still more tender corolla of the red clover, close to the sweet 

 nectar and thus appropriate an endless supply of honey at a time 

 when there is nothing else. The mandibles of the bee are not 

 made to puncture anything, they are of a round shape, and en- 

 tirely devoid of teeth. But facts are better than any theory. 

 We own a vineyard of eleven acres in connection with our large 

 apiaries, and have made a number of tests, among which was 

 one public test before the teachers and pupils of the Hamilton 

 school, and the result of all these tests has invariably been the 

 same. The bees have failed to puncture any sound fruit. For 

 the lover of bee-culture and horticulture combined, who wishes 

 to investigate further, I will mention the Report of the Com- 



