TTH® JKMBRICJKFf mBM JQUmMSLI^, 



697 



profitabl}' introduced into peach 

 houses in order to efl'eetthe pollination 

 of the flowers." — PackartTs Entomology 

 for Seginners. 



At one time, we are informed, a 

 person living in Pawtucket. attempted 

 to grow strawberries under glass. He 

 raised plent_y of vines and blossoms, 

 but they produced no fruit. Some 

 one who knew, told him why, and 

 when bees were procured the blossoms 

 matured and produced fruit. 



It is said that if strawberry blossoms 

 are covered with line muslin they drop 

 oft" instead of maturing, but if fertilized 

 artificially by hand they mature. Some 

 of the best bearing varieties of straw- 

 berries on Ij- produce female blossoms 

 or pistils, the Crescent Seedling being 

 an example, therefore growers of this 

 fruit have one row in every seven of a 

 , kind having an abundance of pollen, 

 and that blossoms at the same time. 



"WHEN RED CLOVER WAS FIRST BROUGHT 

 INTO AUSTRALIA, 



although fine crops were raised, with 

 plenty of blossoms, no seed could be 

 secured. At last some one sent to 

 England for '■ bumble-bees." 



They were procured in winter, while 

 dormant, by Mr. Abbott, a prominent 

 English bee-keeper ; were sent in that 

 condition, and successfully introduced. 

 As soon as they became plenty there 

 was no further trouble in securing a 

 full crop of seed. 



Honey-bees work on second crop in 

 this country at times. 



Prof. Lucas, a celebrated pomologist 

 in Germany, says : "A careful and 

 observant bee-keeper at Potsdam 

 writes to me that his trees yield de- 

 cidedly larger crops since he has es- 

 tablished an apiary in his orchard, and 

 the annual product is now more cer- 

 tain and regular than before, though 

 his trees had alway.s received due at- 

 tention." — American Bee \Tournal. 



FERTILIZATION OP APPLE-BLOSSOMS. 



Frank Cheshire sajs that in each 

 apple matured, five fertilizations have 

 been necessary. If none are effected, 

 the calyx which forms the flesh of the 

 fruit, instead of swelling, dies and 

 soon drops. If some parts are ferti- 

 lized those parts only develop, making 

 a deformed fruit, and it rarely hangs 

 long enough to ripen ; becomes a wind- 

 fall ; also that gooseberries are abso- 

 lutely dependent upon insects for fer- 

 tilization, and the failure of this crop 

 is not so uniformly the result of frost 

 as some suppose, but from cold weather 

 at the critical time, preventing the 

 visits of bees. He believes the pres- 

 ent development of the perfume, nec- 

 tar secretion, size, and beauty of 

 flowers are the results of repeated in- 

 sect selection. 



IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OP CROSS-FERTILI- 

 ZATION ON THE FRUIT. 



Not only do the highest authorities 

 claim that insects are of the ^utmost 

 importance for the fertilization of 

 many fruits, seeds and vegetables, but 

 that the fruit is in many cases imme- 

 diately affected favorably or unfavor- 

 ably according to the source of the 

 pollen, thus guiding whatever feeds 

 upon the fruit to select that having the 

 seed best fitted for propagation. 



'• Among strawberry growers it is 

 widely believed that the berries of 

 pistillate varieties will vary in charac- 

 ter according to the staminate variety 

 which furnishes the pollen. As many 

 of the best varieties of strawberries are 

 pistillate, and require to be fertilized 

 by some perfect flowered variety, it 

 becomes important to know with cer- 

 tainty whether such influence exists or 

 not." — A. A. Grague, U. S. Agricultural 

 Report. 



Chas. Darwin. Dr. Gray, D. M. 

 Ferry and others admit the possibility 

 of this. Others believe that the more 

 plenty the pollen the greater this in- 

 fluence. 



"I have always thought that the 

 more abundant the pollen, and con- 

 sequently more perfect pollinization 

 aflbrded by some varieties, had as 

 much to do with the result as any true 

 effect of the cross fertilization." — F. S. 

 Earle. U. S. Agricultural Beport. 



"We know it is claimed by some 

 that peas and beans are self-fertilized, 

 but we have learned that they are not 

 always so. to our cost. 



■ ■ A shower of rain washes awaj the 

 pollen, and our apple crop fails in 

 consequence. The young fruit does 



not swell, but shrinks and falls." 



• It is believed that the pollen aftects 



the tissue of the fruit itself." 



•Where then shall we limit the ac- 

 tion of the fertilizing element of the 

 pollen ? I am inclined to believe that 

 it really has no limit, but that it is 

 capable of extending through the 

 whole plant." — D. M. Ferry. Detroit, 

 Mich., U. S. Agricultural Repiort. 



As Cheshire expresses it. bees are 

 not only florists, but fruit producers, 

 and the nectar and pollen is simply 

 the fee paid for the professional service 

 of the little inoculator. 



Bumble-bees, wasps, butterflies and 

 many other insects .by day, as well as 

 moths and the various insects of the 

 night, do much of this work. They, 

 however, must take their chances of 

 surviving winter's cold or summer's 

 wet, or drouth with its scarcity, and 

 may be terribly thinned out in conse- 

 quence. 



Honey-bees, which are doubly man's 

 friend, maj^ by him be fed and pro- 

 tected as well as bred in any quantity. 



wherever the}- may be 



and taken 

 needed. 



Tliey seem to best suited to the 

 flowers of our most imj^ortant crops 

 needing insect help. 



■In Herman Muller's celebrated 

 work (German). -Fertilization of Flow- 

 ers by Insects,' there is a full descrip- 

 tion of 338 species of plants that are 

 proved, by careful observation of manv 

 years, to be visited and fertilized by 

 insects. This is about one-fifth of all 

 the plants flowering in the open coun- 

 try in Germany. The honey-bee alona 

 visits 194 species, being half the num- 

 ber of plants examined." — British Bee 

 Jotirnal. 



UO BEES INJURE FRUIT ? 



Prof. Riley, speaking of the many- 

 insects injurious to vegetation, and the 

 few that are beneficial, says, -The 

 ability to distinguish between friend 

 and foe is of the first importance in 

 coping with the latter, for it is a no- 

 torious fact that the farmer often does 

 more harm than good by destroying 

 the former, in his blind efforts to save 

 his crops." — •■ General trtilhs in app)lied 

 Entomology,'" U. S. Agricultural Report, 

 1884. 



He says in a later Report. 1885. 

 •-Apiculture as an important branch 

 of economic entomology, deserves at- 

 tention, and there are some questions 

 which this department can. perhaps, 

 better consider than private individ- 

 uals or associations. Mr. Nelson W. 

 McLain was, therefore, appointed as 

 special apicultural agent of the divi- 

 son," June 1. 1885. 



One of the various subjects given for 

 investigation was, "To obtain uncon- 

 testible results by intelligent experi- 

 ment on scientific methods, as to the 

 capacity of bees under exceptional 

 circumstances to injure fruit, i. e., to 

 set at rest the ever discussed question 

 of bees I's. fruit." As to results of 

 these investigations, he says. 'The 

 experiments show conclusively that 

 bees do not injure fruit at first hand, 

 and this fact is in keeping with the 

 structure of the mandibles as com- 

 pared with those of wasps which are 

 generally charged with the real in- 

 jui-y." — C. T'. Riley in Report of the 

 Eyitomologist. U. S. Agricultural Report, 

 1886, page 211, 212. 



Hives of bees were confined to a 

 bee-proof building, made so by en- 

 closing its open sides with wire-cloth. 

 Plates of grapes, peaches, pears and 

 plums, varying from green to dead 

 ripe, were placed on shelves in this 

 enclosure. The bees were then de- 

 prived of stores, and left with the ex- 

 posed fruit as their only relief from 

 hunger, thirst and starvation. We ex- 

 tract the following from Prof. McLain's 

 Report, page 337, 1885. 



