TH® mBmrnmicmn mmm jourksil.. 



415 



United States, in 1881, at 3,000,000. 

 During the working season the average 

 number of bees per colony is from 

 35,000 to 40,000. Who, then, can 

 estimate the benefit to the crops of 

 fruit and grain, derived through the 

 agencies of such myriads of little mar- 

 riage priests among the flowers ? 

 This alone would warrant the keeping 

 of bees in many localities, as, indeed, 

 is often done. 



A fruit-grower of Madison county, 

 Neb., bought a colony of bees solely 

 for the purpose of having them ferti- 

 lize the blossoms of a half-acre of 

 strawberries of a certain variety, and 

 was repaid with a fine setting of fruit, 

 while in previous years he had only 

 obtained a partial crop. 



Charles Darwin, that eminent Eng- 

 lish naturalist, whose careful experi- 

 ments have added so much to our 

 knowledge of plants and insect life, 

 states in his work on "Cross and Self- 

 Fertilizatiou," that out of 12b species 

 that he covered with netting, exclud- 

 ing insects when in bloom, more than 

 half were entirely sterile, or produced 

 less than half the number of seeds of 

 the unprotected plants. 



I will cite only two of the many so 

 treated by him, namely, white and red 

 clover. I quote : 



Several plants were protected from in- 

 sects, and the seeds from ten flower heads 

 of these plants, and from ten heads on 

 other plants grown outside the net (which 

 I saw visited by bees) were counted, and 

 the seeds from the latter plants were very 

 nearly ten times as numerous as those 

 from the protected plants. The experiment 

 was repeated the following year, and 

 twenty protected heads now yielded only 

 a single aborted seed, whilst twenty heads 

 on plants outside the net (which I saw 

 visited by bees) yielded S,290 seeds. Of 

 red clover, 100 covered heads gave noth- 

 ing, and 100 heads uncovered produced 

 2,720 seeds. 



Our fruits are fully as dependent 

 upon insect life as are the clovers. 

 For instance, take the apple ; call to 

 mind the five beautiful, pinkish-white 

 leaves, with a cluster of yellow, pollen- 

 bearing stamens in the centre. Then 

 that each blossom carries five stigmas, 

 and each stigma is connected with 

 the core of the fruit. 



At the proper time the tiny nectaries 

 are filled with nectar, when the flower 

 is prepared to receive the pollen-grains 

 from the dusty bees as they are flitting 

 among them, intent only upon their 

 own crazy greed for honey, wholly un- 

 conscious of the wonderful part they 

 are playing in a still more wonderful 

 nature, for the nectar is never secreted 

 until the pollen-grains are ripe and 

 ready for use, when it slowly oozes 

 forth each day — a constant bait for 

 the bees until the pollen is ripe and 

 gone. But as we have observed, there 

 are five of these stigmas, and without 

 a distinct fertilization of each one sep- 



arately, an imitcrfect fruit is formed 

 which in most cases constitutes the 

 windfalls. Opposite the hollow cheek 

 on an apple will be found miniature 

 seeds, showing that an imperfect ferti- 

 lization had taken place, if any at all, 

 in that pai'ticular pistil. The apple 

 being one of a large class of blossoms 

 in which the antliers and pistils do not 

 mature at the same time, self-fertiliza- 

 tion is impossible, and a cross must be 

 obtained from another blossom of the 

 same species of plant. 



Gooseberries, currants and ra.spber- 

 ries are also largely indebted to in- 

 sects for the fruit they bear, and, in tlie 

 last two, undeveloi^ed parts are often 

 found due to iniperfect fertilization, as 

 in the apple and clover. It has been 

 stated that unless we have a few hours 

 of sunshine when early cherries are in 

 bloom, we shall have no cherries at 

 all, and we frequently have a season 

 when cold rain-storms so prevent the 

 bees from getting out, that not a 

 cherry is produced. 



Our prairie grasses are rapidly dis- 

 appearing under the advancing culti- 

 vation of all available land, and in 

 many localities hay and pasturage is 

 already becoming a subject for serious 

 consideration. Tame grasses must 

 supply the want, but the question is, 

 from which kind may the greater 

 benefit be derived ? I need not men- 

 tion the superiority of the clovers over 

 Hungarian, timoth)-, millet and red- 

 top in regard to richness of hay, build- 

 ing up exhausted land, etc. ; but 1 do 

 wish to call your attention to the fact 

 that with any of the clovers, still 

 another crop may be obtained — of 

 delicious nectar. Do not misunder- 

 stand me ; this is not intended as an 

 advertisement of bees, but the fact is 

 indisputable that in order to secure 

 fertilization of the clover blossoms, we 

 must depend upon insect agencies. 



Not all strains of bees are able to 

 work on the red clover heads, owing 

 to the depth of the floweret cu)), but 

 the bumble-bee and the Italian hive- 

 bees having longer tongues will work 

 on it, and especially on the second 

 growth, whicli 3'ou all know is your 

 seed-crop, though it may not have oc- 

 curred to j'ou that the very reason the 

 second growth yields the crop of seed 

 is because the flovver-heads are smaller, 

 and the cups shorter, making it possi- 

 ble for the insects to accomplish their 

 work. 



A few years ago our common red 

 clover was introduced to Australia, 

 and it made a most rapid growth in 

 that warm, rich soil, but they were un- 

 able to raise one bit of seed. After 

 trying for sometime in vain, it was 

 suggested that bumble-bees were re- 

 quired to fertilize the blooili. Some 

 nests were accordingly shipped from 



the New Enghmd States, and the re- 

 sult was considered wonderful, for 

 seed was then raised without trouble. 

 But the clover spread faster than the 

 bumble-bees increased, when the same 

 difficulty was again experienced ; and 

 in 1888, a Mr. McDonald, of Lexing- 

 ton, achieveil prominence by his en- 

 deavor to secure $10,000 worth of Ken- 

 tucky bumble-bees to be shipped to 

 Australia. 



Having shown the utility of the 

 honey-bee in producing surer, larger 

 and better crops, may it not safely be 

 considered an advantage to have bees 

 at work on every farm ? In our East- 

 ern States one is almost as certain of 

 finding a number of colonies of bees 

 on every farm, as the indispensable 

 pig-sty. Certain it is, that the long 

 row of white-painted, old-style box- 

 hives, and the jjroverbial biscuit that 

 " mother made," furnish some of the 

 sweet memories of our own childhood 

 days. 



Columbus, Nebr. 



EARLY SWARMS. 



A Lady's Report as to the Con- 

 tlitiun of Her Bees, etc. 



Written for the American BceJounval 

 BY KIT CLOVER. 



1 think that I shall have to report 

 luj- Carniolan bees. I put 5 colonies 

 into the cellar last winter, following 

 an old bee-keeper's advice by placing 

 the hives flat on the bricked floor. I 

 had no idea that mice could get in at 

 the entrance of a hive, but I have since 

 found that they can. 



The winter was very warm, and the 

 bees, by spells, were very noisy. I 

 could not understand it, as they were 

 perfectlj- quiet on some of the warmest 

 dajs, and only one colony at a time 

 would set up the angry roar with a 

 stray bee or two tumbling about on the 

 alighting-hoard. I think now that the 

 trouble was that they had been visited 

 by mice, for when taken out in the 

 spring, there were heaps of the frag- 

 ments of half-eaten bees under each 

 alighting-board. 



I stuclv in a pin, right there — not 

 into the mouse, however, as 1 would 

 like to have done, but in my experi- 

 ence map. . 1 shall put wire-netting 

 over the entrances the next time. 



On March 21 I . took out the bees, 

 having learned that bees can be moved 

 in perfect safety by putting a wet rag 

 over the entrance. This does not 

 make them angry, or anxious to get 

 out, but seems to quiet them. 



Soon after getting the hives out, the 

 one heavj' snow-storm of the winter 

 came, and some of the hives were 

 drifted under. The storm coming 



