Pollenization 
Like Spanish galleons in from the seas 
With onyx and gold from rich Peru, 
Heavy with treasure, and singing, my bees 
Float in from the blue. 
Powdery plunder of green and gold, 
Gay little gems of purple and red — 
The bees have not begged them nor bought them nor sold — 
They steal them instead! 
Laden with deUcate dust from a flower 
To the heart of another a pillager slips — 
And a wonder is done in the plundering hour 
Of these my ships! 
Grace Allen. 
Bees and Flowers 
By Letitia Wright, Jr. 
The art of bee-keeping has come down to us from great antiquity, 
and curious customs legends, and myths are connected with its his- 
tory. From the Bible, from mythology, and the hieroglyphs of Egypt, 
we know that bees were kept and that honey was eaten to a greater 
extent than is the case now. This may be due to the fact that cane 
sugar did not appear in Europe until the seventeenth century. As 
we all know, sweets are necessary; honey therefore was more needed 
then than it has been since. 
Aside from the value of honey, the bees themselves are of the great- 
est benefit, in fact they are a necessity to the fruit growers, as they 
poUenize the blossoms and set the fruit. The berry growers, too, need 
the honey bee; even blue berries and cranberries are larger and bear 
more heavily when bees are kept near at hand, than when left to the 
care of wild bees, or those belonging to distant neighbors. Bee-keeping 
and fruit-growing are so closely related, and the one depends so largely 
upon the other, that it seems curious that bee-keepers and fruit-grow- 
ers have had so many differences. These are growing less and less as 
the fruit-grower learns the nature and habits of bees. One of these 
differences occurs when the fruit-grower who has not been able to 
spray bis fruit trees before the blossoms open, feels it is better late 
than never, and sprays the open flowers. This causes great mortality 
among the bees and a consequent loss to their owner not only in bees 
but also in the amount of honey gathered. Later in the season, long 
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