THE HONEYBEE HAMBLETON 297 



of their natural nesting sites. Rail fences which were so difficult to 

 keep clean of vegetation afforded ideal places for these insects to nest. 

 The picturesque rail fences have been replaced largely by well-kept 

 wire fences, thus driving the pollinating insects farther and farther 

 away from the crops which the farmer can grow profitably only when 

 these insects are within flying range of his fields. 



Forest and brush fires have further decimated our population of 

 beneficial insects. The tremendous increase in the use of arsenicals is 

 taking a huge toll of native bees, as well as of honeybees, whose 

 essential help we are only now beginning to appreciate. 



The honeybee, the most numerous of all pollinating insects, is not 

 native to the United States. It was brought to this country by the 

 early settlers and became known to the Indians as the "white man's 

 fly." It is now thoroughly at home in its new habitat. Swarms that 

 escape from commercial apiaries make their way very nicely in the 

 protection of a hollow tree or in the hollow pillars of our front porches, 

 a place, incidently, where they are not always welcome. 



The honeybee, being exclusively a flower-visiting insect, does its 

 share in pollination. It is estimated that honeybees are responsible 

 for over 80 percent of all pollination effected. When swarms of bees 

 escape and go to the woods they are subject to the same hazards as 

 the native bees. Consequently their population in a wild or native 

 state is not building up. This leaves the only stable source of pollinat- 

 ing insects in the hands of beekeepers. 



The decline in seed and fruit production is serious in those crops 

 that require insect pollination. Utah at one time was our principal 

 alfalfa-seed-producing State. In its best year, 1925, Utah produced 

 close to 25 million pounds of alfalfa seed. This figure has fallen 

 steadily until the current annual production is less than 4 million 

 pounds. Red clover and other legumes are in the same plight. A 

 good stand of red clover as we see it in almost any locality carries 

 enough blossoms to produce 10 or 11 bushels of seed per acre. The 

 average production for the country is 0.9 of a bushel. Pollination is 

 inadequate to say the least. 



Pollinating insects have certain human characteristics. They will 

 not fly farther for food than they have to and always select the richest 

 and best source. Sweetclover is a favorite food plant of honeybees 

 and of most other pollinating insects. It secretes an abundance of 

 rich nectar. The flowers are small and the bees can easily obtain 

 nectar and pollen from them. In contrast, it is more difficult for bees 

 to obtain pollen from the alfalfa blossom, and ordinarily it does not 

 produce so much nectar as does sweetclover. When fields of the two 

 plants are grown in the same locality, the bees will work on the sweet- 

 clover in preference to the alfalfa. This preference is so conspicuous 

 that for a given acreage there may be 1,000 bees on the sweetclover 



