90 A Pica for the Bees. 



A PLEA FOR THE BEES. 



The poor bees have recently, if all we hear is true, been terribly perse- 

 cuted ; and we are thus tempted to take up the cudgel in their defence. 



The good people of Wenham, Mass., have voted by a two-thirds majority 

 that no bees shall be kept in that town ; while in the city of Harrisburg, in 

 the State of Pennsylvania, a jury of " intelligent " citizens decided that bees 

 are a nuisance, and as such must be abated, because, forsooth, a candy 

 manufacturer, not over-cleanly we opine, was greatly bothered by these self- 

 same bees, who made an attack on his sweetmeats. In both instances, the 

 bee-keepers had to get rid of their stock. 



Now, Messrs. Editors, are these righteous verdicts ? We think not; and 

 we believe the time is coming when the public will cease to wage war on 

 our little friends ; and as now, when the follies of laws are made obvious, 

 and protection is given by enactments to insectivorous birds, so, when we 

 find our fruit-crops failing, shall we foster the little honey-workers. This 

 crusade must end sooner or later. 



Fifteen or twenty years ago, our orchards teemed with fruit ; but now this 

 crop is generally a complete failure. Many reasons have been given for this; 

 but we are more and more confirmed in our opinion, formed years ago, that the 

 whole matter was due to imperfect fructification. Then, on every farm, bees 

 were kept, while the woods were swarming with wild ones. Now things 

 are changed. Gradually the keeping of bees was deemed a nuisance, while 

 the woodman's axe annihilated the haunts of the wild insects. It is a rare 

 thing in this section to find a bee-hive ; and, as a consequence, our fruit- 

 crops are almost complete failures. It is a fact well known to all botanists, 

 that it is only by a proper distribution of the pollen from tree to tree, and 

 from flower to flower, that proper fertilization is produced. If this is not 

 done, the fruit aborts ; and upon the first rain the ground is covered with 

 them, to the great dismay of the culturist, who blames the spring rain for it. 

 " The heavy rains are ruinous to our fruit " is the only reason for the failure 

 of the crop. When shall we look on these things in the light of science ? 



As a proof that bee-raising and a plentiful fruit-crop are always compati- 

 ble, we have several cases which we shall notice. 



