196 JOUENAL OP THE KOYAL HOKTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



There are several ways in which the hive bee conveys the fertilizing 

 pollen from one flower to another, and, in considering these we must 

 recollect that it is the worker bee only that visits flowers. Neither queen 

 bee nor drones are ever seen on flowers ; they are consumers of food and 

 do not collect it. The organs of the worker bee are specially adapted for 

 the work it has to perform while the corresponding organs of the queen 

 and drone are but partially developed. First in importance to the bee itself 

 as a means of collecting pollen are the so-called pollen-baskets with 

 which the hind-legs are furnishedo It is upon these that the bee brings 

 home the pollen that is one of the ingredients of the food upon which it 

 feeds its young. The hairs upon the body and legs are, however, the 

 first instruments used in detaching the pollen from the flower. If you 

 observe a bee issuing from a flower in which pollen is plentiful you will 

 notice that it hovers for a moment in the air, and that its legs are in 

 rapid motion. They are collecting the pollen grains from the body hairs 

 and packing them upon that portion of the hind legs that is specially 

 adapted to receive and retain them. But the bee cannot itself reach all 

 parts of its body and some pollen is sure to remain on the hair. The 

 tongue of the bee is an organ of great importance from the point of view 

 of the horticulturist, as it can convey pollen into flowers which are much 

 too small to permit of the entrance of the insect itself. The tongue is even 

 more densely clothed with hairs than the body, so that any pollen grains 

 that may come into contact with it are caught and retained. Some flowers 

 are visited by the bees for pollen alone, especially in the spring, but, 

 whether it come for pollen or honey, the bee cannot avoid carrying out 

 the duties which the flower requires in return for the nutriment given. 



The mutual advantages of this arrangement are very great. Where 

 a plant is dependent upon the wind for fertilization an enormous quantity 

 of pollen has to be produced, with a corresponding strain upon the plant, 

 and yet the fertilization is so imperfect that in some cases, of which the 

 date palm is a familiar instance, harvests cannot be relied upon without 

 human assistance. It has been estimated that one maize plant will 

 produce 50,000,000 grains of pollen. Compared with such figures the 

 quantity of pollen that a single bee can carry may seem small ; but the 

 activity of the insect more than compensates for any deficiency in this 

 direction. Estimates as to the number of blossoms a bee visits on each 

 journey differ considerably ; but there is little doubt that it may amount 

 to several thousands. 



While the pollen gathered by the bee is of primary importance to the 

 flower itself the same does not appear to hold good with regard to the honey, 

 which is certainly one source of attraction to bees. Some authors have 

 considered that honey is secreted by flowers as a bribe for their useful 

 visitors. But some plants, such as the laurel and the Jerusalem artichoke, 

 have nectar glands upon their leaves, and these are frequented by bees and 

 wasps without any apparent benefit to the plant. Although it is customary 

 bo speak of bees gathering honey from flowers, what they really collect is 

 nectar, which differs both in chemical constitution and consistency from 

 the honey that we get from the hive. The nectar extracted from the 

 Bowers is stored in a small bladder known as the honey sac in which it is 

 subjected to a preliminary process of concentration. On arrival at the 



