204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The Sinall Fruit Grower. — The small fruit grower can 

 j)rofit similarly. There is perhaps no flower which the bees 

 work more freely and vigorously than the raspberry. Prac- 

 tically all small fruits resi)ond to the visits of bees. 



The Marl'et Gardener. — The market gardener in many 

 instances already keeps bees ; and inquiries point to this 

 becoming more general. For instance, the growers of melons, 

 cucumbers and squashes find a failure in their crops when 

 bees are scarce or lacking, and an increase of yield when 

 bees are present in abundance, as was specifically observed 

 last summer. A Massachusetts grower of melons, in a 

 region badly infected with bee diseases, — a large percentage 

 of the bees having been killed ofi^, — had an extraordinary 

 yield as the result of hiring, as an experiment, a single 

 healthy colony of bees. It is said that $4,000 worth of 

 melons were sold at his door. 



TJie Cucumher Grower under Glass. — l^o horticulturist 

 is more dependent upon the services of healthy, dependable 

 colonies than the grower of cucumbers under glass. It has 

 been accurately estimated that at least 2,000 colonies are 

 annually put into the greenhouses. Only the strongest, 

 most healthy colonies can endure, or even be of service, in 

 this unfavorable environment of extreme heat, humidity 

 and confinement. If the bees fail, and the grower is obliged 

 to send for more or delay until he can find them, set after 

 sot of the crop passes in unfruitfulness. Thus in a few 

 days hundreds of dollars may be lost. For the past few 

 years greenhouse cucumber growers have complained that 

 bees are less serviceable than formerly, that they " go to 

 pieces in the house," which is comparable to the " bad 

 luck " complaint of beekeepers. Without systematic visits 

 to the greenhouses, the growers' misfortunes have already 

 been traced directly to brood diseases. 



The Cranherry Groiver. — There are a few cranberry 

 growers who are beekeepers, and have reported that they 

 consider this insect of decided value in setting the fruit. 

 The observations of Dr. Franklin also indicate a bright 

 future for the utiliz;ation of bees in the cranberry bog. 

 Already inquiries have come desiring to know, for instance, 

 the number of colonies necessary for a bog of a given size. 



