ESTABLISHED^^ 

 IN 1861 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 31, 1883. 



Ko. 5. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 



Bees as Fertilizers of Flowers. 



In fructifying the various flowers 

 bees act as Nature's marriage-priests, 

 and present us with a field of study 

 as boundless as the gorgeous realm of 

 Nature's bloom. But for the oft- 

 repeated visits of the bees, many a 

 a beautiful flower would, in a short 

 time, cease to bloom — aye, and also to 

 live ! Many plants absolutely require 

 the visits of bees or other insects to 

 remove their pollen-masses, and thus 

 to fertilize them. 



Hence, Darwin wisely remarks, 

 when speaking of clover and hearfs- 

 ease : " No bees, no seed; no seed, 

 no increase of the flower. The more 

 visits from the bees, the more seeds 

 from the flower ; the more seeds from 

 the flower, the more flowers from the 

 seeds.-" 



Darwin mentions the fi)llowing ex- 

 periment : " Twenty heads of white 

 clover, visited by bees, produced 

 2,900 seeds ; wliile twenty heads, so 

 protected that bees could not visit 

 them, produced not one seed." 



Prof. Beal, of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, has been conducting 

 experiments, for the past .six years, 

 with bumble-beesand red clover. The 

 sixth experiment, during 1882, he de- 

 scribes as follows • 



Two fine bunches of the first clover 

 crop, apparently alike, were both 

 covered with mosquito netting. No 

 insects were seen about either, except 

 wliat are mentioned below. On .June 

 29tli, a bumble-bee was placed inside 

 of one netting and .seen to work on 

 the flowers; July lOtti, tvvoBQore were 

 introduced and seen to work, and on 

 the 12th, more were put in and ob- 

 served. On July 31st, fifty ripe heads 

 were selected from each plant and the 

 seeds carefully counted. The fifty 

 heads on the plants where bees were 



excluded yiel-^ed twenty-five seeds. 

 The fifty heads im the plant where 

 the bumble-bees were inserted under 

 tlie muslin, and seen to work, yielded 

 ninety-two seeds. Thiis is nearly four 

 times as many as were produced by 

 heads where the bees were excluded. 



In all instances, the heads were 

 seen to be unopened, when they were 

 covered with muslin or paper sacks. 

 In the last experiment, as well as in 

 the others, perhaps the bees did not 

 visit all the flowers. Insects, even in 

 the most favorable seasons, are not 

 always to be relied on to transfer | 

 pollen enough to fertilize all the pis- 

 tils. Prof. W. W.Tracy has found in 

 several seasons, where he has raised 

 Hubbard squashes on a large scale, 

 that he increased his crop of fruit 

 quite largely by artificially trans- 

 ferring pollen with his ow'n band, 

 every day or two, during flowering. 



To see bow tlie uncovered heacls of 

 red clover from different plants varied 

 in the number of seeds produced. I 

 selected fifty heads from five plants 

 near each other, where each had 

 plenty of room. This was the second 

 crop of clover. Fifty heads from 

 each plant yielded as follows : 1.260, 

 1.27.5. 1,46(1, '1,48.1. l.,820 seeds respec- 

 tively. In another place, fifty heads 

 yielded 2.290 seeds, or nearly twice as 

 many as plant number one in the 

 lots iust above noticed. It is a fair 

 conclusion that bumble-bees are of 

 considerable value in fertilizing the 

 flowers of red clover. 



Statistical Reports. 



Dr. Miller writes us that he is daily 

 receiving " a steady stream of postal 

 cards " covering the whole ground, 

 '■from Canada to Texas." As each 

 one helps to swell the aggregate, we 

 hope they will continue, until all are 

 sent in. The Doctor adds : 



A correspondent asks what should 

 be the report of wax, from one vs'ho 

 uses his wax in making foundation. I 

 suppose each one should report all his 

 wax, whether he uses or sells it. Sev- 

 eral say they will send in reports of 

 others, if desired. By all means, let 

 us have all we can. 



Certainly ; all honey and beeswax 

 should be reported, no matter whether 

 used by the bee-keepers themselves, 

 or sold and used by others. 



Dr. Miller assures us that " from 

 present appearances we shall get fuller 



statistics than ever before." This 

 is very encouraging ; but, probably, 

 some are neglecting the matter, think- 

 ing it will make but little difference 

 about one report ; others may think, 

 because they have given a report in 

 some bee paper, or at a convention, 

 that such is sufficient. A moment's 

 thought, however, will dispel these 

 delusions. The many, even if com- 

 paratively small, will swell the grand 

 total. Some have asked "if we send 

 in the reports of onr neighbors, may 

 they not be duplicated y " No ; the 

 reports are all classified by States and 

 each person's name is recorded, so 

 that duplicates are impossible. If 

 you have neighbors, that you have 

 good reason to think have neglected 

 it, send in the reports for them, and, 

 in this way, aid the work all in your 

 power. As this is our LAST CALL, 

 please attend to it at once. 



Do not send to us, but address them 

 to •' Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111." 



1^ Our readers will notice that the 

 Bee Journal is this week " made up" 

 with a cover, whioli may be removed 

 or retained in bindingthe year's num- 

 bers, to suit the wishes of the owner 

 of the volume. We have found that 

 a great majority prefer this plan, and 

 so have adopted it permanently. 



O" The Eev. Thomas Pope Hod- 

 nett, pastor of St. Malachy's Church,, 

 Chicago, has placed a neat pamphlet, 

 of 64 octavo pages on our desk. It 

 contains a variety of " matter for fam- 

 ily reading and instruction,"— several 

 sermons, poetry, facts, figures, letters,. 

 etc., by " Father Hodiiett," who is an 

 enthusiastic and zealous Catholic 

 priest, by whose exertions a very 

 handsome church has just been erected 

 on the corner of Walnut Street and 

 Western Avenue, only a few blocka 

 from our oflice. We have read several 

 portions of the pamplilets with more 

 than ordinary interest, and have laid it 

 away for a more thorough perusal in 

 the future. 



