660 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and a few other flowers. As there has 

 been a partial failure of the honey crop 

 for several years past, many of the 

 queens are old, and will be superseded. 

 This morning I examined a colony that 

 was reported very strong a month ago, 

 but much weaker at present. The sup- 

 position was that they had swarmed. 

 This was not correct, as no traces of 

 young queens being reared could be dis- 

 covered ; the queen may have been lost 

 about the time of the blizzard, and the 

 bees neglected to rear one until the 

 larvae were too old to do so. When the 

 combs were lifted out, no larvajor sealed 

 brood were to be seen. Then a comb 

 containing eggs and larvae was furnished 

 so that the bees might have ready 

 means at hand to rear a queen. I shall 

 watch this comb with interest. I am of 

 the opinion that no queen will be reared, 

 for when eggs and larvse are given to a 

 queenless colony they disappear in a 

 mysterious way. Why they disappear 

 may be owing to the fact that there may 

 be no nurse-bees, and the insects eat the 

 eggs, and humanely remove the young 

 larvae. 



When a comb of young larvae is given 

 to a queenless colony, the nurse-bees 

 should be taken with it. If not, give 

 sealed brood first, and when the young 

 bees have left the cells, and are of the 

 right age for nurse-bees, give them eggs 

 and larvae that they may rear a queen. 



The rain is now beginning to fall. 

 Should it continue until the ground is 

 thoroughly soaked, the prospect for 

 honey may materially change. In order 

 to make bee-keeping pay, the hives must 

 be full of bees, at the time there is sur- 

 plus honey to be gathered. 



Peoria, 111. 



Bees ani Pollination of Blossoms. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



[A Lecture Delivered Before the ISouthern 

 ^California Sorticultural Society at Pasa- 

 dena^ on 3fay 3, 1894.] 



I am glad that I was asked to open the 

 discussion on the subject of pollination. 

 It is one that has interested me much in 

 the past, and one to which I have given 

 some thought, study and investigation. 

 It is, I believe, one of first importance 

 to the practical fruit-grower, and, when 

 it is rightly understood, will change not 

 a little the views and practice of many 

 of our pomologists. 



I need hardly state here that the es- 

 sential organs of every flower are the 



pistils and stamens; and that for the 

 plant to fruit, it is absolutely necessary, 

 in most cases, that the pollen from the 

 anther, or tip of the stamen, shall reach 

 the stigma or end of the pistil, that it 

 may send its tubular growth down to in- 

 fluence the ovules in the ovary at the 

 base of the pistil. Unless these pollen- 

 cells reach the ovules, the latter are un- 

 able to develop, and in nearly all cases 

 there will be no fruit. It is possible 

 that in very rare cases the so-called fruit 

 may develop without pollination, but 

 this is never true of the seeds. This 

 process is known as pollination, or pol- 

 lenization. Fructification and fertiliza- 

 tion are also used, but the latter may be 

 used and is in another sense, and is un- 

 desirable. We may speak of fertile 

 stamens when they are able to produce 

 pollen, and of fertile pistils when they 

 are able to bear ovules. 



It is also known that many plants, 

 including most of our cultivated fruits, 

 especially those with showy or sweet- 

 smelling flowers, must receive the pollen 

 from other varieties, or pollination will 

 be imperfect, or entirely ineffective. 

 That is, if the stigma of any flower re- 

 ceive pollen from the same flower, or 

 from flowers of the same tree, or from 

 those of trees of the same variety, either 

 no fruit will be produced, or if produced 

 it will be imperfect, perhaps small and 

 seedless. In other words, much of our 

 fruit-bloom, that it may bear perfect 

 fruit, or any fruit at all, must be pol- 

 linated from some other variety; as 

 Bartlett from Anjou, or Anjou from 

 Clairgeau, etc. The arguments in favor 

 of this view are drawn from the struc- 

 tural peculiarities of the flowers, and 

 also from experiments. 



In many flowers, especially irregular 

 ones like the orchids, the peculiar form 

 of the flower precludes close pollination, 

 and makes the presence of insects 

 necessary to any possible pollination. 

 In dia^cious trees — those in which the 

 pistilate flowers are all on one plant, 

 and the staminate all on another — cross- 

 pollination is absolutely necessary, and 

 unless pollen is carried by the wind or 

 insect, there can be no pollination. The 

 willow and poplar are examples of this 

 kind of inflorescence. 



You all know that some of our com- 

 mon varieties of strawberry are almost 

 wholly pistilate. In other plants termed 

 monoecious, the flowers are all either 

 pistilate or staminate, but both kinds 

 are on the same tree or plant. In such 

 cases there must be transfer of pollen, 

 but not necessarily from a different tree. 



