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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



got is known to have been recently, nor 

 in fact should they be planted in very 

 close proximity to a recent outbreak. 

 R. H. Pettit. 

 East Lansing, Mich. 



Twelve Spotted Cucumbee Beetle. See 

 Cucumber. 



Beans, Velvet. See Apple Orchard 

 Cover Crop. 



Bees 



Before discussing the subject of bees 

 in the orchard, we will describe briefly 

 the nature of bees in general; because It 

 is only when we understand them that we 

 are prepared to appreciate their relations 

 to things affected by them. 



Bees, like most animals and plants, are 

 divided into families, species and vari- 

 eties. Of the bees there are two distinct- 

 ive families. The first is called, scien- 

 tifically, Andrenidea, or Solitary Bees, 

 having the underlip flattened and very 

 short. The second is called Apidae, and 

 are social in their instincts. The Andre- 

 nidea excavate nests in the turf, the grass 

 and other substances in the fields, even 

 making a deep pipe or hole with short 

 lateral galleries in which the grub feeds 

 and grows. These bees entertain guest 

 bees called Nomada, so called because 

 they lay their eggs in the nests of the 

 Andrenidea where the young are hatched 

 and share the food of their hosts as vis- 

 itors share the food of friends. Here the 

 adults seem to live harmoniously together, 

 grow their young and sustain relations 

 which seem more like a partnership than 

 a case of parasitism. 



The Apidae includes the Bumble Bee, 

 the Carpenter Bee, Stingless Bees, and 

 Honey Bees. The Bombus, or Bumble Bee, 

 are familiar to all American boys, espe- 

 cially those who have lived in the coun- 

 try in the Middle or Eastern states. Up- 

 wards of fifty species of this bee inhabit 

 North America; there are very few in 

 South America, and none in Africa south 

 of the Sahara, or in Australia; while 

 they are the only bee inhabiting the 

 Arctic and Alpine regions. This bee is 

 sometimes called the Humble bee, and Is 

 recognized by its large, thick, hairy body 

 and deep bass hum. The colonies of 



Bumble bees are not numerous as com- 

 pared with those of the Honey bee, but 

 they are more vicious and the sting is 

 very severe. Their colonies are not large, 

 perhaps not more than one-tenth the size 

 of the colonies of the Honey bee. In 

 good weather and when the flowers are 

 abundant they collect honey and store in 

 the cells from which the young were 

 hatched. 



The Carpenter bee, called in science 

 Xylocopa-virginica, is called the Carpenter 

 bee because it bores in the wood of dead 

 trunks of trees, lumber, and sometimes in 

 buildings. It is a large black bee, as 

 large as the Bumble bee or sometimes 

 larger. It bores horizontally across the 

 grain of the wood, then turns and runs 

 sometimes from one to two feet at right 

 angles. When the cells are completed 

 they are supplied with pollen and sepa- 

 rated from each other by sawdust or dust 

 which the bees formed in making the 

 cells, and this dust is glued together with 

 a wax which they supply. When the cells 

 are finished an egg is deposited in each 

 cell; when the egg is hatched the larvae 

 feed on the pollen until they are able to 

 bore their way out of the cell. A Car- 

 penter bee will sometimes use the same 

 home for several hatchings, and the place 

 is often occupied by other bees. 



The Stingless bee is sometimes called 

 Melipona. 



The Honey bee is called Apis Melifica. 



The leading feature in the natural his- 

 tory of bees, and one which distinguishes 

 them from all other insects is their singu- 

 lar distribution into three different kinds, 

 constituting, to all appearances, so many 

 modifications of sex. The drone, which 

 has a thick body, a round head, a more 

 flattened shape, and a more obtusely ter- 

 minated abdomen, within which are con- 

 tained the male organs of generation. Is 

 undoubtedly the male of the species. It 

 is distinguished also by the absence of a 

 sting and by the humming noise that ac- 

 companies its flight. The queen bee has 

 a sting, has a larger abdomen than the 

 others, and is larger and more graceful. 

 Her work is to lay the eggs for the new 

 colony or generation. The worker bees 

 are small, having a long proboscis, used 



