342 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAT. SOCIETY. 



ties, I have known hundreds of bees on fruit blossoms, while I 

 could not find a sing-le other insect. Thus we see that the honey 

 bees are exceedingly important in the economy ot vegetable growth 

 and fruitage, especially of all such plants as blossom earlj' in the 

 season. 



We have all noticed how much more common our flowers are in 

 autumn than in springtime. In autumn we gather the aster and 

 golden rod bj- armfuls. In May our flowers demand a search, 

 while in California the fields in January and February are one sea 

 of blossoms. The mild California winters do not kill the insects. 

 There a profusion of bloom will receive service from the so-called 

 marriage priests, and a profusion of seed will greet the coming 

 spring time. Thus our climate acts upon the insect, and we under- 

 stand why our peculiar flora has developed. Yet, notwithstanding 

 the admirable demonstration of the great master, Darwin, and the 

 observations and practice of a few of our intellig"ent, practical men, 

 the great mass of our farmers are either ignorant or indifferent as 

 to this matter, and so to the important practical considerations 

 which wait upon it. This is very evident, as it appears from the 

 fact that many legislators when called upon to pass laws to protect 

 the bees, urge that fruit growers had interests as well as bee men, 

 not seeming to know that one of the greatest of these interests 

 rested with the very bees for which protection was asked. 



If fruit growers and farmers understood the botanical structure 

 of fruit blossoius thoroughl}^ they would recognize more readily 

 the agency of bees in the fertilization of blossoms. Many of us are 

 familiar with these things, but by far the greater number know or 

 think little about them, and it is for the good of the latter class 

 that I write this. If, for instance, we take the blossom of the cherry 

 as an illustration, we find it is composed of the calyx or outer cov- 

 ering of the bud; iinmediately inside of this, comes the corolla with 

 its several petals of white. Now, when this flower is opened and 

 spread out in all its beauty and natural perfection before us, we 

 notice in the center numerous small hair-like projections called 

 stamens, and exactlj^ in the center the pistil, which terminates in a 

 small bulb at the bottom which is to become the fruit. Now, the 

 numerous stamens produce pollen, which is inclosed in minute 

 anthers at the head of the stamens and is the fertilizing matter 

 which must be brought in contact with the stigma or top of the 

 pistil. Thus the ovules or seed vessels are fertilized, or impreg- 

 nated, and develop into perfect fruit. 



One of the agencies for the proper distribution of pollen is the 

 wind; but, sometimes, if we happen to have a few still days during 

 the blossoming period, this would be inadequate to the designed 

 purpose. So natixre has placed a little drop of sweet deep down in 

 in the flower at the base of the stamen, and our little friend,the bee, 

 comes flitting about in search of nectar for his future winter stores , 

 and discovering the tempting morsel he literally stands on his head 

 in an effort to reach it, and in so doing his back becomes covered 

 with pollen from the stamens, and as he reaches down into the 

 flower his back is brought is direct contact with the pistil of the 



