The Canadian Horticulturist. 225 



For several years the cherry crop of Vaca Valley, in Solano County, Cal., has 

 not been good, although it was formerly quite sure. The partial or complete 

 failures have been attributed to north winds, chilling rains and similar climatic 

 conditions, but in the minds of Messrs. Bassford, of Cherry Glen, these causes 

 did not sufficiently account for all the cases of failure. 



These gentlemen recollected that formerly when the cherry crops were good 

 wild bees were very plentiful in the valley, and hence thought perhaps the 

 lack of fruit since most of the bees had disappeared might 

 be due to imperfect distribution of the pollen of the blos- 

 soms. To test the matter they placed therefore several 

 hives of bees in their orchard in 1890. The result was 

 striking, for the Bassford orchard bore a good crop of 

 cherries while other growers, in the valley, who had no bees 

 found their crops entire or partial failures. This year, 

 (1891) Messrs. Bassford had some 65 hives of bees in their 

 orchard, and Mr. H. A. Bassford writes to the Entomolo- 

 gist : " Our crop was good this season, and we attribute it 

 to the bees." And he adds further : " Since we have been 



keeping bees our cherry crop has been much larger than formerly, while those 

 orchards nearest us, five miles from here, where no bees were kept, have pro- 

 duced but light crops." 



In conclusion we may say, that in the cuts we give, the worker bee alone 

 causes the fertilization of bloom. The queen is the mother bee, the drone, the 

 male and the workers are the neuters who gather from honey flowers. 



It often happens that alongside the edges of shrubbery and plant border , 

 and by the margins of flower beds the grass gets killed out by over-spreading 

 plants from the beds ; the best way to mend these is by resodding. If you 

 rooted out any tree stumps or rocks in your lawn a year or two ago, there will 

 likely be a hollow there now ; if there is, skin off the sod, and fill up the basin 

 enough to make it even with the rest of the lawn, and relay the sod again. If 

 there are any big weeds in your lawn like mulleins, docks, chicory, dandeloins, 

 pull them out by the root some wet day. If mouse-ear chickweed, common 

 chickweed, creeping speenwell or the like fill patches of your lawn, scratch them 

 out with a steel rake, and at once sow some grass seed there. Wild onions are 

 are always in a hurry up in spring, in wet weather you can pull them up by the 

 roots in bunches ; at any rate, take a sharp scythe and go over your lawns and 

 fields mowing down these onions before you turn your cows out to pasture, else 

 they will have oinion-tasted milk. 



In pruning peach trees they should be headed low. Sufficient cultivation 

 should be given to keep the soil reasonably clean and in good tilth. 



