PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING 27 



to the bright colored corolla have also at the base of each petal a 

 small vesicle called a nectary for the secretion of nectar. Leading 

 to this nectary and converging toward it are often numerous dark 

 or black lines which serve to guide the visiting bees to 'where they 

 can secure the nectar. Every facility is thus tendered the bees in 

 their quest for honey. To repay the flower for all its service, the 

 bee renders in turn, an equivalent of far reaching magnitude. 

 Firmly implanted throughout all nature is the instinct of self preser- 

 vation and perpetuation by the introduction of new and undissipated 

 vitality in reproduction. This law is so comprehensive as to in- 

 clude plants as well as animals. Before a seed can start its growth 

 il must receive the impetus from the pollen laden stamen. In many 

 flowers both the ovary, with its pistil, and the stamens, with their 

 anthers filled with pollen, may be found. In a great many flowers 

 where they both occur, however, the stamens are so placed that the 

 pollen is not likely to come in. contact with the pistil, and in some 

 flowers this tendency to avoid self fertilization is further manifested 

 by the stamens bearing their pollen at a different time than when 

 the pistil is in a receptive condition for the pollen. In a number of 

 tiees, as for instance the common poplars, the staminate flowers 

 are borne on separate trees from the pistillate, making self pollen- 

 ation impossible. Still other trees, (e. g. among pears and in nearly 

 all varieties of plum) while capable of being pollinated from their 

 own stamens, are yet absolutely self sterile ; that is, before fruit will 

 set they must be supplied with pollen from a distinct horticultural 

 variety. 



In the chapter on the habits of bees, we noted that bees gather- 

 ed pollen for the feeding of their young. It is a singular fact that a 

 bee when out gathering a certain kind of pollen will always com- 

 plete her load with the same kind of pollen and will never pass from 

 one species to another; e. g. from poplar to a fruit tree or vice- 

 versa. Nature's economy in this is self evident. As the bee flies 

 from flower to flower she becomes dusted with pollen and in the 

 course of her journey, an interchange of pollen is effected. It is 

 plain that there would be no object in the interchange of pollen from 

 xtwo distinct species, as fertilization only in very rare instances, if 

 ever, would result. To facilitate pollenation some flowers have be- 

 come strikingly modified through natural selection. Let us say 

 here that there can be no other purpose for the secretion of nectar 



