CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. « 5A) 
good crop, and the permanence of the best varieties of fruit: Gardeners have 
always known that bees fertilize squash, melon, and cucumber flowers, by con- 
veying the pollen from one plant to another, thus insuring not only the complete 
fertilization of the seed by the male pollen and improving the fruit, but actually 
causing the production of more squashes, melons, and cucumbers, by causing 
certain flowers to set that otherwise would have dropped to the ground sterile and 
useless. This has been proved by fertilizing the flowers by hand; a very large, indeed 
an unnaturally abundant crop being thus obtained. It has been noticed by a few, 
though the many have not appreciated the fact, that fruit trees are more productive 
when a swarm of bees is placed among them, for when the bees have been removed by 
disease or other means, the fruit crop has diminished. 
In answer to the question whether bees are in any way injurious to fruit or lessen 
the quality or quantity, I would reply that all the evidence given by botanists and 
zoblogists, who have specially studied this subject, shows that bees improve the quality 
and tend to increase the quantity of the fruit. They aid in the fertilization of flowers, 
thus preventing the occurrence of sterile flowers, and, by more thoroughly fertilizing 
flowers already perfect, render the production of sound and well-developed fruit more 
sure. Many botanists think if it were not for bees and other insects, (such as certain 
two-winged flies, moths, wasps, &c.,) many plants would not fruit atail. * * * 
It is alleged that bees do injury in scme way by extracting the honey from flowers. 
What is the use in nature of honey? The best observers will tell you thatit is secreted 
by the plant for the very purpose of attracting bees to the flower; otherwise it is of no 
use to the flower or fruit. 
At the Apiarian General Convention, held at Stuttgardt, in Wurtemberg, in Septem- 
ber, 1858, the subject of honey-yielding crops being under discussion, the celebrated © 
pomologist, Professor Lucas, one of the directors of the Hohenheim Institute, alluding 
to the prejudice that the bee injures the fruit by its visits to the flowers, said: “Of 
more importance, however, is the improved management of our fruit trees. Here the 
interests of the horticulturist and the bee-keeper combine and run parallel. A judicious 
pruning of our fruit will cause them to blossom more freely and yield honey more 
plentifully. I would urge attention to this on those more particularly who are both 
fruit-growers and bee-keepers. A careful and observant bee-keeper at Potsdam writes 
to me that his trees yield decidedly larger crops since he has established an apiary i his 
orchard, and the annwal crop is now more certain and regular than before, though his trees 
had always received due attention.” 
Some years ago, a wealthy lady in Germany established a green-house, at considera- 
ble cost, and stocked it with a great variety of choice native and exotic fruit trees, 
expecting in due time to have remunerating crops. Time passed, and annually there 
was a superabundance of blossoms, with only very little fruit. Various plans were 
devised and adopted to bring the trees to bearing, but without success, till it was 
suggested that the blossoms needed fertilization, and that by means of the bees the 
needed work could be efiected. A hive of honey-gatherers was introduced next season ; 
the remedy was efiectual; there was no longer any difficulty in producing crops there. 
The bees distributed the pollen, and the setting of the fruit followed naturally. 
Mr. A. J. Cook, secretary of the Michigan Bee-Keepers’ Association, 
recommends placing the hives in a grove or orchard, about four inches 
from the ground, the stand projecting some distance in front, with an 
inclining board reaching from this to the ground. If the hive is placed 
ten to twenty feet high, as it sometimes is, the heavily-laden bee, when 
“homeward bound” in a high wind, cannot so readily reach it, and is 
more ‘exposed to the king-bird, which darts from its perch on the tree 
with unerring certainty on the baffled bees. Mr. J. H. Townley, of Michi- 
gan, states that the general culture of the Alsike clover, distributed by 
the Department of Agriculture, which combines the good qualities of 
the red clover for hay and pasture with those of white clover for bees, 
will add immensely to the product of honey. This plant delights in a 
moist, rich soil, and shows very strikingly the beneficial effects of 
plaster. 
1. THe AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL ANNUAL, for 1871. A farmer’s year-book, exhibiting 
progress in agricultural theory and practice, and a guide to present and future la- 
bors. Illustrated. 12 mo., pp. 152. New York: Orange Judd & Co. 
2. THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL ANNUAL, for 1871. A year-book of horticultural pro- 
gress for the professional and amateur gardener, fruit-grower, and florist. Dlustrated. 
12. mo., pp. 152. New York: Orange Judd & Co. 
These little works are handsomely printed and illustrated and filled 
