506 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



BEES IN RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. 



By RICHARD D. BARCLAY, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Perhaps the connnection between bee-keeping and fruit-growing 

 may seem a little remote, but on a little consideration, I think you 

 will see that there is a very intimate relation between the interests 

 of the bee-keeper and that of the fruit grower. You undoubtedly 

 know that, in order to secure a proper setting of fruit it is neces- 

 sary to secure the fertilization of the blossom by some means. 

 Some varieties of fruit are self-fertile, or are capable of having the 

 stigma of their blossoms fertilized by the pollen from the same 

 blossom. Other varieties are entirely incapable of fertilization by 

 their own pollen. This matter has never been fully studied out, but 

 the leading fruit growers to-day recognize that they must make some 

 effort to secure complete pollenation each year with some degree 

 of certainty. In the smaller fruit plantations, perhaps nine years in 

 ten, weather conditions are such as to permit this to be brought 

 about by the wind which is the most usual agent. In damp springs 

 when bad weather prevails the wind cannot blow the pollen from 

 blossom to blossom, and without the aid of some outside agency to 

 distribute pollen little fruit will be set. In large plantations where 

 the wind has less opportunity, these conditions may occur more 

 frequently. Any insect which has need for pollen or nectar from 

 the fruit blossoms and which visits them will serve as their agent. 

 However, at the time fruit is in bloom you well know insects are 

 rather scarce. Flies, bumble bees and most other insects do not ap- 

 pear in great numbers until later in the season. The honey-bee is 

 the only insect which is present in large enough numbers at the 

 proper time of year to be of much service in pollenizing the blos- 

 soms. A large number of fruit growers are coming to realize that 

 they must have some bees within reach of their orchards to do their 

 pollenation work. I myself have my bees on the property of a 

 large orchardist outside of Philadelphia and I know of other or- 

 chardists who keep bees themselves simply for their value in con- 

 nection with their fruit business. 



Bees visit fruit blossoms for both insects and for pollen. The 

 nectar is the raw material from which they make honey and the 

 pollen they use in feeding their larvae — and corresponds to the pro- 

 tcid or moat portion of our diet. For whichever material the bee 

 visits the blossoms it unavoidably rubs against the anthers contain- 

 ing the pollen and some of this pollen is liable to stick to the hairs 

 which cover the bee's body. When the bee visits the next blossom 

 some of this pollen retained on its body hairs or upon its legs will 

 most likely be rubbed off upon the sticky stigma of that blossom and 

 bring about cross fertilization. 



The matter of spraying is also important in connection with bees, 

 and pollenation experiments seem to show that the bees may be 

 injured by spraying in blossoms with copper salts or arsenical 

 poisons. \¥hc'ther this, in practice, proves an important direct dam- 

 age or not, it is certainly true that bees visiting blossoms sprayed 

 with such materials are likely to be killed, and often are in great 

 numbers. Therefore, as the setting of fruit may depend greatly 

 upon the presence of bees, subjecting them to the danger of being 

 killed by sprays, will work injury to the fruit grower directly, irre- 

 spective of the value of bees destroyed. It is thus important for the 



