1S94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



127 



tliey were just what might have been expected. 

 The bloom operated upon was probably stanii- 

 nate, and produced pollen, and, as a natural 

 consequence, became self-fertilized, and the re- 

 sult was an inferior product. I do not care to 

 follow or analyze the article of Prof. Cook; his 

 arguments and conclusions are all based on the 

 same kind of experiments, and, as a conse- 

 quence, are all of a negative nature, and of no 

 force whatever. 



Now, Mr. Editor, let us get at the gist of this 

 question. In the article sent you by Mr. Doo- 

 little, I simply made the assertion that the aid 

 of honey-bees was not needed in the proper fer- 

 tilization of fruit-bloom. Now I am going to 

 make the broader assertion, that fertilization is 

 not aided to any extent by them. This asser- 

 tion is based on the fact that no horticulturist, 

 however expert he may be in the art of artifi- 

 cial fertilization, can take the pollen from a 

 honey-bee, and, without changing its condition, 

 successfully' fertilize a fruit-blossom. If an ex- 

 pert horticulturist can not do this, then how 

 can a bee do it? The horticulturist's object is 

 to fertilize; the bee's object is to gather the pol- 

 len and honey, and carry it to the hive. The 

 instinct of the bee does not teach it how to pre- 

 pare pollen for fertilization purposes. Man's 

 knowledge and ingenuity do, and man can take 

 the pollen from a bee, and. after properly pre- 

 paring it, make it successful in fertilizing. 



It would \)i'. nn (m- v matter to test this thing. 

 Let three or more pcisons in widely separated 

 localities cover at least 100 fruit-blossoms (ap- 

 ple being the most plentiful would be preferred), 

 in the same manner as was done by Prof. Cook 

 and others. This should be done before the 

 flowers were fully opened; then when they are 

 open take a small pair of scissors and remove 

 the stamens, so that self-fertilization can not 

 take place, replacing the covers immediately, 

 and let them remain until the pistil of the flow- 

 ers are in a receptive condition, and then take 

 pollen from honey-bees that are gathering it 

 from the same kind of trees, and try to fertilize 

 the covered bloom with it, just as it is taken 

 from the bees. If such experiments are suc- 

 cessful, then bees can assist in fertilizing fruit- 

 bloom; but if they are a failure, as I am well 

 satisfied they will be. then the claim that they 

 do assist is not well founded, and should be 

 dropped by the bee-keeping fraternity. 



Wet or even damp pollen, as has been demon- 

 strated by experiment, is not potent, and will 

 not perform its intended function. This ac- 

 counts for the fact that, when we have wet 

 weather during fruit-bloom, we get no crop. 

 The pistil of the flowers pass beyond their re- 

 ceptive state during the time that the pollen 

 r'3mains impotent; consequently no fertiliza- 

 tion can take place that season. 



Muscatine, la., Jan. '22. 



[In view of the bulk of the testimony to the 



contrary appearing in this number, it is rather 

 a strong statement to say that "fertilization is 

 not to any extent aided " by the bees. As to 

 the other points in your article, honest inves-ti- 

 gation courts fair criticism.— Ed.] 



BEES ANT) FKUIT ON THE ISLANDS OF LAKE 

 ERIE. 



By Thaddeus Smitlr. 



We ought to be able to get a satisfactory an- 

 swer to this question by bringing together the 

 facts about it, and looking at these facts with 

 an unprejudicid mind, not committed to any 

 particular theory, and not biased by self-inter- 

 est. I have been a bee-keeper for over forty 

 years, and I am also a fruit-grower, and I think 

 lean look at both sides of the question in an 

 impartial manner. I will say here, that I have 

 changed my views about this matter, as I have 

 done with some other cherished views of bee 

 culture that I was taught and have taught 

 others. 



I live upon an island; and when 1 came here 

 25 years ago thf re were but two colonies of bees 

 here. These I bought and immediately Italian- 

 ized, and engaged in raisins queens, as there 

 were no black bees here to mix with them. The 

 fruit here 2.5 years ago was more certain, and 

 less affected by disease, than it has been for 

 several years just past. The bees have increas- 

 ed to 100 or more colonies, and have been dis- 

 tributed to various parts of the island. Shall I 

 say the increase of bees is the cause of the 

 decrease of quantity and quality of fruit ? No, 

 far from it. But such is the kind of argument 

 used by some on the affirmative of this question. 



Not very long ago I read a communication to 

 one of our bee-papers, stating that the writer 

 had put some stands of bees in one comer of 

 his garden, or yard, and that the fruit-trees in 

 that part of the garden had given a good crop 

 of fruit, while the trees in the other corner of 

 the garden had failed in fruit. This statement 

 was given to show what a great advantage bees 

 were in fertilizing bloom. Will any intelligent 

 bee-keeper accept this experiment as a knock- 

 down argument? 



I have never met Prof. Cook; but from his 

 writings and character I have learned to esteem 

 him very highly. In fact, I have been almost 

 ready, as the saying is, to swear by any thing 

 that Prof. Cook would say. But in the article 

 republished in Cleanings he has certainly de- 

 duced some unwarrantable conclusions from 

 some facts stated. For instance, he says: "I 

 have often noticed the fact, that, if we have 

 rain and cold all during the fruit-bloom, even 

 trees that bloom fully are almost sure to hear 

 sparingly.'' This is accounted for by Prof. 

 Cook, solely because it was too cold for the bees 

 to fly. But is there not a much better reason 

 to account for this failure to fruit? Every 

 fruit-grower knows that these cold rains till 



