CHAPTER XVI. 



THE BEE FERTIIilZES THE AliFAXPA. 



It has been discovered that the honey bee is of even 

 more importance to the alfalfa than the alfalfa is to the 

 bee. The wonderful strength and speed of the bees take 

 them long distances for their food and they have recourse 

 to a great variety of plants. But the peculiar construc- 

 tion of the alfalfa blossom renders it unable to fertilize 

 itself and its shape makes cross fertilization very difficult. 

 In the marvelous "balance of good*' in nature, alfalfa, 

 like thousands of other plants, is aided in its lease on life 

 by the insect world. It is not known just how many 

 insects or birds assist this remarkable plant, but the 

 honey bee is the most conspicuous, the most industrious, 

 the most eager, and certainly the most useful. 



Careful observations have been made of seed pods 

 grown near colonies of bees, and also of those so far from 

 any bee colonies that it was safely assumed no bees had 

 visited the fields producing the pods. In every case it 

 was found that those from nearby fields had from 50 to 

 75 per cent more seeds than the others and that they were 

 larger and more perfectly developed. In Colorado and 

 western Kansas, where bee culture has been greatly 

 developed in recent years, it is found that the alfalfa seed 

 crop in fields nearest to bee colonies is much heavier and 

 of better quality than that of fields but a few miles away. 



