THlf SSMERICSr* Wmm JOURN«1u. 



1G9 



tion of the ubiquitous life power so 

 subtly expressed in Oriental physics, 

 as tlie only one living element of the 

 Universe — the spiritual an<l material 

 IDrinciple, which, although unconscious, 

 and in an inilefinite sense •• non-ex- 

 istent when separate," develop " con- 

 sciousness and life when brought to- 

 gether." 



Could we go back to the dawn of 

 evolution, when cosmic matter re- 

 ceived the lirst impulse of the spiritual 

 efflux, and inipcrceptiblj' responded in 

 the primoidal ripples of life, and ac- 

 company it in its c3-clic rounds through 

 the countless ages of changing pro- 

 gress until it culminated a compara- 

 tively perfect organism, the problem 

 of atropliy in useless memljers of the 

 body would be readily solved. 



As the matter now appears, it seems 

 that the most rational solution of the 

 phenomena would be that. Mother 

 Earth, stimulated by her surrounding 

 correlatives, takes the lead in the 

 changing courses of destiny relative to 

 her offspring, and molds them to the 

 sway of the ruling impulses accom- 

 panying the successive periods of 

 growth and disintegration consonant 

 to their situation. If the life element 

 will only admit the existence of 

 monads. Nature is in a condition to 

 nurse them to existence. If the cosmic 

 elements warrant their existence, 

 molecules will make -their appearance. 



Another degree, and the enlites are 

 prompted to life at the starting point 

 of organic beings — beings organically 

 androgynous — thrown from their def- 

 ferentiatiug centres ' in numberless 

 divergencies, supported in their impetus 

 by the agencies wliich gave them birth; 

 and destined to survive or subside, as 

 the cyclic or cataclysmic changes in- 

 cident to their progress directed. If-, 

 in their passage along the ascending 

 line, the revolutionary changes from 

 water to lanil rendered them amphib- 

 ious, and legs and feet were needed to 

 harmonize their existence to the 

 change, the same agencies that prompt- 

 ed the dawn of being was ready to ad- 

 minister to their needs. While in the 

 water, scales were the best protection 

 for their bodies, fins the best means for 

 locomotion, and gills the best organs 

 to convey oxygen to their circulating 

 fluids. When the drift of circumstances 

 decreed the air to be their theater of 

 life, the hidden forces wliich evolved 

 those circumstances, gave them wings 

 as means of transport from place to 

 place, when searching for sustenance 

 or habitation. 



If in a cooling atmosphere, the com- 

 bustion necessary for their existence 

 required pi-otection, the •' Elemental 

 Guardians " supplied them garments of 

 hair, fur or featliers, as their sphere of 

 life required — and. Nature being im- 



partial in the exercise of her functions 

 relative to her multitudinous designs, 

 no di.^crimination was made, or is 

 made in her dealings with any one 

 species of (animal) life in its journej' 

 from the infinitely sftiall to the in- 

 finitel}' great — from inorganic matter 

 to organized inti^lligence. When, by 

 clianging conditions, members once 

 useful to the body become useless, dis- 

 use would render Ihem mummelicd in- 

 dices of by-gone functions ; thus dis- 

 playing in the atrophied glands of the 

 queen-bee, that parthenogenesis was, 

 at one period in the existence of her 

 species, a more substantial reality than 

 at its present stage of development ; 

 and that one of the functions of our 

 "babboon ancestors" is indicated in 

 the mammary glands of their progeny, 

 leaving an opening for a shadowy con- 

 clusion that, witli the countenanced 

 authority of ages, as to the merits of a 

 sacred trust, a discrepancy exists in 

 the primeval distribution of the gen- 

 erative attributes. 

 Cumberland, Maine. 



HORTICULTURE. 



The Relation of llie Honey-Bees 

 to Horticulture. 



Read at the Nebraska Convention 



BY REV. K. T. ABBOTT. 



A very close connection exists be- 

 tween the two subjects, and the rela- 

 tion, one to the other, should be con- 

 sidered in all its bearings. It is evi- 

 dent that flowers are useful to insects, 

 but the question arises, are the insects 

 of any use to the flowers ? 



First, it is to be seen what benefit 

 the insect is to horticulture, and then 

 what harm, if any, the insects cause to 

 flowers. 



An ordinary flower will be taken for 

 an example. Inside of the corrolla is 

 a set of organs called stamens, and on 

 top of them is an organ called anther, 

 containing a powder known as pollen, 

 which carries the male element of the 

 flower, or the sperm-cell. In the cen- 

 ter of the flower is another organ, or 

 organs, called a pistil, composed of 

 three parts, the stigma, style and 

 ovarv. The ovary is a hollow case or 

 pod, "which contains rudimentary seeds, 

 and in wliich arc found at the proper 

 time the embi-jo sac that contains the 

 o-erm-cell. To produce fruitage the 

 sperm-cell must be brought into im- 

 mediate contact with the germ-cell. 

 The question is, how are these, two 

 elements to be brought together ? 



When all of the organs are found in 

 one flower, or in the case of the one 

 described, the process is very simple. 

 A gentle movemcut of the wind after 

 the'antlior has ripened will shower the 



potent grains of pollen down upon the 

 receptive stigma. Soon there is found 

 what is known as the pollen-tube, 

 which, growing downward through 

 the .style, enters the cavity of the 

 ovary, and guided by some mysterious 

 yet unerring power, makes its way to 

 the embryo sac. Movement, growth 

 and .all formation commences, and 

 thus is formed the fruit and seed, in 

 which lies beautifully folded the em- 

 bryo plantlet of the future tree, bush, 

 vine, or whatever it may be. 



In some flowers the process of pol- 

 lenation is more complicated. They 

 are so constructed that the pollen can- 

 not reach the stigma, although in the 

 same flower. In some instances th(- 

 pollen dust is so constituted as to be of 

 no use to the pistil of the same flower, 

 and in manj^ flowers the stamens and 

 pistils are not fully developed at the 

 same time. In these and in other 

 cases some outward agency must be 

 looked to, to bring the two elements 

 together. This brings up another im- 

 portant part of the subject. Not only 

 pollenation is desired, but pollenation 

 in such a way as to secure cross-ferti- 

 lization, preventing what is known 

 among stockmen as " in-breeding." 

 Here comes in the work of the bees. 

 In visiting the flowers they carry pol- 

 len from flower to flower, and thus do 

 for the plant what it cannot do for 

 itself. 



It has been shown by experiments 

 that self-fertilized plants, that is, ferti- 

 lized by their own pollen, are gen- 

 erally "much inferior in vigor and 

 strength to those that are cross-ferti- 

 lized. In many gardens and green- 

 houses bees are kept for this very 

 purpose. 



In this connection, lest some one 

 may ask why this mixing up of pollen 

 of various plants will not create great 

 confusion by the production of hybrids, 

 etc., it ma}' be stated that Aristotle 

 obsei-ved, "over 2,000 years ago, that 

 bees visit the flowers of the same 

 species as long as they can, and this 

 has been confirmed by later observa- 

 tion. The wind, and other insects 

 than bees are \aluable in accomplisli- 

 ing cross-fertilization, but many trees 

 and plants have to depend upon the 

 bee. 



The question now comes up, do bees 

 ever injure fruit? The prevailing 

 testimony seems to be that, as a gen- 

 eral thing, bees do not perforate 

 flowers. The main ground of com- 

 plaint has been that the bees injure 

 the fruit itself, especially the grape 

 Prof. McLain, who is employed by the 

 Government to make experiments in 

 apiculture, has devoted considerablf 

 time to this subject. He confined 

 number of colonies of bees in a house, 

 and endeavored by heat, etc., to bring 



