370 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



cally or with finality on this point. I am 

 planning now to make a test of the question 

 by covering certain branches during their 

 time of bloom, and test by actual observa- 

 tion the effect on a large number of blos- 

 soms, kept from all visits of insects. 



That brings us to a discussion of the 

 observed data from the increase of bees 

 among our groves. Six years ago one could 

 hardly find a dozen men to the county in 

 Florida who kept bees, and most of those 

 were small holders. Now the number has 

 grown by leaps and bounds. Then, too, 

 many fruit-growers had an antipathy to 

 bees, thinking they damaged their bloom. 

 But enlightenment is coming. Now, those 

 same growers who objected to bees in their 

 groves are asking beemen to place apiaries 

 in their holdings. Here, for instance, one 

 of the largest growers of this section, Judge 

 Stewart, has made a request to have bees 

 placed in his large groves north of town, 

 seeing what has been done in the increase 

 and quality of fruit in and about town, 

 where so many bees are flying. Half the 

 grove men here have bees in their groves, 

 either their own (largely so), or sometimes 

 from neighboring beemen. Mr. C. F. Spaul- 

 ding, of Deland, was the first, ten or twelve 

 years ago, to see the importance of bees 

 among his trees, and located a small apiary 

 in liis grove at his own expense, not for 

 honey, but for fertilization. No one has 

 had better fruit nor more even-bearing nor 

 fuller carrying from setting to maturity 

 than he has had for a decade past. His 

 grove is pointed out as one of the most 

 even-bearing. That was even ten years ago. 

 Now, with hundreds of colonies to ten then, 

 he has not found it necessary, as I have 

 taken over his apiary. But I have 100 colo- 

 nies within a block of Ins grove. There are 

 probably over 400 colonies within flying 

 distance of any one grove in and about 

 town. If, as seems to be the growing idea, 

 bees do not Qy more than a mile and a half, 

 on an average, then we need more bees 

 rather than fewer. That is my contention. 

 From a pomologist's point of view, not that 

 of the apiarist, we seem to be coming to 

 this Anew. " The more the meri-ier." Too 

 many bees there cannot be; all will admit 

 that. Too few there can easily be, all are 

 coming to admit. Just how many make the 

 minimum is the problem. I wager it is 

 impossible to do more than determine this 

 point roughly from our present data, at 

 least. 



One point I should like to add : T can 

 easily see why Editor Root should insist 

 that fewer bees per acre are needed to 

 fertilize orang-e-trees than friiit-treeg north, 



for two reasons — namely, first, the shorter 

 time of blooming in the fruit-trees; second, 

 the comparatively weak condition of colo- 

 nies in the North at the time of fruit bloom. 

 Perhaps a third element might be added, 

 the fact of bad weather at the time of fruit- 

 tree bloom. My statements in our local 

 papers w^ere all directed toward encourag- 

 ing an understanding of the matter, and a 

 favorable attitude among our growers to- 

 ward bees in their groves. So I stated a 

 large number as the necessary one. I wrote 

 the following for the local paper two years 

 ago, since which time a marked change in 

 attitude among growers here has been not- 

 ed. I may be allowed to repeat that closing 

 paragraph : 



" For best results there should not be 

 fewer than five hives to an acre ; even more 

 are better; for in stormy weather, when 

 bees fly for only a short time during the 

 day, or for only a short distance from their 

 hives, a larger number of colonies will in- 

 sure perfect fertilization, where a smaller 

 number might not." 



So, in absence of accurate data as to the 

 minimum of safety in numbers, I have 

 pleaded for the maximum. The idea also is 

 growing among beemen further south in the 

 state, I note in some instances. I refer 

 notably to the Manatee Friiit Co., of Pal- 

 metto, and to the groves of Mr. Z. Goddard, 

 of Terra Cea, Fla. 



The final point I wish to make is this : 

 That growers are at last coming to admit 

 the Darwinian theory as true in their fruit, 

 that the fertilization of blossoms from trees 

 remote gives stronger buds, and young 

 fruit, and makes better mature fruit, wliich 

 in turn improves the strengih of the seed, 

 and makes for constant improvement in 

 vitality all thru the entire life of the tree, 

 and thru succeeding generations of stock. 

 The growers in and about Deland and Bra- 

 dentown and Tampa and Arcadia and Or- 

 lando, hold this idea, '' The nearer the bees 

 to their groves the more fn;it they have, and 

 the better the quality." 



Editor Root says, that on liis visit to 

 Florida he found the growers unaware of 

 any bees in their groves, often, and yet they 

 secured large crops of fruit. He adds that 

 he found bees flying there, and always told 

 them that they probably knew little of the 

 real number of bee-visitoi-s they really had 

 among their trees. His remarks were most 

 pertinent, and showed the accuracy of his 

 observation ; and it might be well to remark 

 that there are a dozen — yes, twenty — bee- 

 trees in the average flying distance of any 

 grove in Florida, compared with one such 

 bee-tree within flviug distance of the usual 



