80 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



perhaps to an excess of nectar elsewhere, which fact would only 

 emphasize the necessity for additional bees if their service is ex- 

 pected in setting peaches. 



In the orchard house of Stephen Morris, Philadelphia, where 

 peaches are grown by the bushel in fifteen-inch pots under glass, 

 the grower attributes much of his success to the effectual pollina- 

 tion of the blossoms by bees. It is his custom to place a colony in 

 the house as soon as the buds appear. The bees remain until the 

 petals fall. 



Raspberry. It is only necessary to ask any good beekeeper in a 

 raspberry growing district whether the bees visit raspberry bloom; 

 he will tell you that some of the finest honey on the market is 

 raspberry honey. All forms of raspberry, wild and cultivated, 

 are most frequently attended by honey-bees. 



Blackberry. While there is this peculiar affinity of the raspberry 

 for bees, the blackberry, at least certain species, are less frequently 

 visited. Some forms of wild blackberry are visited by bees more 

 readily than apparently are cultivated varieties. 



Strawberry. There seems to be a considerable diversity of opin- 

 ion in regard to the importance of bees in strawberry culture. 

 Professor J. W. Crow of the Ontario Agricultural College, in 

 January, 1913, said "Strawberries are five to ten per cent wind 

 pollinated. A strawberry as soon as pollinated drops its petals, 

 otherwise it remains for a longer time receptive to pollen." In 

 1916 Mr. E. G. Carr of New Jersey assured the writer that "bees 

 worked strawberry beds freely in New Jersey." The writer has 

 also seen bees active on strawberry plots in Maryland. These 

 same plots at certain times and under given bircumstances, appar- 

 ently are unvisited by honey-bees. There^ is doubtless a chance 

 for further observation along the line of the effect of climatic 

 conditions perhaps on the nectar flow on strawberries. There is 

 always to be regarded, too, the counter attraction of other nectar 

 sources when strawberries are in bloom. 



Cranberry. Recent investigations have shown that honey-bees 

 are of prime importance in setting cranberries. The owners of 

 cranberry bogs in Massachusetts, realizing this, are maintaining 

 their own apiaries, or hiring colonies for service on their bogs. 

 It is estimated that it is desirable to have one colony for every two 



