42 



for honey, as it blooms for a long time and furnishes honey 

 of fine quality. It is, perhaps, not quite so good as some 

 white clovers, but it is very good indeed. The honey from 

 it is light in color ; not quite so thick, not so heavy as that 

 from white clover, but it has a very attractive flavor. There 

 are two kinds of sweet clover — the white-flowered and the 

 yellow-flowered, and the white-flowered is the more valuable 

 of the two, whether for soil improvement or as a source of 

 honey. 



VICE PRESIDENT SEARS. We will now go back to 

 where we started, on the question of bees from the stand- 

 point of the orchard man and Professor W. W. Chenoweth, 

 Assistant Pomologist at the Mass. Agricultural College at 

 Amherst is going to talk on "Importance of Bees in the Pol- 

 lination of Fruits." (Applause). 



IMPORTANCE OF BEES IN THE CROSS POLLINATION 



OF FRUITS. 



Professor W. W. Chenoweth. 



In presenting this subject there are three fundamental 

 principles I desire to discuss and if possible to prove: 



1. Cross-pollination of our orchard fruits is always de- 

 sirable and frequently necessary. 2. The wind is not an 

 efficient agent in distributing the pollen. 3. Bees are the 

 all important agents in effecting cross pollination of our or- 

 chard fruits. 



For proof of these statements we must rely upon: 

 1. General observation, which often times is as reliable as 

 experiment, depending of course upon the observer. 2. 

 Results of actual research. 3. Common sense reason and 

 deductions based upon the above. It is upon the results of 

 research that I desire to lay greatest emphasis. And an 

 attempt has here been made to bring together all essential 

 material relating to this subject that has so far been ob- 

 tained by our experiment stations. I must beg your in- 

 dulgence in presenting some of these experiments somewhat 

 iu detail as it is done for the purpose of placing before you 

 the conditions under which certain results were obtained 



