6o A Modem Bee-Farm 



flies, the former get all the blame ; whereas they have never 

 been known to break through the skin of sound ripe fruit, but 

 simply lick up the moisture that may be present where birds, 

 wasps or other insects have first made an inroad. 



Fruit Culture 



for the purpose of jam making is now making such rapid 

 head-way in this country, that all growers should have the 

 subject of bee-culture brought very forcibly before their notice. 

 The presence of a few hives in the immediate vicinity of fruit 

 gardens and orchards is not simply a benefit to the grower, 

 but is a matter of the first importance ; and those who wish 

 to secure the nearest approach to constantly recurring profitable 

 crops, will find it an absolute necessity to encourage the 

 presence of the domesticated honey bee. In some instances 

 at least, particularly with farm crops, there is simply the loss 

 of seed where the flowers had escaped fertilisation, but in far 

 too many cases where the blossom is not fully fertilised by the 

 agency of the bees, the fruit is not only imperfectly developed 

 but in many places does not develop at all. In my own ex- 

 perience, which is also substantiated by other similar reports, 

 it has been remarkable to find in tny bee garden a full, and 

 sometimes an abundant crop of fruit, while the general reports 

 have told of failure and scarcity. 



In a neighbourhood where many bees are cultivated, and 

 more particularly in the garden they may occupy, it is very 

 rarely, indeed, a poor crop of fruit is found; simply because' 

 the bloom is so thoroughly and regularly fertilised by the 

 action of the bees, in securing a constant transmission, and 

 mingling of the pollen. 



The failure of fruit crops has repeatedly been put down to 

 the devastating action of various moths, and other possible 

 and impossible causes; but while the ruin- thus created is very 

 frequently only imaginary, the absence of suitable insect fertili- 

 sers is a deplorably frequent and only too noticeable occurrence. 



