No. 4.] HONEYBEES AS POLLINIZERS. 227 



in individual flowers or in individual flowers on separate 

 plants. From practical experience, moreover, it is generally 

 conceded that the honeybee is the most important of the many 

 agents in this service. Other insects render their service as 

 ■well, but their service cannot be depended upon. Their num- 

 bers are uncertain and fluctuating. They may be absent at 

 the very time when they are most needed, as, for instance, 

 at the height of apple bloom. Thus it is claimed that the 

 honeybee is first and foremost the most important, and that 

 it should be provided and conserved by the farmer. 



Since there are differences in pollen, however, it might be 

 contended by some that the wind is active in transferring the 

 pollen from tree to tree or blossom to blossom. To be sure, 

 some pollen is lighter than others and easier carried by the 

 wind, but in the provisions of nature, pollen which is light 

 and transferable on the breezes is designed so to be carried, 

 and trees which bear it are usually wind pollinated, those 

 which are actually independent of insects. The pines fur- 

 nish an example. Observations are not infrequent where the 

 air has been seen filled with millions of pollen granules drift- 

 ing with the wind. But among the fruits and vegetables the 

 pollen is usually more heavy and inclined to be sticky or 

 viscous, as is the case with the pear. This heavy pollen, in 

 order to be transported, is dependent upon the service of some 

 insect, usually the honeybee, and is capable of being carried 

 by the wind to a very slight, if any, extent. In the case of 

 apples, too, experiments have been conducted which tend to 

 prove that little or no pollen in the apple orchard drifts on 

 the wind. 



This service of the honeybee, alluded to in transferring 

 pollen, may be regarded as performed unconsciously or un- 

 intentionally while seeking for nectar or pollen in the 

 flowers. In procuring the nectar, for instance, which flowers 

 dependent upon the services of insects usually produce in 

 abundance, there is a secretion in the nectary or honey-cup 

 at the base of the flower. The bee, for illustration, dusts off 

 particles of pollen which become entangled in her hair. 

 Then the bee in quest of more nectar flies to another blos- 

 som and in the course of her search for nectar therein leaves 



