THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



389 



The operations should be performed 

 ill the inoniiugoriu theeveiuii.n' when 

 all the bees are at hojne. ISesides the 

 fumiiiations, the entrance, alishting- 

 boartl, and the <;ronnd round the hive, 

 and anv portion not reached by tlie 

 vapor, should be washed with a solu- 

 tion of saliiylie acid. Tins is done 

 with an ordiiiary syringe. The tonl- 

 broodv ccilonies receive every other 

 evening one-sixth of a litre of syrup 

 containing :iO to •")() drops of llilbert's 

 solution So. 1 (S grammes or cubic 

 centimetres of pure alcohol to 1 

 giamme of salicylic acid). 



A foul-broody hive should be tunn- 

 gated previous to its being opened, 

 and all diseased brood cut out and 

 thrown away, as few frames left as 

 the bees can conveniently occupy, and 

 if possible the bees should be forced 

 to build new combs. All the hives in 

 the apiary should be fed at least once 

 a week with a syrup containing acid, 

 while the disease lasts. After this 

 treatment M. Bertrand found that at 

 about the end of six weeks all trace 

 of the disease had disappeared, and 

 the convalescent colonies gave a good 

 harvest of honey. I was glad to see 

 that in all his operations M. ]5ertraiid 

 took the same precautions I have al- 

 ways insisted upon, and to tlie neglect 

 of wbich so many have failed to cure 

 their colonies. After a hive had been 

 examined, everything used, as well as 

 the hands, were washed in water con- 

 taining oO drops of solution No. 1 in 

 ■50 grammes of tepid rain water. A 

 special dress made of linen, which 

 can be easily washed, is used in oper- 

 ating ; and the great care taken is 

 shown by the fact that M. Auberson, 

 although constantly manipulating 

 amongst the diseased colonies, had 

 not introduced the disease into his 

 own apiary. These operations are 

 very simple, but not one of the pre- 

 cautions taken can be dispensed with. 

 I prefer to scald hiv«s that contained 

 foul brood, and I liave my hives con- 

 structed with a view to this ; but M. 

 Bertrand pointed out that it would be 

 very inconvenient to do so with such 

 large hives as the Layens, and I also 

 prefer to give my bees salicylic acid 

 in their food whenever tbey have any. 

 It is now several years since I cured 

 my bees of foul brood, but they have 

 always been fed on syrup containing 

 salicylic acid in the proportions set 

 forth ill the British Bee-Keepers' Guide 

 Boo\\ and, although situated in an in- 

 fected area, I attribute the absence of 

 disease in my apiary to the constant 

 use of salicylic acid "in the food. 



The Fertilization of Flowers. 



Mr. James Ueid, a nephew of Mr. 

 Robt. Reid, Collector of Customs at 

 London, Out., who is now a iiroini- 

 nent resident of Paisley, Scotland, 

 lias devoted much attention to botan- 

 ical subjects, and lately delivered a 

 very interesting lecture on " The Fer- 

 tilization of Flowers," before the 

 Botanical Section of the Philosophical 

 Society, from which we make a few 

 extracts : 



N ear-Sighted.— A Lanarkshire bee- 

 keeper writing on the question of the 

 near-sightedness of queens, in the 

 London Journal of Horticulture re- 

 marks as follows : " Some people are 

 of the opinion that bees are not near- 

 sighted— i. e., cannot discern an object 

 near them. I cannot endorse that 

 statement, as I have repeatedly ob- 

 served when bees were feeding under 

 a glass cover, they started when an 

 object was made to pass over or close 

 to them." 



We all know, said Mr. Reid, that 

 most flowers have their stamens and 

 pistil situated together in the same 

 flower; but we likewise know that 

 many species bear those organs on 

 separate flowers, although both kinds 

 of flowers are found growing together 

 on the same plant, whilst still other 

 plants bear their stamens and pistil 

 not merelv in separate flowers, but in 

 flowers oh perfectly distinct plants. 



It is evident that, when these or- 

 gans are each situated on separate 

 flowers, fertilization can ensue only 

 when pollen from the stamens of one 

 flower is carried by some means or 

 other to the stigma of another flower 

 of the same species. In the most of 

 cases this is effected by insects, in a 

 few instances by birds, and in others 

 by the wind. The Scotch tir affords a 

 well-known example of wind-fertiliza- 

 tion. Doubtless the enormous quant- 

 ity of pollen shed by this species is 

 meant to make up for the great waste 

 incidental to its method of transmis- 

 sion, ^leanwhile we will conHiie our 

 attention to plants bearing hermaph- 

 rodite flowers. 



It was long supposed— indeed, until 

 quite recently, and, I may almost 

 say, within the lifetime of the young- 

 est members of oursociety, it was the 

 almost universal belief amongst bot- 

 anists—that all flowers of this kind 

 were self-fertilizing; but it is now 

 quite well known that very many 

 flowers, althoiigli hermaphrodite in 

 structure, are unisexual in function. 

 Some of our most eminent botanists are 

 of the opinion that cross-fertilization 

 is the rule with many flowers which 

 yet have the power of self-fertiliza- 

 tion ; and experiment has shown that 

 when one flower is fertilized by pollen 

 from another flower, the resulting 

 seeds give rise to healthier and more 

 vigorous plants than usually spring 

 from seeds of self-fertilized flowers. 

 However, we shall see as we proceed, 

 that, with some hermaphrodite flow- 

 ers, self-fertilization is physically im- 

 possible, and that in such cases the 

 most beautiful arrangements exist for 

 ensuring cross-fertilization. 



In the remarks which I have to 

 make, I will draw my illustrations 

 from a few wild flowers which grow 

 freely around Paisley, and I will, for 

 two reasons, take up no more than 

 three or four species— first, because it 

 is impossible, within proper limits, to 

 deal satisfactorily with many flowers ; 

 and next, because the nature of the 

 principle which we are considering, 

 can be as well illustrated by three or 

 four as by a larger number. I will 



also restrict myself to plants which I 

 have for a number of years grown in 

 my own garden, and thus have had 

 opportunities of seeing conlirmation 

 of certain phenomena which have en- 

 gaged the attention of botanists ot 

 acknowledged reputation. In many 

 hermaphrodite flowers, the stamens 

 come to maturity at one time and the 

 pistil at another; and, of course, in 

 such cases self-fertilization cannot 

 take place. 



Dichogamy is a tecluiical term to 

 indicate that the two sets of organs 

 on the same flower are not developed 

 simultaneously, but it does not tell 

 lis which of them ripens first. How- 

 ever, in flowers of this kind, the sta- 

 mens generally arrive at maturity 

 first; and, wheii this is the case, the 

 flowers are said to be protandrous or 

 proterandrous. But in many cases 

 where both sets of organs are devel- 

 oped at the same time, insect agency 

 is still essential to successful fertili- 

 zation. We have a familiar instance 

 of this in the common red clover 

 ( Tri folium pratense). Some naturalists 

 atflrm that tlie common red clover can 

 be fertilized only through the agency 

 of one of the common humble-bees; 

 others are disposed to question the 

 soundness of this opinion, although 

 all appear to agree that insect agency 

 is quite essential to its successful fer- 

 tilization. . , 

 In the course of the late Darwin s 

 numerous and valuable experiments, 

 he found that 100 heads of red clover, 

 when grown in the open air in the 

 usual way, produced 2,700 seeds, but 

 the same" number of heads, when pro- 

 tected from bees, did not produce so 

 much as a single seed. I remember 

 reading in the newspapers, some 12 or 

 14 years ago. an account of the efforts 

 of the Acclimatization Society, of 

 New Zealand, to introduce red clover 

 into that colony ; but, although the 

 seeds sent from this country yielded 

 a fair crop of good plants, yet the 

 plants thus grown totally failed to re- 

 produce others "after their kind," 

 and the failure was described to the 

 absence of wild bees. 



Like the red clover, the fertilization 

 of the pansy is likewise due to the 

 agency of insects, chiefly to the visits 

 of one or more of the wild bees. As 

 the pansy is believed to be one of the 

 most highly specialized flowers not 

 only in the ]5ritish flora, but in the 

 whole list of phanerogamous plants, 

 it is very well worth the while of any 

 one at all interested in the subject to 

 take some pains to understand its 

 structure and the contrivances which 

 it exhibits to insure its reproduction 

 from seed. The pediuicle of the 

 pansy, just below the flower, suddenly 

 curves round to a position at right 

 angles to its ascending axis, thus 

 throwing the flower forward and 

 downward. Look into the " eye " of 

 the flower, and you will notice the 

 round knob like stigma, of a yellowish 

 "reen color, situated almost right in 

 the throat, so to speak, of the tube. 

 This gobular organ you will likewise 

 observe, is pressed closely down upon 

 the front petal. Now, look beyond 

 the stigma and in towards the very 

 heart of the flower, and you will there 



