120 



1HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



BEES OF GREAT VALUE TO FRUIT AND SEED 

 GROW ERS. 



At last fruit-growers and bee-keep- 

 ers are getting into right relations 

 with each other. The numerous dis- 

 cussions which have taken place re- 

 garding the value of bees as fertiliz- 

 ers of fruit blossoms and of those blos- 

 soms of plants grown for their seeds, 

 and regarding the alleged damage to 

 fruit by bees, have led to close obser- 

 vation and careful experimentation, 

 the results of which show that the 

 interests of these two classes of pro- 

 ducers conflict in but trifling respects 

 — that, in fact, bee-keepers and fruit- 

 growers are of great help to each oth- 

 er, and even indispensable if each is 

 to obtain the best results in his work. 



Bee keepers have never complained 

 but that the growing of fruit in the 

 vicinity of their apiaries was a great 

 benefit to their interests, hence their 

 position has been merely a defensive 

 one, the battle waxing warm only 

 when poisonous substances were set 

 out to kill the bees, or when fruit- 

 growers sprayed their orchards with 

 poisonous insecticides during the time 

 the trees were in blossom, or again 

 when efforts were made to secure by 

 legislation the removal of bees from a 

 certain locality as nuisances. Fruit- 

 growers iii'st relented when close 

 vation ami exp< riment showed 

 that wasps bit open tender fruits, 

 birds peeked them, they cracked un- 

 der the action of sun and rains, and 



hail sometimes cut them, the bees ■ 

 only coming in to save the wasting 

 juices of the injured fruit. The wide 

 publicity given to the results of the 

 experiments made under the direction 

 of the United States entomologist and 

 published in the report of the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture for 1885, 

 have no doubt contributed much to 

 secure this change among fruit-grow T - 

 ers. 



Hut now it would appear that the 

 bees have not only been vindicated, 

 but that in the future fruit-growers 

 are likely to be generally regarded as 

 more indebted to bee-keepers than 

 the latter are to the fruit-growers, for 

 the amount of honey the bees secure 

 from fruit blossoms comes far short of 

 equalling in value that part of the 

 fruit crop which many accurate ob- 

 servations and experiments indicate 

 is due to the complete cross-ferliliza- 

 of the blossoms by bees. The obser- 

 vations and researches of Hildebrand, 

 Muller, Delpino, Darwin and others, 

 as well as the excellent explanation 

 of the subject in Cheshire's recent 

 work, have gone far to prove how 

 greatly blossoms depend upon the 

 agency of bees for their fertilization, 

 and hence for the production of seeds 

 and fruits. 



The facts they have brought for- 

 ward are gradually becoming more 

 widely known among fruit-growers 

 and bee-keepers, and additional evi- 

 dence accumulates. A case illustrat- 

 ing very clearly the value of bees in 

 in an orchard has recently come to 

 the notice of the writer, and its au- 

 thenticity is confirmed by correspond- 

 ence with the parties named, who are 

 gentlemen of long and extensive ex- 



