124 BEES AND FLOWERS 



coming and going with immense loads until about 

 ten, when they leave them. 



To the fruit grower there is no doubt whatever 

 that bees are quite essential. It has been proved 

 over and over again that when bees are located 

 near an orchard, it becomes vastly more produc- 

 tive. And it is not necessary to look far for the 

 reason. Such things as gooseberries and currants 

 must be fertilised by insects. Insignificant as the 

 flowers are, they secrete a large quantity of nectar, 

 and are thus very attractive, but bees are almost 

 the only insects which are abroad in any numbers 

 at this time of the year, so that without them there 

 would be no fruit at all. 



Above all, the papilionaceous flowers, such as 

 clover, beans, etc., need the visits of insects, and 

 in this connection I have noticed an extremely 

 ingenious trick which goes far to show, in my 

 opinion, that insects act with reason at times. 



In the common broad bean I once noticed bees 

 working round the base of the flower instead of 

 going into the mouth, and upon inspection 

 I found a tiny hole had been bored just at the 

 point where the nectary is situated. A large 

 number of flowers had such holes, which were 

 being visited by all kinds of bees as well as ants, 

 and although I was not able at the time to find 

 out what had caused this hole, on a subsequent 

 occasion I watched a row of beans which were 

 just coming into flower, and saw a bumble-bee 



