58 
have very light and dry pollen, which in favorable weather may be 
blown about and pollinate many flowers, but often the wind is ineffec- 
tive on account of the pollens being sticky by reason of moisture in 
the air in the form of rain, heavy dew or fog. Most of the flowers, 
however, are not of the “wind-bearing” type and require some other 
agents than the wind to carry the pollen, and these agents are the in- 
sects. Insects go from flower to flower gathering pollen or nectar for 
food, and in crawling over the stamens and pistils they get their little 
bodies covered with the pollen grains and easily, effectively transfer 
them to the stigmas of other blossoms, resulting also in the cross-fer- 
tilization that nature demads. Observation and experiments teach 
that without insects there is but little pollination and without pollina- 
tion the blossoms with their pistils wither and die without fruitage. 
Muller in his investigations found that in Germany 2,750 out of 
6,231 visits of insects to flowers were made by the Hymenoptera, and of 
this number (3,481) more than half (2,191) were made by the Apidae, 
the family to which the honey bee belongs. Waite, in his bulletin on 
“The Pollination of Pear Flowers” (Bul. 5, Div. of Veg. Pathology, U. 
S. Dept. Agr.) after mentioning a large number of species of insects 
which visit pear blossoms, says: “The common honey bee is the most 
regular and important abundant visitor, and probably does more good 
than any other species.” 
Fic. 55—Bres CarryInGc PoLLEN 
The bees need protein as well as carbohydrates to make a well- 
balanced ration for the young growing insects. The honey, which con- 
tains the saccharin or carbohydrates, is stored in large quantities, but 
the pollen, which contains the protein material, is not stored in any ap- 
preciable quantity; it is practically gathered from day to day. Nature 
thus compels the bees to use every opportunity to gather pollen for the 
maintenance of the colony—for self-preservation, and thereby induc- 
ing them to pollinate the blossoms, which would otherwise be unproduc- 
tive. 
Dr. Fletcher, in a paper read before the Ontario Association of 
Beekeepers, said: “It can be shown that, owing to its size, weight, 
and habits, no insect is so well calculated to insure the fertilization 
of fruit blossoms as the honeybee, which flies rapidly from plant. to 
plant, and, by running over the flowers in search of pollen or nectar, 
brushes off the pollen and carries this vitalizing element on the hairs 
of its body to the next flower visited.” 
Dr Phillips says: “While the honey bee is, perhaps, not better 
equipped than other insects, especially other bees, for carrying pollen, 
there is one respect in which it outranks all others as a valuable asset 
to the fruit-grower. We are not able to propagate other insects in 
quantity, and introduce them to orchards at the proper time; but it 
is a very simple matter to carry in colonies of bees to insure a crop, if 
