374 



THE AMERICA!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



colonies out of SO ; all being wintered 

 on tlie summer stands without anv 

 protection. I believe tliat the long 

 continued cold caused nine-tentlis of 

 the losses in out-door wintering, es- 

 pecially so with hives having shallow 

 frames. 



1, for one, second Mr. Ileddou's 

 nii'tiim. and am ready with uiv dollar 

 to help in what I believe to be a good 

 cause. 



Worcester,© ilo. 



London Journal of Horticulture. 



Bees in Relation to Flowering Plants 

 and Fruit Production. 



Tlie following is a brief* report of a 

 Lecture delivered at South Kensing- 

 ton, London, by Frank R. Cheshire. 

 Esq , F. K. M. S. After referring 

 incidentally to the greatly increased 

 profits now attainable by bee-culture, 

 in consequence of our improved 

 methods of management, Mr. Che- 

 shire remarked : 



If we take our stand before a flour- 

 ishing hive on a line summer day, we 

 note that the busy workers as they 

 settle, at their return from their ex- 

 cursions in the fields, bear in numer- 

 ous instances, variously colored pel- 

 lets on the tibia of their hind legs. 

 The ancients supposed these masses 

 to consist of wax, and even lieaumur 

 fell into this error, referring to these 

 pellets as " la cire brute.^^ We now 

 know perfectly well that they are 

 composed of multitudes of pollen 

 granules which have been gathered 

 by a process we shall hereafter ex- 

 amine, and the use of which we shall 

 presently see. and that wax is not 

 collected but secreted by glands sit- 

 uated beneath the abdomen. Could 

 we follow • these workers into the 

 darkness of the hive and here observe 

 their movements, we should find that 

 tbev walk up the sides of their combs 

 seeking lirst a cell into whicli the 

 pollen may be appropriately placed, 

 and they then turn to another, either 

 empty or already devoted to honey, 

 and into that they discharge from 

 their honey-sac the nectar which they 

 have secured from the honey-glands 

 of the blooms visited. 



Two questions now present them- 

 selves to us : 1. ^Vhy do the bees so 

 industriously gather these substan- 

 ces V 2. Why do blooms provide 

 them ? It is to the second of these 

 questions that we nmst devote our 

 most serious attention, but the first, 

 if we would really understand the 

 second, must not be overlooked. If 

 we w^ere to proceed to examine the 

 combs of the hive just referred to, 

 we should find many hundreds of 

 their cells, containing each a tiny, 

 pearl-colored egg about 1-14 of an inch 

 long, and 1-70 of an inch in diameter. 

 These eggs have been deposited by 

 one insect, called, although very in- 

 appropriately so, the queen, for she in 

 reality exercises no authority, and 

 when old and fading, is turned out in 

 favor of a more vigorous successor. 

 This mother-bee, for so we may more 



accurately designate her, is capable 

 of depositing no less than from two 

 to three thousand eggs daily during 

 the breeding season. She inserts her 

 abdomen into a cell, and in two or 

 three seconds withdraws it, when the 

 egg is found adherent to the cell-base. 

 This duty of ovipositing is so onerous 

 that she is excused all care of her 

 numerous progeny, which is attended 

 exclusively by the workers, formerly 

 but falsely balled neuters, for they 

 are really females, but with their re- 

 productive organs aborted. 



The egg kept warm by heat con- 

 stantly produced by oxidation of 

 honey in the bodies of the workers, 

 develops within it its germ, and in 

 about three days a very small grub 

 emerges, with but imperfectly formed 

 mouth, no distinguishable eyes, and 

 no organs of locomotion. "It is a 

 necessity that food should be brought 

 to it as it lies at the bottom or back 

 of the cell. The workers acting as 

 nurses now sedulously tend it, pre- 

 paring in their bodies a highly nutri- 

 tious food resembling thin arrowroot 

 and elaborated from water, honey, 

 and pollen. The two latter we have 

 previously traced to their origin, and 

 it needs only now be said that the 

 first of these is a true force-former, 

 giving to the grub energy for move- 

 ment, and for the vital processes to 

 be continued within it, while the pol- 

 len is a true tissue-former, being rich 

 in nitrogen, and containing potash, 

 phosphorus and sulphur salts. The 

 food is poured over the body of the 

 grub by the nurse, and so liberally 

 that the bantling literally floats in it; 

 one side of the body, however, always 

 remaining dry, so as to be capable of 

 taking in a due supply of air through 

 the eleven spiracles or breathing- 

 lioles which may be traced in a line 

 along its side. The imperfect mouth 

 has its work supplemented by an 

 ability to absorb aliment by osmose, 

 through any portion of the skin. 

 Rapid growth is the result, and soon 

 a large, fat, "geutle"-like creature fills 

 two-thirds of the cell. 



The ever-watchful workers at this 

 point commence to imprison it by 

 placing over the mouth of its cell a 

 cover, technically called the sealing, 

 which is composed of pollen-grains 

 and wax shreds, and which is pervious 

 to the air, so that the needed amount 

 of oxygen may reach the grub within. 

 The grub also makes preparation for 

 the wonderful transformation which 

 awaits it, by building over Itself a 

 silken cocoon. During twelye days 

 developments and alterations are con- 

 tiiuied, when changes of a most radi- 

 cal nature are effected. The nervous 

 system is completely recast. Instead 

 of a chain of pretty equal ganglionic 

 masses running the length of tlie 

 digestive tube, nerve-centres are es- 

 tablished in the neighborhood of the 

 insertion of the wings and legs to give 

 to these parts the abounding energy 

 they reqiiire in the perfect insect. 

 The mouth and eyes have each now 

 considerable ganglia, and the sting is 

 also provided with its source of stim- 

 ulus. Legs marvellous in form and 

 adaptation, and carrying, cleaning, 

 gathering, feeling, and modelling ap- 



pliances are evolved. Four beautiful 

 wings are provided, new glands have 

 made their appearance, eyes of great 

 complexity are now possessed, and 

 last but not least, a tongue has i)re- 

 sented itself, so wondrously perfect 

 and minutely delicate, that some 

 points in its structure are until now 

 furnishing the microscopist with un- 

 solved if not insolvable problems. In 

 a word, the soft-bodied helpless grub 

 has become a bee. We now see why 

 honey and pollen are gathered. Let 

 us now address ourselves to the sec- 

 ond, and inquire why the blooms 

 furnish these substances to their in- 

 sect visitors. 



Blooms are produced by plants in 

 order that ^eeds may follow, and so 

 the race be continued. Two parts 

 are essential to this reproduction — 

 the anther and the pistil, the latter 

 very generally occupying the central 

 position. The anther is usually a 

 double-celled pouch, the contents of 

 which by segmentation breaks up 

 into a number of perfectly similar 

 parts called pollen-grains, which 

 though minute, are complex in struc- 

 ture. When these are mature the 

 anther splits or dehisces, and the pol- 

 len escapes, but it needs in some way 

 to be applied to the termination of 

 the pistil called the stigma. When 

 this application is effected, the pollen- 

 grain absorbs moisture, its interior 

 portion swells, and actually throws 

 out a tube which often grows to a 

 great length in making its way 

 towards the unimpregnated nucleus 

 of the ovule which is situated in the 

 ovary at the base of the pistil. In 

 this nucleus a large cavity filled with 

 protoplasm has developed, called the 

 mother-cell, within which we find the 

 embryonal vesicle to which the con- 

 tents of the pollen-grain is trans- 

 ferred by the channel of the pollen- 

 tube. This is fertilization, and upon 

 it depends the production of seed, for 

 tlie new individual plant has its be- 

 ginnings from this interfusion. 



An examination of most blooms 

 will show that the essential organs 

 before referred to, are so placed that 

 an accidental or unaided transfer of 

 pollen to stigma is unlikely, and 

 where this arrangementof parts is not 

 found, it frequently occurs that the 

 anthers ripen and dehisce much be- 

 fore, or not until sometime after, the 

 stigma lias so matured as to be ready 

 for pollination. In the former case, 

 as we may observe in the common 

 garden Nasturtium( T/-opceoi(«)! nwjus), 

 the pollen is all carried away by in- 

 sects by the time the stigma presents 

 itself, so that if fertilization be ef- 

 fected it* must be through the bring- 

 ing of pollen from other blooms still 

 shedding it. Insects are the means 

 which accomplish this, and to secure 

 their visits the blooms spread them a 

 banquet. 



The apple, he remarked, is called by 

 the botanist, a pseudo-syncarpous 

 fruit, because it may be regarded as 

 five fruits gathered into a unit by an 

 envelope formed by a development of 

 the calyx. If an apple be cut across 

 we see five compartments or dissepi- 

 ments in the core, each one of which 

 should contain pips or seeds. The 



