1910 



(iLi:AXIX(iS IX liKK (. TLTriu-: 



I'A 



THE AGENCY OF BEES IN FERTILIZING 

 PLANTS BY MINGLING THE POLLEN. 



BY E. E. ROOT. 



[The following: is a portion of a chapter on pollen, 

 in the new edition of the A B (" and X Y Z of Bee 

 Culture, now in the pres.s. A.s it .show.s the inti- 

 mate relation between bee.s and flower.s we repro- 

 duce it in these paees at this time so that our read- 

 ers may .see and verily some of the wonderful things 

 in nature. It is imi)ortant. too, that the bee-keei>er 

 be informed as to the intimate relation between his 

 industry and that of fruit-growine. .Some fruit- 

 growers and farmers are so ignorant that they im- 

 agine their neighljors" bees are robbing their tlow- 

 er.s. They are just the kind of ohaijs who si>ray 

 when their trees are in full bloom. A knowledge 

 of the facts, as \vell as a little diplomacy, is needed 

 to get such men to see that, so far from killing the 

 bees (the goose that lays the golden eggsi. they 

 should welcome them as their hext friendx. The 

 facts are gleaned largely from Fletcher and ( 'he- 

 shire. The latter appears to have drawn to some 

 extent from Darwin and Gray. — Kd.J 



Before we consider the woiiderftil little 

 schemes of nature to bring al)oiit tlie work 

 of cross-fertilization, it will be necessary 1o 

 give a few of the common terms emi)loye(l 

 in botany to designate the different parts of 

 the tiower. In the accomi)anying illustra- 

 tion we liave a case of what is known as the 

 hermai)hrodite tiower, that is to say, a per- 

 fect tiower that is capable of self-ferliliza- 

 tion. In most of the si)ecimens that we 

 show, we shall ])resent deviations from the 

 perfect tiower. In most flowers we have the 

 male and female organs, the latter re]>re- 

 sented by what is known as the pistil at the 

 to)) of which is a receptive surface calle<i 

 the stigma. Sometimes tliere is a ttibe con- 

 necting the stigma with the ovary. 'I'his 

 is called tiie style. The male organs are 

 designated by the name of anthers. Tliese 

 contain little granides of i)owder known as 

 jiollen. Around the male and female or- 

 gans are what is known as the coro!l-a. con- 



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—From F.etchi 



— From Fletrhpr. 



sistingof leaves of various colors, and out- 

 side of tiiese is the calyx, tisiially green. 

 The stem that sui)])orts tlie anther is called 

 the filament. Tlie nectaries are usually lo- 

 cateil at the base of the pistil or the bottom 

 of the tiower as at B. The main jiortion of 

 the pistil called the ovary is what consti- 

 tutes the embryo fruit. In order that this 

 may develop, the i)ollen from A must be 

 conveyed in some manner to the surface of 

 the stigma as at (". The fertilizing lluid 

 passes downward, causing the fruit to de- 

 veloj). It woidd i)e well to hear in minti 

 these botanical terms in the description 

 which follows in order to understand how 

 beautiful and jjerfeet is the design of nature 

 in bringing about cross-))ollination. 



Something should be said regarding the 

 evident intent of nature to bring about 

 crossing between the si)ecies both in the 

 animal and the vegetable kingdom. Among 

 animals, inbreeding has a strong tendency 

 to weaken ofTsi)ring. Tlie same i)rincii)le 

 holds true to a certain extent among i)lants. 

 •'A study of the devices jjiovided l)y na- 

 ture to iiisure cross-fertilization,"' says Dr. 

 Fletcher, forms one of the most charming 

 branches of the whole study of botany." 

 The great naturalist Charles Darwin is re- 

 corded as saying that the general princii)le 

 can be seen "running through all branches 

 of the aninud and vegetable kingdom. Al- 

 th.)ugh some i)laiits. he says, can be and 

 are fertilizeil by their own i)()llen, it is al- 

 ways of greater l)enetit to their descendants 

 if the Howers be fertilized by pollen from 

 other dowers of the same kind growing u])- 

 on other i)lants, Darwin summed up his 

 observations with the statement that '"X^a- 

 ture afihors per])etual self-fertilization." 



