214 POLLEN, OR BEE-BREAD. 



I have fed my bees with rye meal and find it bene- 

 ficial, particularly in a cold, backward spring. Some 

 bee-keepers find fault that their bees store too much 

 pollen ; this I believe but seldom occurs, at least, it 

 never has with mine. 



BEES AID IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 



" The value of hymenopterous insects as agents in 

 fertilizing plants, has many times been demonstrated 

 by experiment. We recollect an instance of this, 

 which transpired many years ago, so connected with 

 pleasant associations that it made a striking impres- 

 sion. While on a journey from St. Petersburg to 

 the transcaucasian provinces, in the month of Feb- 

 ruary, 1825, we were obliged, on account of the 

 intense cold, to stop in the government of Twer, on 

 the estate of our friend Gregor Wasiliewitsch Lihat- 

 chef, colonel in the Imperial Gards-a-Cbeval. There 

 we were shown a very spacious hot-house, full of fine 

 flowering plants ; and also, among others, about fif- 

 teen cherry trees, covered with blossoms. We con- 

 gratulated Lady Lihatchef upon the prospect of a 

 large crop of fruit, when she informed us that her 

 gardiner had never succeeded in raising more than 

 one dish-full of fruit from all those trees. We as-' 

 sure'd her that if she would place in her green-house 

 a few full bee-hives, there would be a charm about 

 them that would insure her an abundant harvest of 

 fruit. Two years afterward we visited that lady in 



