332 VEGETABLE FORCING 
flower bud altogether from the ovary or young cucumber, but this 
latter method is uncertain.” 
Whatever may be the practice of English growers with 
their favorite varieties, American greenhouse men have 
found it necessary to give close attention to the matter of 
pollination, whenever American varieties or crosses are 
employed. Unless the female flowers are fertilized they 
wither and fall off. 
The pistillate or pollen-producing flowers are open only 
one day; they close in the evening and fall off a day or 
two later. The female flowers may remain open two or 
three days. They close as soon as fertilized and then the 
petals soon wither and drop. 
The pollen grains may be transferred to the female 
flowers by the use of a camel’s hair brush, or by taking 
the male flower and bringing the anthers into contact 
with the pistils, as previously explained. Both methods, 
however, are tedious and impracticable and require too 
much time for employment in commercial establishments. 
American greenhouse growers of cucumbers rely al- 
most wholly upon bees to carry the pollen from flower to 
flower. Formerly, apiaries were kept near the green- 
houses, and growers depended on enough bees entering 
the houses through the ventilators to pollenize the 
flowers. But the plan was not thorough, and now hives 
of bees are placed in the houses or just outside, with 
panes of glass removed from the house at the hives. A 
great many bees fly from flower to flower, thus convey- 
ing the pollen, a plan which insures a heavy setting of 
fruit. A record was kept in one of the Boston sections of 
the sales of cucumbers fertilized by 61 hives of bees, and 
the average return for a colony was $815. Our American 
growers attach great importance to the part which the 
bee takes in producing large crops, and the matter 
demands the most careful consideration. 
The number of bees or hives required for a given area 
