ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



3/ 



these meetings I have spent the happiest 

 moments of mj- Ufe. I hope that the 

 meeting will be well attended and the 

 interest good, as I will expect to read 

 the report. 



"With best wishes, I am, 



"Very truly yours, 

 -To . (signed) "H. S. DUBY. 



"The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



"James A. Stone. Secretary, 

 "Springfield, 111." 



Pres. Baxter — What is your further 

 pleasure? 



Mr. Moore — Mrs. Duby is ill, I under- 

 stand according- to that letter. Mr. 

 Chairman, I move that the Secretary 

 be instructed to write to Mr. Duby ex- 

 tending the sympathy of this Associa- 

 tion to them, and hope for the speedy 

 recovery of Mrs. Duby. 



Motion seconded and carried. 



(The Secretary did as instructed.) 



Mr. Baxter — What time will we meet 

 tonight? 



Pres. Baxter — 8 o'clock. 



Mr. Kelley — I move that we adjourn 

 until eight o'clock this evening. 



Motion seconded and carried. 



Meeting convened at eight o'clock, 

 President Baxter in the Chair. 



Evening Session. 



Pres. Baxter — Dr. Burton N. Gates 

 will give us a lecture on the Signific- 

 ance of Bees in the Fruit Orchard, with 

 lantern slides. 



The Significance of Bees In the Fruit 

 Orchard, 



By Dr. Burton N. Gates (See his picture 

 as Pres. of the Naiiional Bee-Keepers' 

 Assn.). Associate Professor of Bee- 

 Keeping, the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural College, Amherst. 



Read before the Illirois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. 



Springfield, November 19, 1914. 

 The subject of bees as utilized by horti- 

 culturists and their value in the setting 

 of fruit has been frequently discussed. It 

 has many phases. I do not need to call 

 your attention to the mechanism where- 

 by the setting of the fruit is accom- 

 plished. This is a botanical subject and 

 one which for years and perhaps cen- 

 turies has been studied. That bees are 

 agents in the transportation of pollen is 

 not to be 'luestioned. 1 could cite many 

 writers, among them Darwin and MuUer, 

 eminent autliorities upon this subject. 



Thej', with others. haVc delineated the 

 intricacies of the mechani.sms which have 

 the pollen jr which receive it as well as 

 contrivances sc constructed in some in- 

 stances as to make sure that the pollen 

 is deposited nron the visiting insect, as 

 a honey bee, fly or other insect. It may 

 be assumed, however, that bees are un- 

 deniably the most important agents of 

 the transportation of pollen in the case 

 of most of our fruits and vegetables. 



There is another phase to the problem. 

 It is a more economic one and would 

 consider the value derived from the honey 

 bee. as well as the need for bees in fruit 

 setting. This is the particular feature 

 of the problem which I wish to present 

 to you. Therein I will attempt to bring 

 out perhaps a new point of view, the 

 most significant of the importance of bees 

 in fruit culture 



It should not be lost sight of, however, 

 that this field of the biology of bees and 

 plants, the relationship of honey bees to 

 horticulture, is somewhat treacherous, 

 and, while it has been worked, as I say. 

 for years, and, while there is a vast ac- 

 cumulation 3f information concerning the 

 methods by which various plants are 

 pollinated, yet, today there is consider- 

 able dispute or, rather, I should say. 

 question as to the acutal need of honey 

 bees or of other insects in setting some 

 of our more important fruits and vege- 

 tables. It has been argued that apples, 

 for instance, may be wind pollinated; 

 that is, the pollen may be transported by 

 the agency of the w^ind. This, according 

 to the best evidence available, should not 

 be regarded as a proven fact; on the 

 contrary, the best evidence is to the 

 effect that few apples, if any. are ever 

 set by wind-transported pollen. Writers 

 are also endeavoring to take the poetry 

 out of the well grounded belief in insects 

 as pollen bearers and the importance of 

 cross fertilization, in an attempt to show 

 that many fruits heretofore fully self- 

 sterile are actually self-fertile. I present, 

 however, what little evidence has been 

 brought forth, bearing upon self-sterility. 

 Some apples, for instance, are known to 

 be partially or perhaps wholly self-fertile, 

 but even then the importance of the in- 

 sect is not depreciated. 



Summarily, however, with full realiza- 

 tion of these uncertainties, I am inclined 

 to believe that for years to come, at least, 

 the well founded assumption that bees 

 are to a greater or less extent of service 

 to the horticulturist will persist. 



From this standpoint, therefore, and 

 with full realization that future discov- 



