THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



17 



Then the mode of gathering the pollen 

 is all iinportant and interesting. The bee 

 is covered with very fine hairs and when 

 she alights on a ■ flower the pollen 

 adheres to the hairs ; the bee then takes 

 wing and hovers just above and close to 

 the flower, while she takes the pollen 

 off" her body with her fore legs, and 

 packs it on the thighs of her hind legs 

 in little pellets, all the time scattering 

 the pollen over the flower by the rapid 

 motion of her wings. If .she cannot 

 pack the pollen (some kinds will not 

 pack) she rolls herself in it. I have 

 seen them come home so completely 

 covered that they could scarcely find 

 the entrance to their hive. 



Thirdly, the complete fertilization of 

 each plant by its oion species. — A bee 

 always collects her load from the same 

 species of blossom whether it is straw- 

 berry, raspberry, apple, dandelion or 

 clover, and if the season of one kind is 

 drawing to a close she will come home 

 with half a load of one kind rather than 

 a full load of mixed pollen from many 

 flowers. If a cell in the comb of pollen 

 be cut open in a longitudinal direction 

 it will be found packed in layers of diflfer- 

 ent colors, and a beekeeper can tell what 

 his bees are working on by the color of 

 pollen they are bringing home. Thou- 

 sands may be seen coming home in the 

 season, some with light yellow, some 

 with orange yellow, some with green 

 and some with white pollen ; but always 

 with one color to each bee, thereby in- 

 suring a rapid and sure fertilization of 

 a strawberry by a strawberry, a rasp- 

 berry by a raspberry, &c. I think this 

 of great importance to our strawberry 

 growers, when we consider that our 

 most prolific varieties are pistillate. 

 I notice that Mr. Dempster grows the 

 Crescent and that he keeps bees, per- 

 haps they have something to do with 

 his large crop of 6,000 quarts per acre. 



A few more facts from that great 

 naturalist, Charles Darwin, page 37, 

 2 



Origin of Species. 20 heads of Dutch 

 Clover fertilised by the bees yielded 

 2,290 seeds, 20 heads protected from 

 them produced not one. Again, 100 

 heads of Red Clover produced 2,700 

 seeds, same protected from bees pro- 

 duced not a single seed ! Now, a 

 good colony will number 50,000 bees 

 and will consume in the year about 80 

 pounds, and give to the beekeeper about 

 100 pounds of ripe honey. And as ripe 

 honey is at least double the weight of 

 honey fresh and thin from the flowers, 

 the bees must bring home at least 360 

 pounds ; add to this 30 pounds of pol- 

 len and 10 pounds of water and we have 

 the total of 400 pounds ; and as the bee 

 carries about ^ grain troy each trip, 

 we have the large number of 9,216,000 

 joui-neys made by a good colony of bees. 

 How many flowers must tliey visit and 

 fertilise for the benefit of fruit growers ! 

 Last but not least. What kind of bees 

 are best for the Jruit groioer ? It is the 

 Italian, because they are more energetic, 

 the queens are more prolific, and conse- 

 quently they need more pollen and 

 food ; and they will venture out to get 

 it when the common black bee, would 

 not show itself. And as it is in the 

 spring that the fruit grower needs the 

 assistance of the bee, the Italian is the 

 one, for it will be out sunshine or 

 shower. Prof.Cook of Lansing, Mich., 

 says : " On May 7th, 1877, I walked 

 less than half a mile and counted 65 

 Italian bees gathering pollen from dan- 

 delions, and only two black bees." 



Young boys' stomachs are always in 

 apple-pie order — Rochester Fost-Uxpress 



A Man who was not of much account 

 himself was forever boasting of his an- 

 cestry. A plain farmer, tired of this 

 nonsense, asked him why his family 

 were like a hill of potatoes. He gave 

 it lip. " Why," said the farmer, "the 

 best part of them are under ground." 

 —E. K Y. 



