220 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CL LTUKE 



Apr. 1 



PLATE X.- 



-APIARIES SHOULD BE KEPT IN ORCHARDS, AS THE BEE IS THE BEST AGENT FOR 

 CROSS-POLLINATION. 



quantities to insure cross-pollination. To 

 substantiate his statements the authors car- 

 ried on some experiments with plums, as 

 outlined by him 



To determine whether apple pollen was 

 carried through the air by the wind in suf- 

 ficient quantities to insure cross-pollination, 

 experiments were conducted in the follow- 

 ing manner. Small glass slides, one by three 

 inches, were smeared with vaseline and 

 placed at different distances and at different 

 heights from certain large trees in the or- 

 chard. In this case, two of the largest trees 

 in the orchard, the Rome Beauty and the 

 Mammoth Bldck Twig, were selected. After 

 an exposure of twenty-four hours the slides 

 were taken to the laboratory and examined 

 under the microscope. The following indi- 

 cates results obtained: 



TABLE I.— SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF POLLEN BY WIND. 



During the experiment a strong north 

 wind was blowing, and the trees were in 



the height of their blooming period, Tho 

 conclusion to be drawn from this experiment 

 is that the wind can not be relied upon as 

 an agency to transfer pollen from tree to 

 tree throughout the orchard. 



To verify our last experiment the follow- 

 ing work was carried on: A seven-year old 

 tree containing 1500 blossoms was emasculat- 

 ed and left exposed to the wind and insect 

 visitation. The object of this experiment 

 was two-fold: First, to determine if pollen 

 was transmitted through the air in sufficient 

 quantities to insure cross-pollination; sec- 

 ond, to determine if removal of the floral 

 part of the blossom would affect the visits 

 of insects. The tree operated upon was lo- 

 cated twenty feet from another tree that 

 blossomed profusely. It is generally con- 

 ceded by many experimenters that the 

 honey-bee is attracted to the blossom by the 

 inflorescence. The results obtained will be 

 a fair index as to the truth of this statement. 

 Out of the fifteen hundred blossoms emas- 

 culated, only five set fruit. During the 

 whole period that the pistils of these blos- 

 soms remained receptive, only eight bees 

 visited the tree. More than twice that num- 

 ber were seen in one half hour on the trre 

 twenty feet away. Since only a small por- 

 tion of the emasculated blossoms set fruit, 

 it is manifest that pollen is not transmitted 

 through the air in sufficient quantities to in- 



