672 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



20 feet upwards, where there is one that 

 would suit them lower down. I have 

 seen bees that I am confident were 

 scouts hunting a home, begin near the 

 ground and examine upwards. T have 

 also known them to locate within 3 feet 

 of the ground, and even in a box-trap 

 set for rabbits. D. C. Leach. 



Do Bees iDjiire Frull Crops ? 



W. S. DOUGLASS. 



The question, we are sorry to say, of 

 bees injuring the crops, has had many 

 advocates. It is nothing but a silly 

 piejudice against bees, entertained by 

 some covetous fruit-growers, based on 

 the notion that the crops are injuriously 

 affected both in quantity and quality. It 

 is an unfounded notion, and it deserves 

 no support from close observation and 

 science. Yet it occasionally looms up, 

 and creates much alarm, as the comet 

 did in the past days. 



I claim that nectar passes off and is 

 lost if not collected by the bees. It is 

 the sweet secreted by the flower which 

 produces this nectar. 



A gentleman in France, several years 

 ago, established a green-house and 

 stocked it with a great variety of choice 

 fruit-trees, expecting to have bountiful 

 crops. Time passed, and every year 

 there was a super-abundance of blos- 

 soms, but very little fruit. Various 

 plans were devised and adopted to bring 

 the trees into bearing, but without any 

 success until it was suggested that the 

 blossoms needed fertilization, and that 

 by means of bees the needed work could 

 be done. A colony of busy workers was 

 introduced the next season, and the 

 remedy was a success. There was no 

 longer any difficulty in producing crops 

 there. The bees distributed the pollen, 

 and the setting of fruit followed nat- 

 urally. 



}5ut some will contend that bees do 

 injury to the crop by extracting the 

 honey from the bloom ; and they will 

 say that it is reasonable that if a portion 

 of the plant is taken away by the bees, 

 there must be a hiSS quantity of ma- 

 terial left for the formation of seed ! It 

 is a fat-t that if a person has an opinion 

 formed, he will build up strong proofs in 

 his favor, which, he thinks, he can sub- 

 stantiate by satisfactory reasons. 



The flowers expand, and a set of ves- 

 sels pour into the cup, or nectary, a 

 minute portion of sweet liquid ; and 

 strong testimony proves very plainly 



that it never again enters the stalk or 

 flower, but there it evaporates like 

 water. For instance, in passing a field 

 of horsemint in full bloom, we are as- 

 sured of the presence of honey, by the 

 odor in the air. Mow, what is the dif- 

 ference, whether this honey passes off 

 in the air, or whether it is collected by 

 the bees. If any difference, it appears 

 in favor of the bees getting it, for it 

 thus answers an important end in the 

 economy of nature. 



Instead of the bees being an injury to 

 the crop, I shall prove that they are an 

 advantage. The stamens and pistils of 

 flowers corresponds to the different 

 organs and sexes of the male and female. 

 The stamen is the male, which furnishes 

 the pollen ; the pistil is the female, 

 which must be impregnated by this dust 

 or pollen from the stamen, or no fruit 

 will be produced. 



This is fully accomplished by the bees 

 traversing from one flower to another, 

 and carrying the pollen, sticking to 

 their legs and wings, to the next flower, 

 and impregnating the pistils of it. This 

 was the case with the Frenchman's 

 greenhouse. The necessity was seen and 

 planned by the all-wise Creator. He 

 has created the bee for the flower, and 

 the flower for the bee ; endowed the 

 plant with the power of secreting the 

 liquid sweet, and given the honey-bee 

 the instinct to search after it and treas- 

 ure it up for its own as well as for 

 man's wants. 



The prejudice against bees injuring 

 the crops has no foundation, and I hope 

 that the day is dawning when it will 

 wholly disappear. 



Lexington, Texas. 



A Few Apiarian Dou'ts. 



J. A. NASH. 



Don't make a veritable cu 

 of your apiary, by filling it 

 lot of hives of all the differe 

 you can hear of, just to see w 



Don't wait until there 

 honey-flow from clover or b 

 fore you order those new 

 sections. 



Don't write a long, abusi 

 the suffering supply dealer 

 15, asking him why those s 

 ordered by telegra{)h yesterd 

 not arrived at the depot. 



Don't sell your honey in 

 and for any price your local 

 see fit to pay you. 



riosity shop 

 with a job- 

 nt patterns 

 hich is best, 

 is a heavy 

 asswood be- 

 hives and 



ve letter to 

 about July 

 ections you 

 ay noon had 



any shape, 

 grocer may 



