82 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE, 
experiment in this direction at Cornell (Lodeman, Bulle- 
tin 96) will indicate some of the perverseness of these 
insects : 
‘“Much has been written regarding the value of bees 
in greenhouses. It is said that all hand-pollinations may 
be dispensed with if desired, as the bees will work among 
the blossoms, and thus cause the fruit to set. 
‘‘During November, 1893, a hive of bees was received, 
and on the 23rd day of the month they were set free in 
the brightest of all the station houses. The hive was 
placed at the south end of the house, and the bees were 
kept constantly supplied with proper food. At this time 
the house was filled with tomato plants in full bloom, and 
it was hoped the bees would work among them so that 
the tedious but very necessary hand-pollination of the 
flowers need no longer be practiced. The bees evidently 
did not catch the idea, however, for if there was one 
place in the house which they did not visit it was the 
tomato blossom. They spent most of their time in bump- 
ing their heads against the glass sides and roof of the 
house, and at every opportunity, when the ventilators 
were raised a little, they took pains to pass through 
them, even though the mercury stood far below the 
freezing point out of doors. The bees which did not 
succeed in finding the ventilators continued to fly against 
the glass, leaving it only for the purpose of withdrawing 
far enough to get a start for a fresh attack. In this way 
the busy bee finally wore herself out, and, in the course 
of three weeks, those less ambitious individuals which did 
not fly heavenward in the friendless atmosphere of De- 
cember, were scattered as corpses along the sides of the 
house close to the glass; and thus ended the attempt to 
make these little creatures useful in midwinter. It may 
be said that bees do not like tomato flowers, but our 
specimens took no pains to find out whether they liked 
them or not. It is probable that every bee in the swarm 
went to his honeyless bourne without ever having dis- 
