556 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



THE CLASSES OF BEES WHICH SERVE IN THE OKCHABD AND GARDEN. 



In considering the relationship of bees to horticulture it sliould be re- 

 membered that there are two general classes of bees, roughly grouped as 

 the solitary and the colonial, or social bees. The solitary bees live 

 isolated and singly and are not always numerous. The other group, the 

 social bees, comprise a number of genera or species and may be roughly 

 exemplified by the common bumble bee and our honey bee. Any and all 

 of these bees, including the honey bee, may be wild. In its larger sense, 

 wild bees should include all the various kinds, both social and solitary. 

 They may often be observed on the blossoms of pear, apple and the 

 flowers of many other fruits. Considering the vast number of these wild 

 insects it so happens in well cultivated localities, that the honey bee 

 outnumbers the other wild forms. These honey bees may, as just inti- 

 mated, not come from apiaries under the control of some beekeeper but 

 may come from the woods. If it were possible to calculate the value de- 

 rived from the pollination by honey bees alone, these returns would with- 

 out doubt, far exceed the total income to be derived through the produce 

 of honey, bees and wax. Thus, as has already been said, the honey bee 

 is of inestimable value to the orchardist or horticulturist, besides being 

 a source of revenue to the beekeeper. Thus the honey bee serves in a 

 double capacity; she is a source of double income. 



It may be well to mention at this time some of the more common 

 fruits and vegetables which are essentially in need of the activities of 

 the honey bee. The list might be made much longer than that which I 

 will give, yet it is generally estimated that honey bees are important 

 in the setting of the apple, pear, plum, quince, peach, raspberry, black- 

 berry, strawberry (to some extent and according to locality), the mul- 

 berry, pea,, bean, currant, grape, squash, melon, cucumber and the 

 cranberry. The tomato apparently is not dependent upon the service 

 of bees, yet in greenhouses for tomato culture, bees have been seen to 

 work the flowers, apparently for pollen. It should also be borne in mind 

 that season, locality and climatic conditions are tremendous factors in 

 the activities of bees on these and other plants. For illustration, the 

 strawberry may be cited. The writer has seen in some localities, large 

 areas of strawberries devoid of bees, while elsewhere the honey bee was 

 active. This is repeatedly observed with other plants and in different 

 localities and seasons. 



IN CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



The value of the honey bee in cranberry cultivation has but recently 

 been recognized. The cranberry industry of Massachusetts for instance, 

 is worth between one million and a million and a half dollars annually. 

 It has been observed that in certain years, certain parts of cranberry 

 bogs fail. Dr. Franklin, at the experimental bog in Massachusetts, has 

 carried out experiments, the details of which show that bees are of 

 service and explain that the failure of bogs or parts of bogs may be at- 

 tributed to the inability or lack of bees to work the blossoms while the 

 vines are in bloom. It has been shown, too, that the inability of bees to 

 visit these bogs was due to climatic conditions, the prevalence of winds 



