gS BEE-FJRMING. 



pollen-gatherer for his beautiful flowers, rich luscious fruits, 

 and splendid seed-harvests. Many flowers cannot be fer- 

 tilised; no perfect seeds or fruits can be produced without 

 the direct agency of insects. It has been proved without 

 doubt that many stone fruits cannot "set" without the 

 bee conveying pollen to the stigma. In springs when 

 much unfavourable cold weather prevails, accompanied 

 with easterly winds, the honey-bee very seldom under such 

 circumstances leaves the hive ; in the meantime, the plum, 

 damson, and cherry trees have bloomed without the usual 

 friendly visits of the bee, the consequence being great 

 scarcity of these fruits. The farmer will probably say : 

 " Oh, it is the fault of the cold easterly winds;" it may 

 be so, we freely confess, so far as confining and making 

 involuntary prisoners of the poor bees ; for, if the bees had 

 been able to sing their cheerful hum amid the flowers, 

 there would have been no scarcity of fruits. The bee is 

 often much blamed in the south of Europe for eating the 

 tender grapes; the bee is not able, however, to bite the 

 outer skin, but it does eat the soft pulp inside the tough 

 skin when it finds any fruits that are bruised. The wasp 

 or hornet are the real enemies to fruits, and not the bee; 

 they are provided with strong jaws for sawing wood, of 

 which their cells are composed, where the larva is reared 

 in their nests ; but the honey-bee has not the strong saw- 

 like jaws of the wasp, and is wholly incapable of injuring 

 the most tender fruits. Watch the wasp, or rather the 

 hornet, on the pear-trees, eating the finest and most ripe 

 fruit it can find, and you will at once discover the real 

 " rascal," and the worst thief the horticulturist has to deal 

 with. 



