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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



BEES AS FEBTILIZERS. 



READ AT THE ASSOCIATION FOK THE ADVANCE- 

 MENT OF AGRICXU.TURAL SCIENCE, 

 AVASHINGTON. I). C. 



Darwin's memorable researches and gener- 

 alizations in relation to the fertilization and 

 cross-fertilization of plants, through the agen- 

 cy of insects, are not the least of his many 

 valuable scientific discoveries, nor yet are they 

 least in their bearings on economic ques- 

 tions. His classic investigations settled the 

 question of the great value or insects in secur- 

 ing full fruitage to many of our most valuable 

 fruits and vegetables. Since Darwin, many 

 scientists have, by crucial tests and experi- 

 ments, abundantly conlirmed his conclusions. 

 Our more intelligent practical men have also 

 made significant observations. They note a 

 scarcity of insect visits to the blossoms of the 

 first crop of red clover, and also its failure to 

 bear seed. The alsike clover is freely visited in 

 early June by the honey-bee, and bears a full 

 crop of seed. In New Zealand, the red clover 

 failed to seed at all seasons, and there was a 

 conspicuous absence of insects upon the blos- 

 soms, both early and late. This led to the im- 

 portation of bumble-bees from England, to the 

 earth's very limit, and now the New Zealand 

 farmer produces clover seed. Gardeners keep 

 bees to-day that their vegetables may fruit and 

 seed more liberally. Even the producers of 

 flower-seeds in our cities keep bees in their 

 greenhouses, as they Hud this the easiest and 

 cheapest method to secure that more perfect 

 fertilization upon which their profits depend. 

 Secretary Farnsworth, of the Ohio Horticul- 

 tural Society, could account for a very meager 

 crop of fruit a few years since, in his vicinity, 

 after a profusion of bloom, only through lack 

 of pollenization. The bees had nearly all died 

 off the previous winter. I have often noted the 

 fact, that, if we have rain and cold all during 

 the fruit-bloom, as we did in the spring of 18^)0, 

 even trees that bloom fully ai"e almost sure to 

 bear as sparingly. 



Darwin's researches considered insects as a 

 whole, and it is true that all insects that visit 

 flowei'S. either for hectar or pollen, do valuable 

 service in this work of pollenization. Thus 

 many of the hymenoptei'a. diptera. and coleop- 

 tera. and not a few lepidoptera, are our ever 

 ready helpers as pollenizers. Yet early in the 

 season, in our northern latitudes, most insects 

 are scarce. The severe winters so thin their 

 numbers that we find barely one, whereas we 

 will find hundreds in late summer and early 

 autumn. In late summer the bumble-bees and 

 paper-making wasps number scores to each 

 colony, while in spring only the one fertile fe- 

 male "will be found. This is less conspicuously 

 true of solitary insects, like most of our native 

 bees, and wasps; yet even these swarm in late 

 summer, where they were solitary or scatter- 

 ing in the early spring. The honey-bees are a 

 notable exception to this rule. They live over 

 winter, so that even in early spi'ing we may 

 find ten or fifteen thousand in a single colony, 

 in lieu of one solitary female, as seen in the nest 

 of bombus or vespa. By actual count in time 

 of fruit-bloom in May, I have found the bees 

 twenty to one of all other insects upon the 

 flowers; and on cool days, which are very com- 

 mon at this early season, I have known hun- 

 dreds of bees on the fruit-blossoms, while I 

 could not find a single other insect. Thus we 

 see that the honey-laees are exceedingly impor- 

 tant in the economy of vegetable gi-owth and 

 fruitage, especially of all such plants as blos- 

 som early in the season. ^Ye have all noticed 

 how much more common our flowers are in au- 



tumn than in spring time. In spring we hunt 

 for the claytonia. the trillium, and the erythro- 

 nium. In autumn we gather the asters and 

 goldenrods by the armful, and they look up at 

 us from every marsh, fence-corner, and com- 

 mon. In May our flowers demand a search, 

 while in California the fields of January and 

 February are one sea of blossoms. The mild 

 Califoi'nia winters do not kill the insects. There 

 a profusion of bloom will receive service from 

 these so-called "marriage-priests," and a pro- 

 fusion of seed will greet tlie coming spring time. 

 Thus our climate acts upon the insects, and the 

 insects upon the flowers, and we understand 

 why our peculiar flora was developed. Yet 

 notwithstanding the admirable demonstrations 

 of the great master Darwin, and the observa- 

 tions and practice of a few of our intelligent 

 practical men, yet the great mass of our farm- 

 ers ai'e either ignorant or indiflerent as to this 

 matter, and so to the important practical con- 

 siderations which wait upon it. This is very 

 evident, as appears from the fact that many leg- 

 islators the past winter, when called upon to 

 protect the bees, urged that fruit-growers had 

 interests as well as the bee-men, not seeming 

 to know that one of the greatest of these inter- 

 ests rested with the very bees for which pro- 

 tection was asked. 



Now that we understand the significance of 

 the law of adaptation in reference to the pro- 

 gressive development of species, we easily un- 

 derstand why our introduced fruits that blossom 

 early would find a lack of the '"marriage- 

 priests," and why it would be a matter of ne- 

 cessity to introduce the honey-bee, which, like 

 the fruits, are not indigenous to our country, 

 just as the bumble-bee must go with the red 

 clover, if the latter is to succeed at once in 

 far-otf New Zealand. 



It is true, that we have native apples, cher- 

 ries, plums, etc. But these, like the early in- 

 sects, were scattei'ing. not massed in large 

 orchards, and very likely the fruitage of these, 

 before the introduction of the honey-bee, may 

 have been scant and meager. 



Now that spi'aying our fruit-trees with the 

 arsenites. early in the spring, is known to be so 

 profitable, and is coming and will continue to 

 come more generally into use, and as such 

 spraying is fatal to the bees if performed during 

 the time of bloom, and not only fatal to the 

 imago, but to the brood to which it is fed in the 

 hive.it becomes a question of momt>ntous im- 

 portance that (ill should know that bees are 

 valuable to th<^ fruit-grower and the apiarist 

 alike, and that the pomologist who poisons the 

 bees is surely killing the goose that laid the 

 golden egg. That bees are easily poisoned by 

 applying spray to trees that bear nectar-secret- 

 ing blossoms, at the time of bloom, can be easily 

 demonstrated by any one in a very short period 

 of time. It has been demonstrated in a fright- 

 fully expensive manner in several apiaries in 

 various parts of the country. Several bee- 

 keepers, whose all was invested in bees, have 

 lost all this pi'operty. all because some fruit- 

 growing neighbor either thoughtlessly or ig- 

 norantly spi-a.v<'d his fruit-trees while in bloom; 

 and this in the face of the fact that, for the 

 best results, even in the direction sought, the 

 spraying should be deferred until the blossoms 

 fall." I have demonstrated this fact, where the 

 results were entirely in sight. I have shut bees 

 in a cage, and given them sweetened water, 

 containing London purple in the proportion of 

 one pound to :200 gallons of water, and in 24 

 houi'S the bees were all dead; while other bees, 

 in pi'ecisely similar cages, and fed precisely the 

 same food, with the poison omitted, lived for 

 many days. 



We thus see that it becomes very important 



