POLLEN. 125 



duce such quantities of pollen, that the agency of insects is 

 less indispensable to the fertilization of their blossoms. 



270. To determine the advantages which flowers derive 

 from insect fertilization, any one can wrap a few flowers in 

 gauze, just before the oponino- of the bud, and compare the 

 number of fertile seeds, from flowers thus treated, with 

 those of other blossoms. 



We have heard farmers mention the fact that the first 

 crop of red clover furnishes but little seed, compared with 

 the second crop. This is because the bumble-bees, which 

 help its fertilization, are very scarce in Spring, while they 

 are much more plentiful in Summer. ' ' In Australia it was 

 found impossible to obtain seed from red clover until the 

 bumble-bees were imported into that country " (Darwin). 



A large fruit-grower told us that his cherries were a very 

 uncertain crop, a cold northeast storm frequently prevailing 

 when they were in blossom. He had noticed that, if the 

 sun shone only for a couple of hours, the bees secured him 

 a crop. 



If those horticulturists, who regard the bee as an enemy, 

 could exterminate the race, they would act with as little 

 wisdom as those who attempt to banish from their inhospit- 

 able premises every insectivorous bird, which helps itself to 

 a small part of the abundance it has aided in producing. 

 By making judicious efforts early in the Spring, to entrap 

 the mother-wasps and hornets, which alone survive the 

 Winter, an effectual blow may be struck at some of the 

 worst pests of the orchard and garden. In Europe, those 

 engaged extensively in the cultivation of fruit, often pay a 

 small sum in the Spring for all wasps and hornets destroyed 

 in their vicinity. 



