462 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



It is pleasant to have our popular beliefs endorsed by scientists. 

 Over the world the popular belief has been that the bumble-bee was 

 needed to secure a crop of clover seed. Prof. Chas. W. Burkett 

 last year covered patches of clover heads six feet square with 

 mosquito netting. He gives the results as follows: 



The result showing the number of seeds in each loo heads waR 

 as follows: First crop, covered, o; uncovered, lo. Second crop, 

 covered, 2; uncovered, 612. Near bumble-bees' nest 2,300. Of 

 course all insects were excluded, but the experiment proves that 

 insects are necessary, and we know that bumble-bees are the prin- 

 cipal workers in the pollination of clover blossoms. So the old 

 theory still holds. 



The careful experiments of Prof. Waite and others at the ex- 

 periment stations show that the honey-bee is quite as essential for 

 the perfect pollination of most of our fruits as the bumble-bee is in 

 the clover fields. In Germany the bumble-bee is protected by legal 

 enactments. With us every nest is destroyed at once after dis- 

 covery. — Prof. J. L. Budd, Horticulturist, Iowa Ag. College. 



One of the laws of nature is that the crossing of races produces 

 ofifspring with greater vigor, endurance and facility of reproduction. 



Fruits succeed better when the pollen which fertilizes the pistil 

 comes from some other blossom; and the insects are entrusted with 

 the mission of transporting this pollen from one blossom to an- 

 other while gathering it for their own use. In some plants, fertiliza- 

 tion would have been impossible without the aid of insects. For 

 instance, some plants, such as willows, are dioecious, having their 

 male organs on one tree and their female organs on another. * * 

 * * If those horticulturists who regard the bee as an enemy 

 could exterminate the race, they would act with as little wisdom as 

 those who attempt to banish from their inhospitable premises every 

 insectivorous bird which helps itself to a small part of the abund- 

 ance it has aided in producing. By making judicious efforts early 

 in the spring to entrap the mother-wasps and hornets, which alone 

 survive the winter, an effectual blow may be struck at some of the 

 worst pests of the orchard and garden. In Europe, those engaged 

 extensively in the cultivation of fruit often pay a small sum in the 

 spring for all wasps and hornets destroyed in their vicinity. — 

 Langstroth on the Honey-Bee as revised by Dadant. 



Bees are not only florists, they are fruit producers. Our 

 orchard and fruit crops and leguminous seeds, constituting together 

 no inconsiderable fraction of human food, are very largely depend- 

 ent upon insect agency, and the fee paid for professional attendance 



