42 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BEES THE FRIEND OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



E. WHITCOMB. 



While the honey-bee is the only one of the thousands of insects 

 which man is able to put to his own exclusive use, yet by a great mis- 

 understanding of this interesting insect we have laid at her door many 

 accusations which a better study of her make-up and habits have en- 

 tirely acquitted her of the charges. It has long since been established 

 that the jaws of the honey-bee are far too feeble to enable it to j)unct- 

 ure the skin of the most delicate fruit. Even some of the warm 

 friends of the honey-bee have been heard lamenting its propensity to 

 banquet on his beautiful peaches, pears, plums, and choicest grapes. 

 Were the honey-bee able to puncture even the pistil of the most deli- 

 cate flower, we, as bee-keepers, would be able to supply the market 

 with rich red clover honey in abundance, and at a much cheaper price. 

 Had the honey-bee been so constructed as to be able to puncture the 

 skin of the most delicate fruit, juices would have taken the j)lace of 

 the bright clear nectar; we would be eating a condensed fruit jam in- 

 stead of honey, and there certainly would have been cause for just 

 complaint on the part of the horticulturist, as well as from the bee- 

 keeper. 



Bees do gather the sweet juices of fruits when nothing else is at 

 hand to gather, yet their jaws, having been constructed mainly for 

 wax making, are constructed more like two spoons working towards 

 each other. Imagine, if you will, the experiment of attempting to 

 pinch a hole through a rubber ball with the thumb and finger and 

 without the use of the nails, and you have at once the uselessness of 

 the honey-bee attempting to puncture the skin of the most delicate 

 grape. It has also been charged that the visits of the honey-bee to 

 different flowers are a great injury to them. This is the grandest of 

 all delusions. Horticulturists all agree that in order to produce per- 

 fect fruit, if at all, there must necessarily be a pollenization from one 

 flower to another. In the past we have regarded the wind as the great 

 agent through which this is accomplished. Here on the great prairies,. 



