82 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 



experiment in this direction at Cornell (Lodeman, Bulle- 

 tin 96) will indicate some of the perverseness of these 

 insects : 



"Much has been written regarding the value of bees 

 in greenhouses. It is said that all hand-pollinations may 

 be dispensed with if desired, as the bees will work among 

 the blossoms, and thus cause the fruit to set. 



"During November, 1893, a hive of bees was received, 

 and on the 23rd day of the month they were set free in 

 the brightest of all the station houses. The hive was 

 placed at the south end of the house, and the bees were 

 kept constantly supplied with proper food. At this time 

 the house was filled with tomato plants in full bloom, and 

 it was hoped the bees would work among them so that 

 the tedious but very necessary hand-pollination of the 

 flowers need no longer be practiced. The bees evidently 

 did not catch the idea, however, for if there was one 

 place in the house which they did not visit it was the 

 tomato blossom. They spent most of their time in bump- 

 ing their heads against the glass sides and roof of the 

 house, and at every opportunity, when the ventilators 

 were raised a little, they took pains to pass through 

 them, even though the mercury stood far below the 

 freezing point out of doors. The bees which did not 

 succeed in finding the ventilators continued to fly against 

 the glass, leaving it only for the purpose of withdrawing 

 far enough to get a start for a fresh attack. In this way 

 the busy bee finally wore herself out, and, in the course 

 of three weeks, those less ambitious individuals which did 

 not fly heavenward in the friendless atmosphere of De- 

 cember, were scattered as corpses along the sides of the 

 house close to the glass; and thus ended the attempt to 

 make these little creatures useful in midwinter. It may 

 be said that bees do not like tomato flowers, but our 

 specimens took no pains to find out whether they liked 

 them or not. It is probable that every bee in the swarm 

 went to his honeyless bourne without ever having dis- 



