694 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Nov., 1909. 



the blossom under the influence of a secretion from glands in the anatomx 

 of the bee is changed into the honey as found in the combs of the hive. 

 Nature provides the nectar in the flower to attract the bee. To get at the 

 nectar the bee has to pass over the anthers, and the pollen grains adhere 

 to the many hairs covering its body ; in visiting the next flower some of this 

 pollen falls on the stigma, and thus fertilizes the blossom, even if the bee 

 is not gathering pollen. In gathering pollen it sweeps together the pollen 

 grains with its moistened tongue, nips it off the tongue with the front pair 

 of legs, passes it on to the second pair of legs, and finallv on to the third 

 pair, where it lodges on what is called the pollen basket, a covering of 

 stiff hair below the upper joint. In this performance pollen grains become 

 scattered all over the body of the bee, and as it has to visit many blossoms 

 before it gets the amount it can carry, and passes over the stigma of ever\ 

 flower, pollination is alwavs brought about. If the bee visited the blossoms 

 of different species of plants in the same excursion, there could be no cross 

 fertilization, because strawberry pollen, for instance, could not fertilize 

 peach blossom. It is, however, a well known fact that a bee during each 

 trip confines itself to one species of plant, whether in search of nectar or 

 pollen, and a mixture of pollen is never found in any bee's load as it enters 

 the hive. Plants of the same species, but of cUfferent varieties, are, how- 

 ever, worked over on the same trip, anil it is largelv due to this that seed- 

 ling fruit trees seldom come true to name, and that there are occasionally 

 crosses of various vegetnbles. 



,\ ORCHARD APIARV. 



In America, the importance of bees in fertilizing flowers is fully recog- 

 nised. In the large greenhouses near Boston, where early cucumbers are 

 grown, one or two hives of bees are always inside to pollinate the blossoms, 

 otherwise there would be no cucumljers unless men went round with brushes 

 to carry the pollen from blossom to blossom. At Marengo, in Illinois, lives 

 one of the foremost beekeepers of the United States. All round his apiary 

 gieat quantities of cucumbers are grown for ])ickling purposes. They are 

 picked when 2 to 3 inches long, and sold to the pickle factory. To grow 



