Mar. 15, 1912 



The picture represents three of the best 

 products of Pecos \'alley — honey, fruit, and 

 alfalfa. The apiary is in a small four-year- 

 old apple orchard and is surrounded by 

 fields of alfalfa. 



Artesia, New Mexico. 



THE HONEYBEE AS A FERTILIZING AGENT 



BY DR. E. F. PHILLIPS 



The honeybee is known widely as the pro- 

 ducer of honey, and it is recognized that 

 this makes it one of the minor agricultural 

 animals. The total value of the crop pro- 

 duced is not fully realized, and it is often a 

 surprise, even to well-informed beekeepers, 

 to learn that the average annual honey crop 

 of the United States is worth about $20,000,- 

 000. The American farmer produces crops 

 of such gigantic proportions that a branch 

 which can not be discussed in the millions 

 is scarcely worthy of consideration. Even 

 in this galaxy of wealth the honey-producer 

 has no reason to be ashamed of his special- 

 ty, and he may be further congratulated on 

 the fact that his field is just beginning to 

 be occupied. We can not yet foresee an 

 overstocking of the country, and an over- 

 production of honey will not take place un- 

 til we are producing at least ten times what 

 we do now. 



The subject which is here announced at 

 this time does not, however, deal with the 

 direct benefits which accrue to American 

 agriculture through the offices of the honey- 

 bee, but to what may be styled the indirect 

 benefits. These are recognized by special- 

 ists, but are passed over unnoticed by the 

 average farmer or citizen, and it is to re- 

 count the indirect benefits that this subject 

 is assigned. 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



As is well known, blossoms, before they 

 set, must be pollinated. That means that 

 pollen from the anthers, or male portion of 

 the flower, must reach the stigma, or female 

 portion. Different plants exhibit wide vari- 

 ation in the arrangement of these parts, anfl 

 it may be well to recount some of these dif- 

 ferent plans. In some cases the male and 

 female organs are in separate flowers, as in 

 the case of corn, the male flowers being the 

 tassel and the female llowers resulting in 

 the ear. In other cases the types of flowers 

 are borne on separate plants, as in the case 

 of the muUierry. 



In the majority of plants, both anthers 

 and pistils are found in the same flower; 

 but even here an extremely wide variation 

 is found. In some cases the anthers ripen 

 earlier than the pistil, so that the i)ollen 

 produced is ineffectual in producing fertil- 

 ization of that particular llower. This is 

 shown in the fireweed,or willowherb, which 

 is an important honey plant, especially in 

 Northern Michigan. The reverse condition 

 in which the stigma matures is first observ- 

 ed in the common figwort Scrojyhularia 



nodosa, and to some extent in horse chest- 

 nuts. 



In other cases, the anthers and pistil ma- 

 ture at the same time; but because of their 

 relative position, self-fertilization of the 

 blossom does not occur. Other arrange- 

 ments of this kind might be mentioned; 

 but enough has been said to indicate that 

 flowers are often so arranged that self-fertil- 

 ization is impossible. In some cases of pears 

 and plums it has been shown that the pol- 

 len is ineffectual in fertilizing the flower, 

 even if placed on the stigma. These ar- 

 rangements all confirm the popular belief 

 in the dangers of close inbreeding, and point 

 to the desirability and often the necessity 

 of cross-fertilization. 



Fertilization of plants occurs in two gen- 

 eral ways. Plants like willows, pines, oaks, 

 and birches, and, in general, plants whose 

 flowers are inconspicuous and often not even 

 recognized by the layman as flowers, are so 

 constructed that pollen is carried by the air 

 currents from the anthers to the pistil. The 

 pollen of such jolants is light and dry. Most 

 flowers, however, are noi of this type, but 

 require some agent to carry the pollen, and 

 these agents are usually insects. Without 

 the kindly offices of insects which are de- 

 spised as an order of animals by the majori- 

 ty of people, our fruit crops would cease to 

 be, and the flowers which abound would no 

 longer bloom. 



RELATION BETWEEN PLANTS AND INSECTS 



It may also be said that plants have a 

 greater appreciation of insects than we have, 

 for we see the most wonderful arrangements 

 for attracting insects to the flowers so that 

 their visits will result in cross- fertilization. 

 The pollen is not intentionally carried and 

 put in the right place, but is transported on 

 the hairs or otherwise as the insect goes 

 from one flower to another. Insects go to 

 flowers to gather pollen or nectar to be used 

 as food at once, or to be removed and stored, 

 as in the case of the honeybee. Pollen is 

 produced in such abundance as to act as an 

 attraction to pollen-feeding insects, and still 

 leave a sufficient quantity to insure proper 

 fertilization. Nectar acts also as an attrac- 

 tion, and probably serves no other pur])ose 

 to the flower. 



The question of what insects are most im- 

 portant in carrying pollen has not been suf- 

 ficiently investigated. In the comprehen- 

 sive investigations of Miiller, he found that 

 in low Germany 2750 out of 6231 visits of in- 

 sects to flowers observed were made by Bj/- 

 menoptcra, and of this number 2191 were by 

 Apidir, the family to which the honeybee 

 belongs. He frequently refers to the fact 

 that on some plants the honeybees and 

 bumblebees play " by far the most impor- 

 tant part in fertilizing our (German) indig- 

 enous flowers." Waite, in his bulletin on 

 "The Pollination of Pear Flowers" (Bui. 5, 

 Div. of \eg. Pathology, U. S. Dept. Agr.), 

 mentions a large number of species of in- 

 sects which visit jjear blossoms, but says: 

 "The common honeybee is the most regu- 

 lar and important abundant visitor, and 



