WHY KEEP BEES 3 



more than tlie total product of those bees 

 in honey and wax. And yet this benefit 

 to the fruit industry has been considered 

 only as an incidental advantage, one to be 

 accepted as a matter of course but seldom 

 one to be deliberately provided for. 



In making my statement as to the ef- 

 fect on a single crop of fruit, perhaps I 

 should be more definite and say that this 

 calculated loss is in a way hypothetical. 

 It would not work out every season in the 

 proportions stated for the reason that the 

 value of bees as fruit poUenizers is not 

 constant year in and year out. For in- 

 stance, next season might be one of those 

 rare years when the weather conditions are 

 such that poUenization could take place 

 without any very great assistance from 

 insects. In such a case the loss due to 

 the absence of bees would be slight, if 

 noticed at all. But in a bad year for nor- 

 mal poUenation the bees would make all 

 the difference between a full crop and a 

 total failure. 



