255 
Bee keepers have never complained but that the growing of fruit in 
the vicinity of their apiaries was a great benefit to their interests, 
hence their position has been merely a defensive one, the battle waxin g 
warm only when poisonous substances were set out to kill off the bees, 
or when fruit-growers sprayed their orchards with poisonous insecti- 
cides during the time the trees were in blossom, or again when efforts 
were made to secure by legislation the removal of bees from a certain 
locality as nuisances. Fruit-growers first relented when close observa- 
tion and experiment showed that wasps bit open tender fruits, birds 
pecked them, they cracked under the action of sun and rains, and hail 
Sometimes cut them, the bees only coming in to save the wasting juices 
of the injured fruit. The wide publicity given to the results of the ex- 
periments made under the direction of the United States entomologist 
and published in the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 
1885 have no doubt contributed much to secure this change among 
fruit-growers. 
_ But now it would appear that the bees have not only been vindicated, 
but that in the future fruit-growers are likely to be generally regarded 
aS more indebted to bee-keepers than the latter are to the fruit- 
growers, for the amount of honey the bees secure from fruit blossoms 
comes far short of equaling in value that part of the fruit crop which 
many accurate observations and experiments indicate is due to the com- 
plete cross-fertilization of the blossoms by bees. The observations and 
researches of Hildebrand, Miiller, Delpino, Darwin, and others, as 
well as the excellent explanation of the subject in Cheshire’s recent 
work,* have gone far to prove how greatly blossoms depend upon the 
agency of bees for their fertilization and hence for the production of 
seeds and fruits 
The facts they have brought forward are gradually becoming more 
widely known among fruit-growers and bee-keepers, and additional ev1- 
dence accumulates. <A case illustrating very clearly the value of bees 
in an orchard has recently come to the notice of the writer, and its. au- 
» thenticity is confirmed by correspondence with the parties named, who 
are gentlemen of long and extensive experience in fruit-growing, recog- 
nized in their locality as being authorities, particularly in regard to 
cherry-culture. The facts are these: For several years the cherry crop 
of Vaca Valley in Solano County, Cal., has not been good, although it 
was formerly quite sure. The partial or complete failures have been 
attributed to north winds, chilling rains, and similar climatic conditions, 
but in the minds of Messrs. Bassford, of Cherry Glen, these causes did 
not sufficiently account for all the cases of failure. 
These gentlemen recollected that formerly when the cherry crops were 
good wild bees were very plentiful in the valley, and hence thought 
perhaps the lack of fruit since most of the bees had SUSIE Ma ed, might 
*“ Bees and Bee-keeping, Scientific ine Seyret 2 ise ie R. Cheshire, Piss, 
_ E.R.M.S., vol. 1, pp. 279-328. 
