1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



509 



HONEY-BEES AND CUCUMBERS. 



How a Shrewd Old German Places Bee- hives 

 in his Cucumber-Hothouses, and, by Mak- 

 ing Bees Fertilize the Cucumber-blos- 

 soms, give him a Big Crop at a 

 Time when Otherwise they 

 could Not be Had. 



BY D. EVERETT LYON, PH.D. 



"The one great mission of the honey-bee 

 is fructification: the honey she may store is 

 to interest us in her propagation." 



Up-to date horticulturists have known for 

 years that the presence of bees among the 

 blossoms means an increase in quantity and 

 quality of fruit. 



In some sections there has been objection 

 raised to bees by fruit-growers who declared 

 that they were stinging the fruit. 



Those who have made a study of bees 

 know full well that the bee has no implement 

 with which to open a sound specimen of 

 fruit. The hornet and wasp, both of which 

 hive sharp jaws with which to tear old bark 

 from trees and kindred substances with 

 which they build their nests, will frequently 

 bite a grape, a pear, or a peach; and because 

 a honey-bee is seen sipping the juice that 

 runs, some fruit-growers have declared them 

 enemies when the reverse is the case. 



One has but to watch the busy fellows as 



they work from blossom to blossom, to see 

 that, in pollenizing fruit, they are the great- 

 est of benefactors. Take, for instance, an 

 apple-blossom. We find in it the stamens 

 with their corresponding anthers. While it 

 is true that the winds will, in a measure, 

 carry the pollen from the anthers to the 

 stamens, yet at best it is imperfectly done. 



The body of a honey-bee is covered with a 

 heavy down that plays a very important 

 part in this respect. Of course, the bee un- 

 consciously does its work of fertilizing blos- 

 soms, its prime object being to secure the 

 nectar secreted in the corolla; but as it 

 buries itself deep in the blossom it carries 

 on its downy body the fertilizing pollen, 

 which is transmitted to the stamens. 



Jean Ingelow noted the little fellows coat- 

 ed with pollen, and wrote: 



O velvet bee! you're a dusty fellow; 

 You've powdered your legs with gold. 



No State, perhaps, produces more apples 

 and grapes than does New York, and per- 

 haps in no other State is bee-keeping car- 

 ried on so extensively. The connection be- 

 tween the two, therefore, is manifest. 



I remember reading of a section of Cali- 

 fornia where cherries were produced in enor- 

 mous quantities, and incidentally bees were 

 kept by some who were not engaged in the 

 production of fruit. For some reason a 

 quarrel arose between the bee-keepers and 

 the cherry-growers, who claimed the bees 





EARLY CUCUMBERS GROWING IN A GREENHOUSE BECAUSE OF THE AGENCY OF BEES. 



