CHAPTER VI 



SOME BEE LORE 



" The swarthy bee is a buccaneer, 

 A burly velveted rover, 

 Who loves the booming wind in his ear, 

 As he sails the seas of clover. 



" His flimsy sails abroad on the wind 

 Are shivered with fairy thunder; 

 On a line that sings to the light of his wings, 

 He makes for the lands of wonder." 



Every gardener should be a bee-keeper, and every 

 garden should have its hive of bees, for in all matters 

 of fruit culture it has been abundantly proved that 

 we are absolutely dependent on the bees for our fruit 

 crops. Everyone who grows fruit knows that there 

 are some trees and bushes that may be furnished 

 with a wealth of blossom which from some cause 

 fails to set, and this failure is invariably attributed 

 to frost or cold winds during the flowering period. 



But it often happens that neither of these causes 

 is responsible, and much investigation has been given 

 to the subject of late years, both in this country 

 and in America. 



And the result of these observations shows us 

 that the primary cause for fruit blossom failing to 

 set, is very often due to the fact that some varieties 

 bear self-sterile flowers, that is to say, flowers 

 incapable of being fertilised with their own pollen. 



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