244 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



pollen is provided vastly to the excess of 

 the actual needs of bees; but its seeming 

 over-production may be explained on the 

 ground of an effort on the part of the plants 

 to insure pollination. 



The search of the bees for food is the 

 occasion of their inestimable service to the 

 fruitgrower through their unconscious part 

 in pollination. The process is entirely 

 mechanical, and could be performed by 

 human labor, and has been ; yet the labor of 

 the bees is not only far more effective but 

 incomparably cheaper. Growers of cucum- 

 bers in Massachusetts gTeenhouses use colo- 

 nies for this purj^ose alone. 



Turning now to the fertilizing process 

 itself, the botanist recognizes three varieties 

 of sex distribution in flowers, viz., (1) 

 Both sexes in one flower, as where the 

 stamens (male), and pistils (female), are 

 both present and complete; (2) Sexes sep- 

 arate in individual flowers, but both sexes on 

 the same plant; (3) Sexes separate on in- 

 dividual flowers, which are borne on differ- 

 ent plants — a further modification of the 

 second class. Some plants, therefore, are 

 only male; others are only female. 



Since most of our fruits and vegetables 

 involve a sexual process in the union of the 

 pollen and germ of the egg, there must be 

 some means of union, especially in the 

 second and third classes of flowers, where 

 the sexes are separated, either in individual 

 flowers or in individual plants. Of all the 

 insects furnishing this means, the bees are 

 recognized as the most important, and 

 should be provided by the grower of fruit. 



The wind is effective in transfen-ing 

 pollen from blossom to blossom in those 

 trees and plants having a fine and dry 

 pollen, as, for example, the pines. Trees 

 which are Avind-pollinated are usually in- 

 dependent of insects; but among fruit and 

 vegetables the pollen is usually heavy and 

 sticky, and depends upon an insect, usually 

 a honeybee, for its transfei'ence. Experi- 

 ments show that liltle or no apple pollen 

 drifts in the wind. 



The honeybee seeking nectar far down 



in the flower covers herself with pollen from 

 the stamen, or male organ of the flower, and 

 gets it against the pistil, or female organ of 

 that or some other flower. Thus quite acci- 

 dentally has the function of the bee been 

 performed. In this vital operation the 

 union of the pollen left on the pistil with 

 the ovule within completes the process of 

 fertilization and results in a perfect seed. 



Many plants are sterile to their own 

 pollen, and require pollen from another 

 source. Furthermore, self-fertilization is 

 found to tend to weaken the offspring, and, 

 in contrast, crossing or cross-fertilization is 

 found to result in greater strength and pro- 

 ductivity. Moreover, flowers are generally 

 constructed to favor cross-fertilization and 

 to prevent perpetual self-pollination. 



In mixing varieties of pollen, bees serve 

 to create new crosses and to increase va- 

 rieties. 



One of the most practical points brought 

 out both by Mrs. Howard and Prof. Osborne 

 is the fact that the api)le requires five inde- 

 pendent fertilizations for complete results. 

 If many ovules fail to fertilize, the apple 

 will lack size or symmetry, or both. Thor- 

 ough fertilization prevents the dropping of 

 apples. 



While the number of full-blooming trees 

 in a cluster has much to do with drawing 

 the attention of the bees, yet high color or 

 fragrance do not always act similarly. 



It has sometimes been contended that 

 the honeybee damages the fruit by biting 

 into the skin and sucking out the juice. It 

 has been shown, however, that the jaws of 

 the bees are so constructed that it is entire- 

 ly imiDossible for them to bite into the skin 

 of any kind of fruit ; but when the skin has 

 once been broken the bees have an oppor- 

 tunity. The jaws of the bee are smooth and 

 rounding, and quite unfit to make an open- 

 ing of any kind. Wasps and birds are 

 guilty of making the opening in the fiist 

 place, and fruitgrowers should not blame 

 the bees for this damage. 



The bulletins close witli lemarks on 

 spraying during blossom time. 



BY DR. BRUENNICH 



The view of J. E. Hand concerning the 

 use of the incubator as a queen-hatcher has 

 my full approval. Many yeare ago 1 gave 

 to the nuclei, not cells, but queens hatched 

 in an incubator, and I find the advantages 

 considerable. After my exi^eriences the 

 losses with young queens are not nearly so 



great as tlie losses with cells. When anew 

 nucleus is formed it is with my methods 

 extremely rare that a young queen is killed, 

 be she one, two, or more days old. Tlie 

 most important requirement is that the bees 

 of the nucleus be young. For this purpose 

 I take the bees of the super, and am sure 



