BENEFICIAL INSECTS 



BEES 



THERE are few people who would, or could, omit the bees 

 from any list of useful insects, but most people would so 

 classify them on account of their being manufacturers of 

 honey. Bee culture has become such a specialised branch 

 of husbandry that details can hardly be given in a book 

 of this nature ; besides, it is not on account of the honey 

 they provide that these insects are most useful to man. 

 The market gardener, fruit-grower, agriculturist or florist 

 is absolutely dependent on insects or wind for his crops ; 

 the former he can regulate to a certain extent, the latter 

 is beyond his control. In the production of a harvest, 

 insects, and especially bees, dwarf all the modern imple- 

 ments of husbandry into utter insignificance, and it is 

 this aspect of bee utility that we shall consider here. To 

 the farmer the work of the bee makes no great 

 appeal, for his cereals are fertilised by wind; but stone 

 fruit, pomaceous fruit, in fact, practically all fruits, could 

 never be formed without the aid of insects. They make 

 the labours of the fruit-grower a certainty, and without 

 them his labours would end in failure ; the florist is no less 

 indebted to insects for his crop. Why should bees be so 

 lauded when other insects contribute to the work of fer- 

 tilisation ? Butterflies, moths, and beetles all fertilise our 

 plants, it is true, but they leave behind them whole armies 

 well-drilled armies of caterpillars and maggots. These 

 destroy the very fruit their parents fertilised, defoliate 



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