1871] 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



133 



moths die. The eggs hatch from the first to the 

 middle of may, soon after the j'oung worms start 

 and grow, on which the young larvje (worms) may 

 be found feeding. The canker worm is a span or, 

 measuring worm, and when full grown resembles 

 ^^ the figure given in 



^fB^ 3.) When full grown 



which takes |)lace in 



FIG. 4. FIG. 3. 



about four weeks from hatching, the larvoe either 

 creep down the bod^-s of the trees, or swing them- 

 selves to the ground by their threads, and go under 

 the ground to pass into the pupa state, which occurs 

 in a day or two after they have buried tliemselves, 

 and formed, each of them, a cell resembling the fig- 

 ure here given in the annexed cut, (fig. 4.) 



The food most preferred by the canker worm is 

 the foliage of the apple tree, it is not however con- 

 fined to the apple alone, but feeds on elm, and has 

 been found eating the leaves of the plumb, cherry 

 and basswood, occasionally. 



As for a remedy, we need not speak in this con- 

 nection, as two very complete articles appear in the 

 current volume, upon the subject — one in the March 

 No., and the other in the present one. 



Value of Honer-bees in Fruit Culture. 



Honey and wax have ever been two most u.seful 

 articles in domestic economy, and from the earliest 

 times the honey-bee has been the companion of 

 man. What an addition to a farmer's hou.se is a bee 

 hive nestling among the apple trees with its hun- 

 dreds of bu.sy inhabitants, some settling about the 

 door, or flying lightly above the roof, others darting 

 off in new supplies of food, and still others return- 

 ing on laboring wings laden down with their " bas- 

 kets " filled with crude pollen. What a scene of 

 industry and system is bee life ! This is an every 

 day picture. But honey and wax are not indispen- 

 sable. The hunting of the sperm whale and the 

 discovery of petroleum have done away with the 

 need of wax, and the sugar cane and beets give 

 sweets in new and convenient forms. What use, 

 then, is the bee? your readers will ask. The answer 

 will recur to but a few. The grand use in nature of 

 the bee is the securing to the farmer or fruit raiser 

 a good crop and the permanence of the best varie- 

 ties of fruit. 



Gardeners have always known that bees fertilize 

 squash, melon and cucumber flowers by conveying 

 the pollen from (me plant to another, thus insuring 

 not only the comiileto fertilization of the seed by 

 the male pollen and thus improving the fruit, but 

 actually causing the production of more squashes, 

 melons and cucumbers, by causing certain flowers 

 to set, that would otherwise have dropped to the 

 ground sterile and useless. 



This has been proved by fertilizing the flowers by 

 hand ; a very large, indeed an unnaturally abun- 

 dant crop being thus obtained. It has been noticed 

 by a few, though the many have not appreciated 

 the fact, that fruit trees are more productive when 

 a swarm of bees is placed among them, for when the 

 bees have been removed by disease or other means 

 the fruit crop lias diminished. 



On this subject I wrote as follows to a correspon- 

 dent in the "American Naturalist," a monthly illus- 

 trated niiigazine of natural history, published by the 

 Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, Mass. 



" In answer to the quest ion of J. J. Gould, (Wen- 

 ham, Mass.) whether bees are any way injurious to 

 fruit, or lessen the quantity or qualitj', I would 

 reply that all the evidence given by botauists and 

 zoologists, who have specially studied the subject, 

 .shows that bees improve the quality and tend to 

 increase the quantity of the fruit. They aid in the 

 fertilization of the flowers, thus preventing the 

 occurrence of sterile flowers, and by more thorough- 

 ly fertilizing flowers already perfect, render the pro- 

 duction of sound and well developed fruit more 

 sure. 



Many botanists think if it were not for bees and 

 other insects (such as certain two winged flies, 

 moths, wasps, etc.,) many plants would not fruit at 

 all. This whole subject of the great ogice of bees 

 and other insects perform in the fertilization of 

 plants has been fully discussed in the May, July and 

 October (1867) numbers of the " American Natural- 

 ist," and by Prof Asa Gray, in the "American Agri- 

 culturist," beginning in May, 1866. " It is alleged 

 that bees do injury in some way by extricating hon- 

 ey from flowers. What is the use in nature of hon- 

 ey? The best observers will tell you that it is secre- 

 ted by the plant for the very purpose of attracting 

 bees to the flower, otherwise it is of no use to the 

 flower or fruit." 



This was written before Samuel Wagner printed 

 an article on the same subject in his well known 

 and useful "American Bee Journal." His testimo- 

 ny so well confirms my statements made above, and 

 is so important to fruit raisers, that I reproduce it 

 in part : — 



" In 1774 Count Anthony, of Torrings, Seefield, 

 in Bavaria, President of the Academy of Science, 

 at Munich, striving to re-introduce bee-culture on 

 his patrimonial estate, found in this generally prev- 

 alent prejudice (i. e., that the bees injure the fruit 

 by their visits to the flowers) the chief obstacle to 

 success. To overcome this, he labored assiduously 

 to show that bees, far from being injurious, were 

 directly beneficial in the fructification of blossoms, 

 — causing the fruit to set, by conveying the fertiliz- 

 ing pollen from tree to tree and from flower to 

 flower. He proved, moreover, by ofiicial family rec- 

 ords, that a century earlier, when bees were kept by 



