50 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



"A gentleman stated that he had a friend in this state who 

 started into fruit growing several yea^s ago, locating thirty-five 

 miles from any fruit growing section, or where any bees were 

 located. The first year that his trees blossomed, when he ex- 

 pected at least some returns from his orchards, what should be 

 the result but complete failure? He was advised to procure 

 some bees to aid in the fertilization of the blossoms. He did so, 

 and since then his orchard has been productive." 



C. J. Berry, one whose fruit orchard contains 440 acres and 

 who is horticultural commissioner for Tulare county, Cal., an 

 inland county that has made great progress in the fruit-industry, 

 gives this valuable testimony : 



"Bees and fruit go together. I can't raise fruit without bees. 

 I have bees all about my big orchard. Two years in succession 

 I have put netting over some limbs of trees ; and, while they 

 blossomed all right, nary fruit ; while on the same tree, where 

 limbs were exposed to the aid of bees, plenty of fruit." 



Again, Chas. A. Green, for the Fruit Grower, published in 

 Rochester, N. Y., writes : 



"It has now become demonstrated that many kinds of fruits, 

 if not all kinds, are greatly benefited by the bees, and that a 

 large portion of our fruit, such as the apple, pear and particu- 

 larly the plum, would be barren were it not for the helpful work 

 of the honey bee. This knowledge is largely owing to the dis- 

 covery of Prof. Waite of the Agricultural Department at Wash- 

 ington." 



At a joint meeting of the National Pomological Society and 

 the National Beekeepers' Association, occurring on Sept 12, 1901, 

 at Buffalo, a number of valuable papers were read, all of them 

 testifying to the invaluable office of the bee in pollinating fruit 

 blossoms. Space will permit us to give only two references. 

 Prof. James Fletcher, of the Ottawa Experiment Station, among 

 other things, said : 



"It will be found that not only are flowers absolutely neces- 

 sary to bees as the source of their food — nectar and pollen — but 

 that bees and other insects are no less necessary to most flowers, 

 so that their perpetuation may be secured. 



"The fact should be recognized by the fruit grower above all 

 others ; for were it not for insects, and particularly for the honey 

 bee, his crop of fruits would be far less than they are every 

 year, and even in some .cases he would get no fruit at all. 



