POLLEN. 



340 



I^OLLEN. 



leaves, branches, and even lough wood, of 

 the tiimk of the tree, intently smelling and 

 sniffing at every part, nntil it linds jnst 

 where the coveted treasnre is located. Aft- 

 er it has dived deep into one blossom, and 

 tasted the nectar, it knows pretty well 

 where to look next time. 



The toneh-me-not has learned, by ages of 

 experiment, to prodnce a bright orange flow- 

 er, to secrete honey in the spur, to i)lace the 

 pollen-bearing stamens at the point where 

 the bee must rub against them in getting the 

 honey, to construct those wonderful seed- 

 pods, which explode and scatter the seed far 

 and wide, just that it may reproduce and 

 multiply its species. We should judge it had 

 succeeded pretty well in a waste piece of 

 woodland near our home, for there are now 

 acres of it as high as one's head, and it is 

 quite a valuable acquisition to our apiary. 

 As nearly as we can make out, the plant has 

 much increased since the advent of the 

 Italians, as might be expected. This is 

 true of dandelions as well ;* and the large, 

 brilliant, showy blossoms that now line our 

 roadsides and waste places, instead of un- 

 sightly weeds, should remind one how much 

 an apiary of bees contributes to fulttll the 

 words of sacred prophecy: 



The wilderness and the solitary place shall beg-lad 

 for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom 

 as the rose.— Isaiah 35 : 1. 



Now, we can not positively affirm that 

 flowers were given their gaudy colors through 

 bees selecting the brightest and most con- 

 spicuous, thereby inducing such blossoms to 

 bear seed in preference to those less gaudily 

 attired, neither do we know that cherries be- 

 came red because the birds selected those 

 that showed a disposition to that color, 

 year after year, for many centuries; nor 

 can we prove that the bright plumage of male 

 birds came about in the course of time, sim- 

 ply because the females encouraged the at- 

 tentions of and showed a preference for 

 those most handsome. We can only suggest 

 that the actions of birds, bees, flowers, and 

 fruits, seem to point that way. You all 

 know how quickly we can get fancy-colored 

 flowers, yellow queen-bees, or birds of al- 

 most any shade or color, by careful selection 

 for several generations. Have not the bees 

 so colored the flowers, and birds the berries, 

 etc., although they did it all unconsciously? 



It is signiflcant that so many of the flowers 

 have a form of construction and depth cf 

 flower tube that would indicate that it had 

 adapted itself to the bee. While, of course, 



* See Dandelion. 



there are many exceptions, it appears that 

 nature caters more to the bee than to any 

 other insect. Just see liow she makes a 

 convenient doorstep or a flower tube of just 

 the right size and shape, so that the bee can 

 get the nectar which it has to offer. Cheshire 

 has pointed out that so intimate and so per- 

 fect is the relation between the flowers ;uid 

 the honey-bees that there would be no ad- 

 vantiige in breeding larger bees or of chang- 

 ing their general structure, because to do so 

 would nece^^sitate changing practically the 

 whole of the floral kingdom. While it un- 

 doubtedly would be an advantage to breed 

 bees with longer :ongues, that advantage 

 would be manifest only in the case of red 

 clover, and apparently old Dame Nature has 

 designed that the common bumble-bee shall 

 perform the work here that can not fidly be 

 accomplished by the honey-bee. It should 

 be mentioned, however, that the honey-bee 

 does gather quite a little nectar from the red 

 clover, and of course accomplishes to a con- 

 siderable degree the work of cross- fertiliza- 

 tion. 



NECESSITY OF POLLEN FOR BllOOD- 

 REARING. 



We are interested about pollen, because / 

 bees can not rear brood without either that 

 or some substitute for it. Bees kept in 

 confinement, and fed on pure sugar and 

 pure water, will thrive and void little 

 or no excrement; but as soon as pollen, 

 or food containing the farinaceous ele- 

 ment, is given them, their bodies will 

 become distended ; and instead of a trans- 

 parent fluid they will void a liquid of a 

 elarkish tint which will soil their hives and 

 emit quite an unpleasant smell. We once 

 kept about 3(K) bees in a cage with a ciueen, 

 an el gave them only pure sugar anel water. 

 They built comb, and seemed quite content- 

 ed, the cage emitting no smell whatever. In 

 order to start brood-rearing we gave them 

 some sugnr canely containing flour, anel they 

 soon became uneasy and tried in vain to get 

 out. At this time the cage gave off quite an 

 unpleasant smell, and so they were alloweel to 

 fly. Had the pollen element not been given 

 them, it is probable they could have endured 

 the confinement a month or more. We once 

 wintered a fair colony of bees on stores of 

 pure sugar syrup, and when they flew in the 

 spring there was no perceptible spot on the 

 white snow about their hives. They had no 

 pollen, and so, of course, no brooel-rearing 

 could go on without it. A few years ago we 

 maele some experiments with bees confined 



