No. 4.] HONEYBEES AS POLLINIZERS. 225 



As a factor of the importance of bees near by an orchard, 

 it mav be cited that the distance at which bees gather pollen 

 is limited, seldom exceeding one-half mile, which emphasizes 

 the desirability of bees at close range. On the other hand, 

 bees will forage for honey at a greater distance, up to about 

 3 miles from the hive. Nevertheless, they prefer frequent 

 and short trips. Thus if a radius of 3 miles be allowed, — 

 that is, a diameter of 6 miles, — the area of the circle would 

 be 28 square miles, or 18,080 acres, a part of which territory 

 would be imperfectly worked. It should be remembered that 

 bees foraging for honey frequently serve as the bearers of 

 pollen in cross-poUinization, as well as bees foraging for 

 pollen alone. It is this search of the bees for their food which 

 prompts their inestimable service to the fruit grower. The 

 means and mechanism of their operation, though mechanical 

 yet intricate, is referred to below. Being mechanical, it 

 might be accomplished by man at great expense and with 

 exceeding labor, but this is generally recognized as imprac- 

 ticable from the commercial standpoint. Bee labor is far 

 cheaper than human labor. 



This expensive process of hand pollination is exceptional 

 and only one case is reported. In this instance the process 

 was resorted to by a cucumber grower to whom the sting of 

 the honeybee was seriously poisonous. The process, however, 

 is exceedingly old, and according to Herodotus is known to 

 have been practiced five centuries before the Christian era. 

 Much the same method is to-day reported as that used by this 

 cucumber grower who has resorted to hand pollination, and 

 w^ho employs the tip end of a stiff feather by which he trans- 

 fers the pollen of one flower to the sensitive pistil of another. 

 In contrast to this laborious method, the far more common 

 practice of the growlers of cucumbers under glass is to utilize 

 a colony or more of honeybees in their greenhouses. Thou- 

 sands of colonies of bees are thus used in the hothouses 

 around Boston and in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, too, 

 many or most of these are sacrificed, as the growers make 

 little or no effort to save the colonies which have served them 

 so faithfully in the tropical climate of the greenhouse, — 

 conditions adverse to their well-being. 



