THE INFLUENCE OF BEES ON CROPS. 269 



perpetuate; who are the conjugating and officiating priests, and 

 how the contracting parties faithfully carry out their marriage 

 vow of for better or for worse, only when Nature performs these cere- 

 monies it is all better and no worse ; especially is it so when man 

 has taken in hand the higher development of certain varieties of 

 plant life to be more adapted to his wants and needs. 



In the higher members of the plant-world there is a very 

 great difference between pollen cells and the ovules (little eggs) 

 that are joined to form new individuals. The former of these is 

 smaller than the latter, and more active — it is the male ; and the 

 latter, of course, is larger than the former, is composed of richer 

 matter, and is passive — it is the female. From the nature of these 

 ovules, these passive eggs, they cannot become seed or plants until 

 they are united with and fertilised by an active or live pollen 

 grain. The essential organs in blossoms known as anthers contain 

 these active cells, the cells of life. The pistillate organs contain 

 the passive cells, the cells of matter. The pistil in apples, pears, 

 or other fruit blossoms is the bride, the stamens seen in blooms 

 of like trees are the bridegrooms, and the honey-bee isi the licensed 

 officiating priest who is to perform the connubial ceremony. Let 

 us for a. while watch these officials of Nature carry out some of their 

 highly important duties. Bearing in mind, whilst so watching, 

 the table of kindred and affinity wherein it is stated a man may 

 not marry his grandmother or a woman her grandfather, etc., and 

 note how these insects, without a written law, are never parties 

 to close or blood relations intermarrying; neither does their natural 

 instinct permit them to perform unnatural alliances. They will 

 not attempt to marry an orange to an apple, or a pea with a pump- 

 kin, or a pear with a cherry, and so on; neither does Nature per- 

 mit them to marry the male of a blossom with a female of the same 

 bloom. Such alliances in the higher plants are repugnant to all 

 concerned. Nature's motto in the vegetable kingdom, as well as 

 in the animal, is, especially when aided by the intelligent hand 

 of man, "upward and onwai'd. If the pollen of a blossom were 

 transmitted to the carpels of the same, the result would be degra- 

 dation, and the loss of some of the choicest varieties of fruit and 

 vegetables we now raise from seed. 



The ovary is composed of one or more carpels. The ovary 

 of an apple bloom has five such carpels. In the mature fruit these 

 are termed the core. 



In the early spring mornings, when the bees issue forth to go 

 in quest of stores, the first thing they gather is pollen. It is the 



