392 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mine all had plenty of stores to winter upon when put away in their 

 winter quarters, and at this writing are very quiet and show no sigus of 

 diarrhoea. May our horticulturists combine bees and fruit more in the 

 future. 



'•But June came, and with it the sunshine; 



It came as if meaning to stay; 

 The clover blossoms nod to the breezes, 



The busy bees working away 

 Bring joy to the hearts of their keepers, 



And teach us to never despair; 

 For He who gives all of our blessings. 

 Knows how to, and when to, and where." 



BEES AS FERTILIZERS. 



A. J. COOK, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MICH. 



Read at the Association for the Advancement of Agricultural Science, Washington, 



D. C. 



Darwin's memorable researches and generalizations in relation to the 

 fertilization and cross-fertilization of plants through the agency of 

 insects are not the least of his many valuable scientific discoveries, nor, 

 yet, are they least in their bearings on economic questions. His classic 

 investigations settled the question of the great value of insects in secur- 

 ing full fruitage to many of our most valuable fruits and vegetables. 

 Since Darwin, many scientists have by crucial tests and experiments 

 abundantly confirmed his conclusions. Our more intelligent, practical 

 men have also made significant observations. They note a scarcity of 

 insect visits to the blossoms of the first crop of red clover, and, also, its 

 failure to bear seed. The alsike clover is freely visited in early June by 

 the honey-bee and bears a full crop of seed. In New Zealand, the red 

 clover failed to seed at all seasons, and there was a conspicuous absence 

 of insects upon the blossoms, both early and late. This led to the impor- 

 tation of bumble-bees from England, to the earth's very limit, and now 

 the New Zealand farmer produces clover seed. Gardeners keep bees to-day 

 that their vegetables may fruit and seed more liberally. Even the pro- 

 ducers of flower-seeds in our cities keep bees in their greenhouses, as they 

 find this the easiest and cheapest method to secure that more perfect fer- 

 tilization upon which their profits depend. Secretary Farnsworth, of the 

 Ohio Horticultural Society, could account for a very meager crop of fruit 

 a few years since, in his vicinity, after a profusion of bloom, only through 

 lack of pollenization. The bees had nearly all died off the previous 

 winter. I have often noted the fact, that, if we have rain and cold all 

 during the fruit bloom, as we did in the spring of 1890, even trees that 

 bloom fully are almost sure to bear as sparingly. 



Darwin's researches considered insects as a whole, and it is true that all 

 insects that visit flowers, either for nectar or pollen, do valuable service 

 in this work of pollenization. Thus many of the hymenoptera, diptera 

 and coleoptera, and not a few lepidoptera, are our ever ready helpers as 

 pollenizers. Yet, early in the season in our northern latitudes, most 

 insects are scarce. The severe winters so thin their numbers that we 

 find barely one, whereas, we will find hundreds in late summer and early 



