176 FLOWERS IN RELATION 10 BEES. 



CHAPTER XL. 



FLOWERS IN RELATION TO BEES AND OTHER INSECTS. 



Of course you know that bees could not exist without 

 flowers ; but do you know that many flowers could not 

 exist without bees t 



Now it is this that I want to show you. I want 

 you to have some idea of the great truth, that bees are 

 quite as useful to the flowers as the flowers are to the 

 bees, and that, if it were not for the bees, a great many 

 flowers would altogether die away, and a great deal 

 of what is beautiful around us would be quite changed 

 in appearance. And further than this, many of our 

 valuable fruit-bearing trees would, without bees, almost 

 cease to give us any crop at all. They might flower, 

 but they would not bear fruit. This seems a great 

 deal to say, but it is quite true. In order in any way 

 to understand it, you must, however, first know a little 

 of the construction of a flower, and what a flower 

 requires. 



What, then, is a flower made of.? What are its 

 parts ? There are, of course, numberless forms of 

 construction. Nothing varies more than the form, 

 colour, and appearance of flowers ; but if we take 

 them to pieces, we shall find in all, to some extent, 

 the same parts, each designed for its own proper 

 purpose. 



Suppose, for instance, we take the flower of a 

 cherry-tree. Pick it carefully to pieces, and you will 

 find that you can separate it into many parts, all of 



