112 LUTHER BURBANK 



flower seeds. In fact, most of us who grow fruit 

 would soon go out of business, or reduce our 

 farms from acres to square feet, if it were not 

 for the bee helpers buzzing about from blossom 

 to blossom." 



"But do you depend entirely upon the bees 

 to pollenize your cherries?" my questioner 

 continued. 



"Not altogether. I am obliged to do some 

 pollenizing, particularly at the beginning of an 

 experiment, to make sure of the exact cross that 

 I desire. But after the experiment is under way, 

 the work is for the most part left to the bees. 

 They operate, as you see, on a large scale, mak- 

 ing a thousand pollenizing experiments where I 

 could make one. And in the end the results of 

 their work are highly satisfactory." 



HOW POLLENIZATION Is EFFECTED 



To illustrate the necessity for the aid of the 

 insect helpers, it is well to show the method by 

 which cross-pollenizing is effected when done by 

 human hands. 



A blossom is selected that is almost mature 

 but has not opened, and is cut all around with a 

 very thin, sharp knife, taking the petals about 

 two-thirds the way down, thus amputating all 

 the stamens, but leaving the pistil. 



