AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



791 



as a farmer loads a rack with loose hay, 

 small particles of it are dropped as she 

 goes from blossom to blossom, and serve 

 the purposes of fertilization. 



In some plants the organs of reproduc- 

 tion, male and female, are on different 

 blossoms, some distance apart, and in 

 many of these plants the interference of 

 the bee is absolutely necessary. The 

 melon, cucumber and pumpkin are in 

 this situation. The male blossoms of 

 these plants produce pollen in such 

 abundance that the bees that visit them 

 often look as if they had rolled in pow^- 

 dered gold-dust, their hairs being ab- 

 solutely covered with the bright dust. 

 After visiting the male blossom for pol- 

 len, they go to the other for honey, and 

 thus cause fecundation. Pumpkins and 

 melons being closely allied, cross-breed- 

 ing is possible, between them, with the 

 help of the bee, when in close proximity, 

 and the result is a mongrel vegetable 

 which is of no use, except to illustrate 

 the action of insects in this matter. 



There are other plants, such as corn, 

 in which the two blossoms, although 

 some distance apart, are not visited by 

 bees, for they have no honey ; but these 

 plants have the male blossom higher 

 than the female, and the pollen is pro- 

 duced in such great quantities as to 

 cover the ground about them. Of the 

 same kind is the rag-weed, which covers 

 our stubble-fields in August. The pol- 

 len of these plants is so plentiful that it 

 pervades the air about us, and causes 

 hay fever in persons who have a predis- 

 position to asthma. In these cases the 

 pollen falls upon the female blossom, or 

 is carried to it by the breeze. But in 

 some cases these agencies fail. Thus a 

 single corn-stalk growing alone in the 

 middle of a potato field may prove bar- 

 ren, even though very thrifty, simply 

 because the pollen has been carried 

 away from the tassel, by the wind, with- 

 out reaching the ear. 



In other cases, the reproducing organs 

 are still further removed from one 

 another, being on altogether different 

 plants, as in hemp. In those cases, un- 

 less the pollen is produced in enormous 

 quantities, the agency of insects is in- 

 dispensable. In a few instances, plants 

 under cultivation which were perfect in 

 reproducing power when left to Nature, 

 have become imperfect by cultivation. 

 The strawberry is among these. A num- 

 ber of varieties have either no stamens, 

 or very imperfect ones, so that they 

 must be planted in close proximity with 

 other varieties possessing both stamens 

 and pistils. The use of the honey-bee 

 has been clearly evidenced in this case. 



for the pollen of the strawberry is not 

 very plentiful, and it grows so near the 

 ground that breezes have but little ef- 

 fect, so that the agency of a pollen-car- 

 rying medium is plainly needed. At the 

 meeting of the State Horticulturists in 

 December last, an extensive strawberry 

 grower stated that he had much larger 

 crops since there had been a large apiary 

 established in his near vicinity. 



Is it necessary to give evidences that 

 even in the case of the most absolutely 

 perfect flowers, the agency of bees is 

 useful or indispensable ? Red clover 

 has a blossom, the corolla of which is so 

 deep that none of the pollen can well es- 

 cape without the help of insects, and 

 yet when red clover was imported into 

 Australia, it was found impossible to re- 

 produce the seed until the bumble-bees 

 were imported there. The same red 

 clover, it is well known, cannot bear 

 seed in its first crop here because bum- 

 ble-bees are not sufficiently numerous 

 for its fertilization in the early part of 

 the summer, and its corolla is too deep 

 at that time for the honey-bee to reach 

 the calyx. 



Apple-trees do not bear fruit when 

 blooming takes place during weather 

 cold enough to keep the insects away 

 from the bloom. The experience of the 

 season of 1892 here, was a plain evi- 

 dence of this, for although apple-trees 

 were covered with a profusion of bloom 

 there was no fruit. Why is it that a 

 peach-stone, when planted, often pro- 

 duces a tree whose fruit will be entirely 

 different from the peach from which it 

 came ? Because the blossom was ferti- 

 lized with the help of insects by pollen 

 from another tree. 



In short, the agency of insects pro- 

 duces in fruit the same result that is 

 produced in corn by the agency of the 

 wind. Put white and yellow corn side 

 by side in the same field, and the result 

 will be a mixture of the two kinds pro- 

 duced by the cross-fertilization of the 

 blossoms. 



I believe that I have given sufficient 

 proof that the honey-gathering insects 

 are necessary to the farmer to help the 

 crops of his orchard and garden. Let 

 us now look at the other side. 



It is said that bees may be too plenti- 

 ful, and that their too oft-repeated visits 

 to the blossom may damage the latter. 

 Some say also that the honey which 

 blossoms produce is necessary to their 

 growth, and that, when not removed by 

 the bee, it is absorbed by the fruit, and 

 helps its development. If such be the 

 case, the blossoms which are most visited 

 by the bees must suffer, and sooner or 



