POLLEN. 125 
duce such quantities of pollen, that the agency of insects is 
less indispensable to the fertilization of their blossoms. 
270. To determine the advantages which flowers derive 
from insect fertilization, any one can wrap a few flowers in 
gauze, just before the opening of the bud, and compare the 
number of fertile seeds, from flowers thus treated, with 
those of other blossoms. 
We have heard farmers mention the fact that the first 
crop of red clover furnishes but little seed, compared with 
the second crop. This is because the bumble-bees, which 
help its fertilization, are very scarce in Spring, while they 
are much more plentifulin Summer. ‘‘In Australia it was 
found impossible to obtain seed from red clover until the 
bumble-bees were imported into that country ’’ (Darwin). 
A large fruit-grower told us that his cherries were a very 
uncertain crop, a cold northeast storm frequently prevailing 
when they were in blossom. He had noticed that, if the 
sun shone only for a couple vf hours, the bees secured him 
a crop. 
If those horticulturists, who regard the bee as an enemy, 
could exterminate the race, they would act with as little 
wisdom as those who attempt to banish from their inhospit- 
able premises every insectivorous bird, which helps itself to 
a-small part of the abundance it has aided in producing. 
By making judicious efforts early in the Spring, to entrap 
the mother-wasps and hornets, which alone survive the 
Winter, an effectual blow may be struck at some of the 
worst pests of the orchard and garden. In Europe, those 
engaged extensively in the cultivation of fruit, often pay a 
small sum in the Spring for all wasps and hornets destroyed 
in their vicinity. 
