Forcing-House Miscellanies. 407 



BEES m GREENHOUSES. 



Much has been written regarding the value of bees in greenhouses. 

 It is said that all hand pollinations may be dispensed with if desired, 

 as the bees will work among the blossoms and thus cause tlie fruit 

 to set. 



During November, 1893, a hive of bees was received, and on the 

 23d day of the month they were set free in the brightest of all the 

 station houses (shown on page 369). The hive was placed at the 

 south end of the house, and the bees were kept constantly supplied 

 with proper food. At this time the house was filled with tomato 

 plants in full bloom, and it was hoped the bees would work among 

 them so that the tedious but very necessary hand pollination of the 

 ■flowers need no longer be practiced. The bees evidently did not 

 catch the idea, however, for if there was one place in the house 

 which they did not visit it was the tomato blossom They spent 

 most of their time in bumping their heads against the glass sides 

 and roof of the house, and at every opportunity, when the ventila- 

 tors were raised a little, they took pains to pass through them, even 

 though the mercury stood far below the freezing point out of doors. 

 The bees which did not succeed in finding the ventilators continued 

 to fly against the glass, leaving it only for the purpose of with- 

 drawing far enough to get a start for a fresh attack. In this way 

 the busy bee finally wore herself out, and, in the course of three 

 weeks, those less ambitious individuals which did not fly heaven- 

 ward in the friendless atmosphere of December, were scattered as 

 corpses along the sides of the house close to the glass ; and thus 

 ended the attempt to make these little creatures useful in midwinter. 

 It may be said that bees do not like tomato flowers, but our specimens 

 took no pains to find out whether they liked them or not. It is 

 probable that every bee in the swarm went to his honeyless bourne 

 without ever having discovered whether the plants were tomatoes or 

 buckwheat, or, in fact, if there were any plants at all in the house. 



METHODS OF CONTROLLING GREENHOUSE PESTS 



BY FUMIGATION. 



The insects and the fungi which seriously injure greenhouse 

 plants are comparatively few in number, but if allowed to develop 

 unchecked they are capable of entirely ruining every susceptible 

 plant in the houses. There are some plants which are almost en- 



