STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I7I 



Bees have become quite indispensable in greenhouse growing 

 of fruits and vegetables, which in Maine is probably not as large 

 an industry as in some other states. In Massachusetts, how- 

 ever, the growing of cucumbers under glass is a peculiar spe- 

 cialty. In these cucumber greenhouses, from 2,000 to 2,500 colo- 

 nies of bees are used annually for the purpose of setting the 

 cucumbers. It is likewise found that bees are equally important 

 in melon houses ; for melons grown out-of-doors as well, bees 

 are being utilized. 



In the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts, as elsewhere, 

 there are large market gardens growing nothing but cucumbers 

 for pickling purposes. It is being recognized that the services 

 of bees are also of vital importance in this industry. Cucumber 

 growing out-of-doors is closely associated with squash growing 

 and with melon growing. A melon grower, for instance, in the 

 vicinity of Springfield, told the speaker that he attributed his 

 successes in large crops of muskmelons and cantaloupes which 

 he sends to the finest hotels in the country, to an investment of 

 perhaps $2.50 a year paid a neighbor bee keeper for the rent or 

 services of a single hive of bees which he maintains in his melon 

 plantation. Doubtless this one colony may mean all the differ- 

 ence between success and failure. To summarize, it is being 

 demonstrated that all cucurbitaceous vegetables require the ser- 

 vices of bees and the crops benefit in proportion. 



A specific instance of the importance of bees to the practical 

 orchardist, is shown in an observation on two orchards of about 

 equal acreage in a western "pocket" in the foothills of an ad- 

 mirable fruit land, well drained and protected from frost. One 

 grower secured large crops, while his neighbor secured none, 

 though his fruit trees were of the same age and blossomed 

 heavily each spring. The owner, in despair of financial ruin, 

 called for assistance upon the State Experiment Station. A 

 specialist, who was a pomologist and entomologist, investigated 

 the two entirely comparable orchards, but was about to return 

 without solving the problem when the question of bees arose. 

 Upon inquiry it was asserted that no bees had been maintained 

 for either orchard. Going over the ground more carefully, 

 however, the specialist found in a neglected corner of the fruit- 

 ing orchard, a fallen log partially sunken in the damp land. 

 This sheltered a very large colony of bees ; to it is attributed the 



