1917 



AMERICAN BFF. JOURNAL 



15 



should be fertilized by its own pollen." 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, in 1709, made 

 this statement: "No plant fertilizes 

 itself, through many generations." This 

 conclusion was drawn from his experi- 

 ments. Darwin's first work in connec- 

 tion with the Leguminos:e (1858) indi- 

 cated that seeds were not produced as 

 abundantly where the insects were ex- 

 cluded from flowers by means of a net, 

 and in his work on the "Fertilization 

 of Orchids," he says : " Nature tells us 

 in the most emphatic manner that she 

 abhors perpetual self-fertilization ;" a 

 statement too strong because there are 

 many plants which continuously ferti- 

 lize themselves. 



Let us take a few illustrations to 

 show how important bees are to plants 

 in the production of seed. 



We may use the red clover as an 

 illustration. Darwin estimated that 100 

 heads of red clover bear about 2720 

 seeds. He covered 100 heads to keep 

 bees out and found that no seeds were 

 produced. He asserted that the clover 

 could not fertilize itself. Some experi- 

 ments made at Ames under my direc- 

 tion by Mr. H. S. Coe, show this con- 

 clusively. Mr. Coe took pollen, placed 

 it on the stigma of the same flower, 

 and in no case did seed set. 



In another experiment the pollen 

 was taken from another flower of the 

 same plant and placed on the stigma, 

 with the result that no seed was 

 formed. When, however, the pollen is 

 brought from another plant and placed 

 .on the stigma, seed is produced. For 

 four seasons experiments were made 

 at Ames with the honeybee as follows : 



We placed a swarm in a cage con- 

 taining red clover. The cage was made 

 of wire netting, large enough to ex- 

 clude all other bees and large insects, 

 permitting the honeybee to go out and 

 in. Later the seed was harvested. The 

 results are interesting as showing the 

 importance of the honeybee in the 

 production of clover seed. 



Year 



1911. 



1915. 



PRECIPITATION, 

 .lune July Aug. 



.2.05 

 .2.58 



.61 



7.13 



3.28 

 3.37 



Seeds 

 per head 

 37.2 

 18.79 



THE EDITOR ADDRESSING THE EASTERN NEW YORK BEEKEEPERS AT THE 

 APIARY OF W. D. WRIGHT 



A check cage of smaller size and 

 near the bee-cage, but without bees, 

 produced almost no seed. A few seeds 

 were found in some of the clover 

 heads, but we thought the seed in these 

 heads might have been caused by some 

 small creeping insect conveying the 

 pollen from another plant. 



Fields of red clover to which honey- 

 bees, bumblebees and other insects had 

 access had an abundance of seed. 



These experiments, it seems to me, 

 should convince the skeptic that bees 

 are important in the pollination of the 

 red clover. 



The strawberry is another plant 

 where insects are necessary to produce 

 good fruit. In some varieties, the 

 staminate and pistillate flowers are 

 borne on different plants. I think it 

 was Prof. Waugh who conducted an 

 experiment to determine whether the 



RESIDENCE OF W. D. WRIGHT. OF ALTAMONT. N. V. 



wind could carry the pollen. He ex- 

 posed gelatin plates which should con- 

 tain the pollen grains if carried by the 

 wind. In not a single case did he find 

 the pollen grains of the strawberry. 

 The regular pollinators of the straw- 

 berry are honeybees and other small 

 bees. 



The pollination of the grape is 

 brought about by bees, the wild grape 

 of Iowa woods is dia-cious. Many of 

 the cultivated grapes are sterile when 

 pollinated with their own pollen. Prof. 

 Beach, who conducted some extensive 

 experiments says: "Such kinds, when 

 they are self-pollinated only, bear no 

 fruit or produce more or less imper- 

 fectly filled clusters." " An examina- 

 tion of the results which are summar- 

 ized in Table III shows that Amina 

 gave scarcely any fruit when fertilized 

 with the imperfectly self-fertile sorts, 

 Brighton and Wyoming, but fruited 

 freely when fertilized with the self-fer- 

 tile sorts, Niagara, Worden and Cataw- 

 ba. Barry gave no fruit when polli- 

 nated with either Black Eagle or Her, 

 cules, but mixed vineyards were well 

 filled with fruit." " In previous experi- 

 ments varieties of grapes which are 

 self-sterile or nearly so have shown 

 about as little ability to fertilize other 

 self-sterile sorts as they have for ferti- 

 lizing themselves. In the tests here 

 reported they have usually likewise 

 failed to fertilize self-fertile varieties. 

 Indications are seen, however, that the 

 pollen in some instances is not alto- 

 gether important, but that its own pis- 

 tils are less congenial than those of 

 some other varieties. Further investi- 

 gation is needed to learn whether the 

 self-fertility arises because the pollen is 

 deficient in amount, or is not well de- 

 veloped, or is uncongenial to its own 

 variety." 



Every gardener knows that bees are 

 important in pollinating the cucumber. 

 It is a common practice to have bees 

 in the cucumber house. Very few 

 cucumbers would set without bees. 



The tomato is sometimes self-polli- 

 nated, but bees are certainly an impor- 

 tant factor in producing good fruit 



