State Bee-Keepers' Association. 33 



tra Spectabitis never bears seed in this country, because its fertilizing moth 

 has never been introduced from North China, its native habitat. Red clover 

 trifolium pratense bore no seed in Australia until bumble bees, bumbus, 

 were introduced, and they appear to be the chief fertilizers of this valuable 

 forage plant. 



HONEY BEES ( Apis Mellifica) . 



"When Columbus discovered America he found no honey bees here, for 

 there had been no need of any. Hut when the settlers came they brought 

 apples, pears, quinces and cherries, and their fertilizers the honey bees. 

 Nature detests self-fertilization, and we see how this is avoided by the wis- 

 dom of an all wise creator. The apple blossom is a perfect flower, contain- 

 ing both senses in one. with the stamens and anthers waving above the 

 germ ; why then does it need a foreign agent to insure fertilization ? On a 

 close examination we find that when the germ is in season for the fertilizing 

 powder, the anthers waving above have not bursted. When the germ is 

 ready nature spreads a rich feast of delicious, fragrant nectar, and invites the 

 bees to the nuptials. They come, like millers, with flour on their bodies, 

 and their pollen basket filled with it, kneaded into bread, and as they load 

 up the nectar they leave some of the fertilizing powder in exchange. 



"Five distinct fertilizations must take place in order to produce a perfect 

 apple; if the seeds on the one side are fertilized and tho.se on the opposite 

 are not it will be shrunken . Nature has so ordered that only a limited num- 

 ber of insects shall survive the winter's cold; only the queens of some species 

 as bumble bees and wasps, but bees dwelling in communities have survived 

 bv the thousands. Prof. A. ]. Cock says: 'By actual count in time of 

 fruit bloom, in May, I have found the bees twenty to one of all other insects 

 upon the bloom ; and on cold days, which are very common at this early 

 SL'ason, I have known hundreds of bees on the fruit blossoms while I could 

 not find a single other insect . ' Thus we see that the honey bees are ex- 

 ceedingly important in the economy of vegetable growth and fruitage, es- 

 pecially of all such plants as blossom early in the season. 



"In England a fruit grower was surprised to find that in one corner of his 

 garden, in which were placed colonies of bees, the trees were heavily laden 

 with fruit, while those more remote had set very sparingly Then he called 

 to mind the circumstances of its being very dark and foggy during the 

 blooming of the trees, so that the bees flew but a short distance from their 

 hives. The proprietor of a cherry orchard in California, found that his trees 

 did not bear remunerative crops after the fiat of the rasin growers, banish- 

 ing the bees to distant canons. Being convinced of the necessity of bees to 

 fertilize the bloom, he procured some colonies, located them in his orchard, 

 and then realized satisfactory returns. Horticulturists and apiarists are like 

 the American Union, on§ and inseparable. 





