100 



MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON APICULTURE. 



this State, yet growers in other Atlantic and Central States have 

 undertaken it to some extent. Originating in Worcester County, it 

 has assumed large proportions through the eastern part of Massa- 

 chusetts. The accompanying map (fig. 2) shows the approximate 

 location of the industry. It is a difficult task to obtain satisfactory 

 data on this phase of apiculture. Market gardeners who grow cucum- 

 bers under glass do not consider themselves apiarists ; on this ground 

 they largely disregard requests for information. Only through 

 a personal canvass among the growers has information been obtained. 



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Fig. 2. — Approximate location of greenhouses in which bees are used for the pollination of 



cucumbers. (Original.) 



There are at least 118 greenhouse cucumber growers. Only 73 

 of these, however, have furnished definite figures. These growers, 

 including some of the largest and many of the smaller producers, 

 use on an average 8 colonies of bees a year to set the crop. If the 118 

 known growers, which is not by any means the total number, require 

 on the average 8 colonies each, nearly a thousand hives of bees would 

 be utilized annually and, if the statistics from every grower were 

 at hand, the writer feels sure several hundred colonies more than 

 a thousand would be needed. When it is considered that practically 



