OF MANAGING BEES. 97 



the bloom, while the pollen or farina is found slightly adher- 

 ing to the stamens, around the exterior of its pistil. Some 

 flowers are male, and others are female, with some few ex- 

 ceptions, as, for instance, wheat, rye, and perhaps some other 

 of the small grains, and some varieties of the strawberry, in 

 in which both sexes appear to exist in thevsame blossom. 

 But most plants, as well as trees, produce blossoms tf one 

 sex only, and require some other agency than uncertain wind 

 to transmit the pollen from the stamens of the male blossom 

 to the pistil of the female, in order to stimulate it, and pro- 

 duce fructification. Here appears to be a striking display of 

 infinite design, in the supply of insect agency to do this ser- 

 vice. Honey is a natural secretion, in greater or less quan- 

 tities, in nearly alt blossoms, and lies at the base or farther 

 extremity of the flower ; provided here, no doubt, to allure 

 all honey-loving insects to visit it. in their search for food. 

 All winged insects that seek honey for their subsistence are 

 provided with a proboscis, or honey-sucker, which they use 

 in their search for food as they pass from one flower to an- 

 other ; and, at the same time, when they are compelled to 

 search deep to extract the honey, their bodies and legs be- 

 come smeared with pollen from the stamens. Thus, while 

 they continue their labors among the flowers, they loosen off" 

 portions of the pollen from the male upon the pistil of the 

 female flowers ; perhaps unintentionally on the part of the 

 insect, yet it providentially engenders the blossom, and pro- 

 duces fructification. As the pollen of flowers from trees and 

 plants, differing in quality, is thus mingled' by the winds and 

 insect agency, the different varieties of each "are produced, 

 otherwise every tree and plant would produce the same kind 

 as the matron when reared from the seed. Only trees and 

 plants of their own genera will mix. For instance, a peach 

 tree will produce its like from its seed, either by wind or in- 

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