558 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



cording to season or environmental conditions. It may be, tlierefore, ex- 

 pressed as a fundamental biological law, that the prevalence of all life, 

 including bees, is subject to fluctuation. Bees have their periods of 

 UPS AND DOWNS, numerousness and scarity. When conditions are 

 favorable they rise to the crest of prosperity and prevalence; when un- 

 favorable conditions set in, as for instance a disease appears in the 

 locality, they become greatly reduced and scarcer. Hard winters may 

 depreciate bees, so that within the short space of a year their prevalence 

 may have fluctuated from the crest of prevalency to a depressed fre- 

 quency; thus when most needed by the horticulturist as pollen bearers 

 they may be at a low ebb and scarce. This biological law may be il- 

 lustrated by a graphic or hypothetical curve of fluctuation or frequency. 

 I have repeatedly given this at conventions and show it to you at this 

 time. 



The question naturally arises, how is this fluctuation to be overcome? 

 How is the grower to protect himself against a possible lack or security 

 of pollen bearers? There seems to me but one answer: KEEP BEES. 

 By this means alone it would seem possible to control or provide for 

 ample pollination. Growers commonly plow, cultivate, fertilize, they 

 plant their trees, disbud, scrape, spray, according to the most approved 

 practices of our best agricultural and horticultural experts; but, in many 

 instances, these are of little or no avail if bees are absent. By main- 

 taining colonies in proportion to the size of the orchard or farm, de- 

 pendency upon wild bees or bees from a neighboring apiary is largely 

 or wholly eliminated. I have often said IT IS FAR SAFER TO FLOOD 

 AN APPLE ORCHARD FOR INSTANCE, WITH BEES DURING 

 THE BLOOMING PERIOD THAN TO CHANCE THEIR SCARCITY. 

 Furthermore, the cost of maintaining an apiary is infinitesimal and neg- 

 ligible as compared to the vast benefits or returns. Moreover, it should 

 not be forgotten that weather conditions during fruit bloom often pro- 

 hibit the free flight of bees a mile or two across country. Numberless 

 observations are on record of orchards having been successfully fertilized 

 where bees had less than a mile to fly, while more distant orchards, the 

 same year, bore smaller or no crops. Thus, to put it mildly, an apiary 

 in or adjacent to an orchard will save great failure. 



A $3,800.00 CROP DUE TO BEES. 



I have in mind a specific instance reported by one of our agricultural 

 experiment stations. In one of the western states there are two com- 

 parable apple orchards of about equal acreage, of similar location and 

 age, each in a "pocket" in the foothills of an admirable fruit land, 

 both well drained and protected from frost. One orchard bore heavily 

 for successive years; in the other there was no crop, although the trees 

 blossomed heavily each spring. In despair of financial ruin, the owner 

 called the assistance of a State Experiment Station. A pomologist and 

 entomologist was sent, who examined critically all the conditions in 

 each of the orchards. He was about to return without solving the prob- 

 lem of failure, when the question arose, were there ever bees maintained 

 to set this orchard which has fruited? It was asserted, however, that 

 neither orchard had ever had bees. However, the problem was not given 



