HONEY-BEES IN HORTICULTURE 81 



acres. The results of experiments with bees in cranberry culture 

 have been reported by Dr. H. J. Frankhn, of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College Experimental Bog in Wareham. It is not 

 maintained, however, that the honey-bee is the only bee of service 

 in the cranberry bog, for the solitary bees are also found. 



Almonds. During 1916^ "Observations on almonds by Tufts 

 show that there is a distinct pollination problem with this fruit. 

 Thirteen varieties, including practically all grow^n on a commercial 

 scale in California, proved to be wholly self-sterile under conditions 

 existing at the University Farm. . . .Of still greater importance is 

 the fact that two leading varieties were found to be intersterile as 

 well as self -sterile." 



It is well known to beekeepers that bees work almond trees. 

 Some of the large and successful apiaries of California are located 

 in almond orchards. 



Vegetables. /Thief among the vegetables which depend upon the 

 honey-bee to a considerable extent for pollination are all the cucur- 

 bitaceous varieties, as field squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, 

 and the like. x\n observation has been made by Mr. Gregory of 

 Massachusetts, who asserts that honey-bees are highly important 

 in the setting of squashes, and claims also that the honey from 

 squash is inferior. 



It has been repeatedly observed that honey-bees are utilized in 

 field cucumber growing, especially where a large number of small 

 pickling cucumbers are produced. In Massachusetts, too, one 

 noted melon grower hires bees for the sole purpose of setting his 

 melon crop. This producer has told the writer that to his utiliza- 

 tion of bees he attributes in a large measure his success with musk- 

 melons and cantaloupes, which he sends to the finest hotels in the 

 country. 



The growing of cucumbers under glass, while a special industry, 

 is merely the adaptation of the utilization of honey-bees. Annually 

 several thousand colonies, perhaps three thousand, are used in the 

 cucumber greenhouses in Massachusetts alone. Hand pollination 

 is impossible and long ago dispensed with. One grower alone uses 

 upwards of eighty colonies a year. 



1 Journal of Heredity, Vol. VII, No. 12, December, 1916, "Pollination Studies on Cali- 

 fornia Fruits," page 545. 



