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scarce, and then come up again. Now, you can't get away 

 from this fundamental principle of high and low, the "up" 

 and the "down" period, because all life has the periods of 

 "up" and "down." 



It applies to the human species as well as to wild life. 

 For instance, in India human beings are thinned out by 

 disease or famine; then the disease is suppressed, it has its 

 "down" period; then the curve of the human race comes up 

 again, and if that were to be drawn out in a graphic curve, 

 you would have a curve which would be alternately up and 

 down. 



That principle of "up" and "down" applies particulrly 

 to the horticulturist, because the average horticulturist de- 

 pends, even today, for the fertilization of his fruit, for the 

 pollination of his fruit, upon insect life over which he has no 

 control and which are subject to conditions, such as hard 

 seasons or inclement weather or disease, which bring about 

 this self-same curve of "up" and "down" as applied to the 

 those insect fertilizing or pollinating agents upon which the 

 fruit grower so depends. 



To sum it all up in a few words, the horticulturist 

 may plough, he may fertilize, he may thin, he may spray and 

 do all of those things which are recommended to produce the 

 best crops, but, after all, isn't it more fundamental that he 

 should provide for the transferring of pollen from flower to 

 flower where it is necessary? Isn't that more important 

 than, or quite as important as, any other branch of horticul- 

 tural technique. 



The thing, then to do, it would seem from the beekeep- 

 er's standpoint at least, is to control that curve; instead of 

 allowing it to go up and down, to control it and bring it up 

 to its highest efficiency, hold it up there, so that the frequen- 

 cy or number of bees in the orchard or the vineyard or in 

 the melon patch or the cucumber patch — wherever they are 

 needed — will be "up" at the highest level, and will be main- 

 tained there. That is the one point of view in all this dis- 

 cussion of the relation of bees to fruit growing and vegetable 

 growing, which I want to bring out very strongly, and the 

 way for the fruit grower to protect himself is by securing 

 and maintaining a few colonies of bees — not depending up- 



