124 H('i'-l;fi' p'lufi ill Victoria. 



The value of bees in tlie orchard is now so well reco^jnised in the 

 United States that in many instances where fruit-growers have none 

 or not sufficient bees of their own they practically hire bees from bee- 

 keepers for the fruit bloom, providing standing room for the hives in 

 the orcliard, and doing the carting of the bees to and from the orchard. 



It IS, however, not in the orchard alone that bees are of the greatest 

 importance to agriculture, but also in the production of small fruits and 

 farm crops. Dr. Phillips, of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, estimates tlie annual value of bees for the fertilization of flowers 

 in the United States at many million dollars, apart from the production 

 of honey and beeswax. 



Where cucumbers, melons, and similar plants are cultivated on a 

 large scale, it has been found necessary to establish apiaries, as the 

 number of bees and other insects present was insufficient to effect the 

 pollination of the blossoms. Where early cucumbers are raised under 

 glass, hives of bees are located in the green-houses, and the labour of 

 transferring the pollen from the male to the female blossoms is thus 

 saved. At Cape Cod, in Massachuusetts, hundreds of acres of cran- 

 berries are grown. It was discovered, according to Mr. E. R. Root, 

 who paid a visit to the locality (Gleanings in Bee Culture, 15th July, 

 1913) that the yield per acre could be enormously increased by having 

 bees within convenient access. Formerly wild bees in the locality had 

 been sufficient to do the work of pollination for the cranberries. The 

 United Cape Cod Cranberry Company has something like 700 acres of 

 cranberries, which it is proposed to increase to 2,000. On one side of 

 one lot of 126 acres there were three or four colonies of bees. It was 

 evident that this number was inadequate to cover the whole field. 

 It was very significant that the yield per acre of berries was in direct 

 proportion to the proximity of such acreage to the bees. The yield 

 was heaviest close to the hives, and was thinner and thinner as the dis- 

 tance from the hives increased. The showing was so remarkable that 

 the company proposes to increase materially their investment in bees. 

 What the company wants is cranberries, honey being only a secondary 

 consideration. 



Bees and the Spraying of Fruit Trees. 

 It is an accejjted fact that the bee is the most useful of all insects 

 in conveying pollen from flower to flower for fertilization purposes. 

 It is also known that to exclude bees and other insects from the blossoms 

 is sure to result in a considerably reduced crop of fruit. It has been 

 frequently stated, especially in publications dealing exclusively with the 

 honey bee, that spraying fruit trees while in bloom will cause great 

 mortality amongst the bees. As the spraying of fruit trees is com- 

 pulsory, it would appear to be a great anomaly that orchardists should 

 destroy the bee, their best friend, by spraying the trees when in full 

 blossom, when spraying before the blossoms are open or after the petals 

 have dropped is said to be more effective and then harmless to bees. 

 In the United States much damage appears to be done to bees by 

 spraying while the trees are in bloom, and legislation is proposed to 

 put a stop to the practice. The reports as to the destruction of bees 

 seem to be well vouched for. Professor H. A. Surface, in reply to the 

 question, " What kind of spray is best to use when peach trees are in 

 bloom? " gives an emphatic answer as follows; — " I note with interest 



