FRUIT-BLOSSOMS. 



228 



FltUIT-BLOSSOJMS. 



county that has made great progress in the 

 fruit-industry, gives tliis vahiable testimony: 



Hoos and fruit g-o lojrothor. 1 ran't raise fruii. 

 witliout bees. Sdiiie of tlie other cranks say Tm a 

 crank; but I notice there is a pretty good following 

 after me, hereabouts, and they keep a-eomin.' 



Yes, sir, 'e. I liavc bees all about, my big- orchard. 

 Two years in shpc&sxioo I ham put netdun over xome 

 lirnl)ii of trcc^; and, while they bloiisomed all riulit, 

 nary fntit; while on the same tree, where linihs were 

 exposed to the aid of bees, plenty of fruit. 



THE TWO SIDES OF A TREE. 



Our apple-orchard is situated in such a way that 

 it is exposed to both the north and south winds 

 About four years ago, as the trees on the south 

 row (Transcendents, that throws out a heavy 

 growth of foliage at the same time it blooms) 

 began to open its bloom, a heavy south wind pre- 

 vailed for aViout five days. I noticed, during tliis 

 period, that tlie bees could not touch the bloom 

 on the south side of these trees, but woi-ked mer- 

 rily on the more sheltered limbs of the north side. 

 Wliat was the result? Those limbs on the nortli 



Some three or four years as^o, in tlie State f*'^'^ ''■'''■^' '^^" '''"<^*^"^^ ^''"'' *'""• '^'"'*' "" ^'"' 



south side there was almost none to be seen. Does 



of Michigan, a convention of fruit-growers 

 and bee-men iissembled together for the 

 purpose of discussing their connnon inter- 

 ests; and tlie fruit-men acknowledged gen- 

 erally that the keeping of bees in thevi^nnity 

 of their orchards was an iiiijiortant factor in 

 the jn-odtictioii of fruit. At the various 

 conventions of the Michigan State Bee- 

 keepers^- As.sociiition. it has been shown 

 tpiite conclu.sively by the bee-keepers who 

 were fruit-growers, that not only greater 

 quantity but more perfect fruit is secured by 

 having the bees in the vicinity of orchards. 



Again, Chas. A. Green writes for the 

 Fruit Gnnotr, published at l^ochester, N. Y., 

 an article from whicli, for lack of space, we 

 shall be able to quote only a couple of para- 

 graphs : , ,.^ ^,^,,s.«^.,- ^. 



It has now become demonstrated that many kinds 

 of fruits, if not all kinds, aiv greatly benetlted by 

 the bees, and that a large portion of our fruit, such 

 as the apple, v>ear, and particularly the plum, would 

 be ban-en were it not for the helpful work of the 

 lioney-boe. This discovery is largely owing to Pi-of . 

 Waite, of the Agricultural Department at Washing- 

 ton. Prof. Waite covered the blossoms of v^ears 

 apples, and plums, with netting, excluding the bees, 

 and fi>und that such i>rotccted blossoms of many 

 varieties of apple and j>ear \ ieldeii no fruit. In some 



this prove that these trees depend on the aid of in- 

 sects to fertilize the bloom? 1 leave it to the 

 judgment of the reader. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle. in winding up his 

 article for the symposiiun above referred to, 

 says : 



.\gain, 1 wish to note, as a matter of liistory, 

 that, during the past season of 1893, very little 

 buckwheat honey was secured from the buckwheat 

 regions of tlie State of New York— so little that we 

 have had, for the first time in my remembrance, 

 buckwheat honey selling in our markets for nearly 

 if not quite the same price as No. 1 clover honey, 

 while it usually sells for about two-thirds the price 

 of clover honey. And what has been the result? 

 Why, the unheard-of thing of buckwlieat grain 

 Vn-inging 7") cts. a bushel, on account of its scarcity, 

 while the best of white wheat is selling at only 6~ 

 cts.! A« a gtMieral thing, buckwheat brings from 

 one-half to two-thirds the price of wheat. That it 

 now brings nearly one-fourth more than the best 

 of wheat tells very largely, under tlie circum- 

 stances, on the side of the bee. 



Mr. II. A. ISIarch. of Tuget Sound. Wash., 

 one of the most extensive seed-growers of 

 the I^u'itic coast, testifies that he found 

 bees very valuable, and that seed was 

 very much more abinulant when bees 

 were alloweil to work on the flowers ; antl 

 he savs that stone fruits seemed almost 



varieties there was no exception Xo the rule, and he • incajiable of self-fertilization, as he had fullv 

 was convinced that large orchards of Hartlett pea.-s. .^.^.^^j y,^. ti-yiug tO glOW pcaches under glaSS. 

 planted distant from other varieties, would be "^ ,„, \., " ' „ ^ ,^ t, , -.- i- i i 



utterly barren were it not for the work of the bees. ; ^^'^ <?^^'toi- ot the liuval ^CW - 1 OrArr put 

 and even then they could not be profitably gixwn iu his paper, unsolicited, this short l)ithy 

 unless every third or fourth row in the orchard was I iiaragraph : 



plaiiii-(l to Clapp's Favorite, or some other variety 

 that was capable of fertilizing the blossoms of the 

 Ilartlett. In other words, he found that the Bartlett 

 pear could no more fertilize its own bUis.soms than 

 the fivst'ent strawberry. We have already learned 

 Ihiit certain kinds of plums will not fertilize their 

 own blossoms, such as the Wild Gixise. etc. 



'l"he friiit-giHnvers of the cmintry aiv greatly In- 

 deliled to Vit>f. Waite for the discovery he has made. 

 The lesson is. that fruit-growei-s mu.st become inteT*- 

 ested in l>ees. (i»id 7 (?<) not douttt that within a few 

 years it will he a rare thino to find a fniit-ijitarer who 

 does not heep honey-hees. \\\<} prime (Object being to 

 employ beesin cai-rying pollen fi-tun one blossom to 

 anothei- in the fields of small fruits as well as Cor 

 1 he larm- fruil>. 



Mr. F. .\. Monilt. of Andrew, 

 lies as follows: 



la., testi- 



In those great greenhouses near Boston, where 

 early cucumliers are grown, it is always necessary 

 to liave one or two hives of bees inside to fertilize 

 the fiowers. No bees, no cucumbers, unless men 

 gx) around with a brush and dust the pollen from 

 one flower to another. 



Mr. J. F. Becker, of Morgansville. N. J., 

 has eight greenhouses where he grows en- 

 cumbers, and. attached to each one of them, 

 with an entrance on the inside as well as 

 outside, he has two colonies of bees. He 

 found that, without them, he could not suc- 

 cessfully fertilize the blossoms of the vines, 

 and, consequently, could get no cucumbers. 

 With tluMU he is entiiely successful in grow- 

 ing the finest of cucumbers for the early 



