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bee carries away, and as soon as it meets with an older blossom, in which 

 the pistil is fully developed, as seen in the next figure, it is evident that 



Salvia officinalis. Older Flower, with Pistil developed. 



upon entering the tube of this blossom the pollen already en the bee's^ 

 back must be rubbed against the stigma, and the cross-fertiUsation be- 

 thus effected. 



II. IN RELATION TO FRUIT-CULTURE. 



Professor A. J. Cook, the well-known American entomologist and apiarist,, 

 author of " The Manual of the Apiary," formerly of Michigan Agricultural 

 College, and now of Pomona College, California, who has paid particular 

 attention to this subject, extending over a long period, wrote me a short time 

 ago in reply to some questions I sent him. He said, — 



Bees never harm blossoms, but are always a help. Bees are a tremen- 

 dous aid through pollination. Many of our best fruits must be cross-polh- 

 nated to produce. Many pears, apples, and plums, &c., are utterly sterile 

 to their own pollen. Bees are alone numerous enough to effect this valuable 

 service. I am sure that it is an incontrovertible fact that bees as the 

 great agents in pollination are far more valuable to the world than for 

 the honey they produce. The best orchardists (in California) now arrange 

 with apiarists to bring their bees to the orchards ; they find they must 

 have the bees. 



Coming from such an authority, this is eminent testimony as to the value- 

 of the hive-bee to orchardists. 



Conclusive evidence in this respect came under my own observation. In 

 the winter of 1882 I started a bee-farm at Matamata, and had about one 

 hundred colonies of bees when the fruit-blooming season came on. The 

 apiary was located close to a mixed orchard of large trees, covering some 

 10 acres. The nearest bush was about five miles distant, and, the 

 orchard being in an open plain, there was no shelter for wild bees nearer 

 than the bush, so that it is not at all likely the orchard was visited by many 

 bees. I was informed that, though the trees blossomed abundantly each 

 season, the trees bore very little fruit, that the whole 10 acres did not supply 

 fruit enough for the station. The result in that and subsequent seasons, 

 by the aid of my bees, was that the trees had to be propped up in aU directions- 

 to keep them from breaking down under the weight of fruit. 



