JULY 1, 1914 



505 



of produce in his orchards, and was very 

 proud of being reckoned among the most 

 skillful horticulturists of the country. 



" Good morning, father Philip," cried 

 Mr. Sarrazin, as he saw a man turned with 

 his back to the road, seemingly plunged in 

 a sort of ecstasy at the view of a shower of 

 white blossoms falling from the tops of the 

 plum-trees. "Good morning! how goes it 

 to-day?" 



The interrupted man turned around sud- 

 denly, and saluted the two visitors. 



" What are you doing there, father Phil- 

 ip—admiring your plum-trees as if estimat- 

 ing the crop in advance? " 



" Ah ! pardon me. I was thinking of you 

 at this moment. I said to myself, as I 

 watched the blossoms fall like the snow, 

 that I had been too sagacious to allow my- 

 self to be led astray by your tine-spun 

 i-easoning on the subject of insects. Jur.t 

 listen." 



He pointed at the blossoms with whicli 

 the ground was whitened, and the bees 

 humming on the trees. 



" There! I have the pleasure," he contin- 

 ued, " of convincing you that these little 

 animals injure our crops. See what hap- 

 pens, although almost nobcdy in the village 

 has bees. Remember, now, if we have all 

 of them, there will not remain a plum nor 

 any fruit of any kind on our trees." 



" Do you believe that, father Philip? " 



" Do I believe it? Why, see for yourself, 

 sir. I am only an ignoramus; but it does 

 not require much science to understand 

 what one can see with his own eyes. What 

 do you see at this moment? Look, now — - 

 look ! " 



We were just then at the foot of one of 

 the most beautiful plum-trees in the or- 

 chard. Hundreds of bees were struggling 

 with each otlier on the beaiatiful blossoms, 

 and even seemed to dispute their possession. 

 At times there could be seen two or three 

 bees suspended on the same blossom; and 

 this, yielding to the unwonted weight, be- 

 came detached, and dragged in its fall the 

 lively little insects, as the farmer said. 



Mr. Sarrazin waited for me to take up 

 the argument as if he himself had been 

 convinced. The farmer manifested his sat- 

 isfaction by assuming a certain air of tri- 

 umph over an adversary more skillful than 

 himself. 



" Let us examine carefully and see 

 whether father Philip is right," Mr. Sarra- 

 zin said at last; "and if such is the case I 

 will admit frankly, and there will be no 

 further talk about putting bees on these 

 premises." 



I had had time to make my observations; 



but I thought, and justly, that the only way 

 to convince father Philip was to demon- 

 strate the truth by visible evidence. Seizing 

 a branch loaded with blossoms I explained 

 very clearly that the bees could be accused 

 of pulling down, a few moments before, 

 only such blossoms as never could have 

 attained maturity, 



" Thus, so far from being injurious to 

 your fruit-trees, the bees seem designed by 

 Providence for one particular work. See," 

 I added, showing him a large shaggy drone, 

 six times larger than a common bee, which 

 was hanging to the blossoms, but which, 

 nevertheless, did not fall under the extra 

 weight. I called father Philip's attention 

 to the fact that, among the blossoms form- 

 ing the same bouquet, one can rarely find 

 more than one or two, rarely three, the 

 peduncles of which are firmly fastened to 

 the branch; the others, evidently not being 

 designed for fertilization, naturally fall 

 soon after the time of blooming. Those 

 that resist this first crisis are detached later. 

 After fertilization has begun, they exliaust 

 needlessly a part of the sap designed for 

 the young fruits which alone are capable 

 of acquiring full growth. 



The farmer was what might be called a 

 candid man, and possessed of good sense. 

 He did not hesitate to admit that my obser- 

 vations were just. He agreed graciously 

 that, if all the blossoms were to become 

 fertilized, the exhausted trees would perish, 

 or else it would be years before they would 

 be in condition to bear again. 



Mr. Sarrazin was charmed to see his 

 farmer-tenant of such a good disposition. 

 He confirmed enthusiastically the last con- 

 siderations, which he had even made himself, 

 and which entirely exonerated the bees of 

 the things of which they had been unjustly 

 accused. 



" There is still another thing," I added, 

 "that militates in favor of insects nourished 

 by honey and pollen; and that is, they are 

 charged with the important mission of as- 

 sisting fertilization of blossoms. When one 

 bee alights on one blossom, and seeks to 

 penetrate it to gain access to the honey (or 

 nectar) deposited there, it occasions an 

 agitation or shock, which causes something 

 like a white cloud to arise, and this is the 

 dust contained in the stamens. The pistil 

 receives it, and thus fecundation is effected. 

 In flying from blossom to blossom, one can 

 easily believe that the bees favor somewhat 

 the degeneracy of species; but that is noth- 

 ing. Aside from a few exceptional cases, 

 these insects, obeying a law of Providence, 

 do not get a full load from a blossom of a 



