THE INFLUENCE OF BEES ON CROPS. 257 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

 THE INFLUENCE OF BEES ON CROPS. 



"Ylou have a splendid crop, thank God!" was once said at a 

 harvest supper in the Old Country. "What do you thank God 

 for?" was the reply; "didn't I put plenty of manure in the 

 ground?" If we were to put the question, "What are the chief 

 necessaries in the production of your crops ?" to all the agricultural 

 societies in the States, many of them would probably answer, "Deep 

 and frequent ploughing, the loosening of the soil, keeping the sur- 

 face well open, judicious manuring, good seed, freedom irom weeas, 

 and favourable seasons." No matter what branch of soil-culture 

 an individual may be engaged in, or what crops he is growing, if 

 he be market gardener, agriculturist, florist, or orchardist, the 

 answer, perhaps not in as many words, would be tantamount to 

 the same. The florist and orchardist would add pruning to tneir 

 catalogue of the necessary requirements. There are tiny 

 agents employed by Nature that dwarf into utter insignificance all 

 the modern implements of husbandry that are in use to ensure 

 "an abundant and heavy harvest." They are seldom taken in» 

 account. These tiny agents are an absolute and concomitant 

 necessity for the production of a crop from any member of the 

 vegetable kingdom. The wind and insects are the agents employed 

 for the fertilisation of crops. The two mentioned are the chief, 

 but there are many others of a subordinate character that nature 

 frequently enlists to aid in the reproduction of the various memoers. 

 of her plant life. The members of Nature's great vegetable army, 

 in regard to their method of reproduction, have two distinct 

 characteristics by means of which they perpetuate their species 

 and varieties, i.e., some are termed flowerless and others flowering 

 plants — cryptogamic and phanerogamic respectively. Ferns, mosses, 

 seaweeds, &c, are included in the former, but this article has 

 nothing to do with the reproduction of these cryptogamic plants. 



Flowering plants, "the herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree 

 yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself," are the portions 

 of the subjects I wish to deal with. How herbs yield seed and 



