266 



American Hee Journal 



December, l'Jt2. 



^=^m^ I 



tion of the blossom, fertilization can- 

 not take place, and the blossom must 

 wither and die instead of bearing fruit. 



SOME STRIKING EXAMPLES. 



"Where many varieties of trees are 

 mixed in an orchard there is less 

 trouble from the lack of proper pollen- 

 ation if the weather is warm and dry, 

 and the wind can carry the minute pol- 

 len grains from flower to flower; but 

 even under these conditions visits of 

 bees make the work more thorough. 

 Such ideal conditions do not always 

 exist. This is especially true where 

 the period of bloom is a long one. It 

 is during conditions not so perfect, 

 when the weather is damp and the pol- 

 len is sticky and not so easily blown 

 about that the journeying back and 

 forth of the insects plays a conspicu- 

 ous part in the production of harvests 

 of fruit or seeds. It is also apparent 

 that when certain varieties are isolated 

 from others of their kind, or when the 

 distance between them is great, or 

 they are in a direction from each other 

 that the wind cannot carry the pollen, 

 the chances of pollenation are cut off, 

 there is no setting of fruit. There have 

 been instances where insects were not 

 present, that the side of a tree from 

 which the wind was blowing the pollen 

 bore no fruit, while the other side 

 yielded abundantly, showing how the 

 bees might have aided. Careful inves- 

 tigation has demonstrated beyond a 

 doubt where the agency of the honey- 

 bee was not only essential, but abso- 

 lutely necessary, to insure satisfactory 

 crops. 



"Darwin, the greatest naturalist, rec- 

 ognized, in his time, the value of the 

 honey-bees as an important agent in 

 relation to plants when he wisely said: 

 'No bees, no seed. No seed, no in- 

 crease of the flower. The more seeds 

 from the flower the more flowers from 

 the seeds.' This he proved by exten- 

 sive experiments, and others have done 

 this many times after him. He found 

 in one of his experiments the following 

 results: "Twenty heads of white clover 

 visited by bees produced 2!)iK) seeds, 

 while 2l) heads so protected that bees 

 could not visit them, produced not out- 

 seed.' The same kind of experiments 

 have been made with strawberries and 

 various other fruits. I>"ruit trees that 

 were covered half way with netting, so 

 so that the bees could not visit the 

 flowers, bore fruit abundantly on the 

 unprotected parts, but none at all, 

 or very little, and that of a very inferior 

 quality on the other. 



MORE nEES, BETTER CROP.S. 



"This shows the importance of keep- 

 ing a few colonies of bees on every 

 farm. For the large commercial or- 

 chardists. or extensive growers of cu- 

 cumbers, melons, and various other 

 crops, this question is of more impor- 

 tance still. Where large orchards or 

 fields are planted in solid blocks, or 

 where there are a number close to- 

 gether, cross pollenation is not satis- 

 factory on accouiul of the lack of suf- 

 ficient insects to do the work properly, 

 especially when the main part of the 

 trees or plants are in bloom. There- 

 fore, the keeping of honey-bees near 

 them is to be encouraged, to increase 



Perfett Fertilization. 



the quantity as well as the quality of 

 the crops. 



" In one instance the owner of a large 

 orchard did not get any fruit from it 

 for eight years, and was about to dig 

 up the entire orchard. Being advised 

 to try keeping honey-bees to fertilize 

 the blossoms, he did so. The result 



Imperfect Fertilization. 



was that he sold thousands of dollars 

 worth of» fruit thereafter. The idea of 

 keeping bees in this case was mainly 

 to fertilize the fruit blossoms. But the 

 usual crop of honey yielded by them, 

 aside from the beneficial service ren- 

 dered, increases their value. Many 

 other instances might be given." 



Conducted by J. L. Byer. Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



Exceptions in All Things, So With Uniting 



That bees do nothing invariably is 

 generally admitted by all who have 

 handled them to any great extent, but 

 every once in awhile they do some- 

 thing so utterly unorthodox as to sur- 

 prise us even when we are looking for 

 the une.xpected to happen. In my ex- 

 perience with the "critters," I have 

 done very little uniting in any form, 

 always aiming to have nothing but 

 strong colonies on hand a// the time. 



However, what little uniting we 

 have had to do in the past was under- 

 taken with the doubling up of a weaker 

 colony on top and paper between the 

 two stories. It has alwavs worked to 



perfection, and I am Just s//ic the plan 

 would work under almost any condi- 

 tions. 



This fall quite a lot of requeening 

 was done at the home yard, and late in 

 October it was found that one real 

 strong colony was queenless, and an- 

 other one had a virgin that had not 

 mated, owing no doubt to the long 

 spell of wet, cloudy weather experi- 

 enced at that time. From two difl'er- 

 ent out-yards 1 brought as many weak 

 colonies with good, young queens, and 

 the next day, towards evening, I dou- 

 bled them with the two colonies re- 

 ferred to. 



Owing to the miserable weather at 

 that lime, after two or three examina- 



