POLLEN. 97 



appointment. Multitudes, however, of the wasp and hornet 

 tribes were seen helping themselves to the very best of the 

 fruit. As these insects do not secrete wax, they are fur- 

 nished with powerful saw-like jaws, to enable them to cut 

 off the woody fibre out of which they build their combs : 

 with these they can easily puncture the skin of the toughest 

 fruits. 



After the mischief is once begun by other insects, or 

 wherever a speck of rot, or a crack is seen, the honey bee 

 hastens to help itself, on the principle of " gathering up the 

 fragments that nothing may be lost." In this way, they un- 

 doubtedly do some mischief; but before war is declared 

 against them, let every fruit-grower ask himself the ques- 

 tion, if on the whole they are not far more useful than inju- 

 rious. In genial seasons, when all the circumstances are 

 favorable, the fruit will often set abundantly, even if no 

 bees are kept in its vicinity : but many Springs are so cool 

 and windy, that those only whose trees are all murmuring ■ 

 with the pleasant hum of bees, can expect a good crop. 



If those horticulturists who have learned to regard the bee 

 as their enemy, could succeed in exterminating the whole 

 race, they would act with as much wisdom, as though they 

 could banish from their inhospitable premises, every insectivo- 

 rous bird which ventures to help itself to a small portion of 

 the abundance it has aided in producing. If in the early 

 Spring, judicious efforts were made to entrap the mother 

 wasps and hornets, which alone survive the Winter, an 

 effectual blow would be struck at some of the worst pests of 

 the orchard and garden. In Europe, those engaged exten- 

 sively in the cultivation of fruit, are in the habit of paying a 

 premium, in the Spring, on all the wasps and hornets de- 

 stroyed in their vicinity. 

 9 



