STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II/ 



know the force of the aphorism, "the way to a man's heart is 

 through his stomach," and the same rule governs the wooing of 

 the flowers. Nectar, the chief ingredient from which honey is 

 made, is the principal offering of the flower to its winged suitors, 

 but this liquid sweetness is usually presented in such a man- 

 ner as to cause the insect to participate unintentionally in the 

 consummation of the flower's existence. 



And here it may be well to emphasize the great value of the 

 honev bee as an agent in cross-fertilizing flowers. Probably no 

 insect seeks nectar with more avidity or greater zeal, and none 

 is more useful to man. Bee-keeping does not receive the atten- 

 tion it deserves among our farmers and gardeners. A hive of 

 bees is just as necessary on the general farm and will yield as 

 good returns in proportion to the investment, as a span of 

 horses or a good milch cow. Herman Miiller, who, next to 

 Darwin, has done as' much as any single writer to familiarize us 

 with the services of insects in fertilizing flowers, has recorded 

 that of I, GOO insect visitors to flowers there were bees, 413 ; flies, 

 305 ; beetles, 89 ; butterflies and moths, 69, the remainder being 

 divided among the other order of insects. The importance of 

 bees in this work of cross-fertilization leads me to mention a 

 modern danger to the apiary, viz., the use of arsenical sprays 

 on fruit trees in bloom. Bees in gathering nectar from flowers 

 freshly sprayed become poisoned, and, worse yet, feed the poi- 

 sonous honey to their young in the brood cells, with fatal results. 

 In many states, laws carrying severe penalties have been enacted 

 to prevent the practice of spraying trees while in blossom. No 

 one except the ignorant or malicious would spray a tree with 

 poisonous insecticides at this time. Spraying is obviously done 

 to prevent insect damage, and I do not recall a single insect 

 whose treatment requires that spraying should be done while 

 the trees are in bloom. Where malice prompts such an action 

 the enforcement of a law on the subject might have a salutary 

 effect ; otherwise an educational campaign is all that is needed. 



[The adaptations of flowers for securing cross-fertilization 

 were then described in detail. The structure of flowers char- 

 acteristic of the Rosacea", Ericacecr, Labiatcc and Orchid- 

 acecc, was shown by colored charts and the different stages of 

 cross-fertilization illustrated and explained. Turning from meth- 



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