-.11 - 
the land is under cultivation, the common honeybee is the only 
insect to reply upon . They are the only pollenizer under the 
control of man. 
Murneek, A. E. 
1937. Pollination and fruit setting. Mo. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 379, 
28 pp. 
p. 13 j Of the various kinds of insects that visit flowers 
early in the spring, the common honeybee is by far in the majority. 
Moreover, it has been demonstrated in a convincing way that bees 
are of great value in pollination of apples, pears, cherries, plums 
and many other fruits. This is particularly true in sections where 
most of the ground has been put under cultivation with very little 
waste land left to harbor wild insects . 
Phillips, E. F. 
1933* Insects collected on apple blossoms in western New York. Jour. 
Agr. Res. 46: 851-862. 
p. 861: It seems probable that the scarcity of wild insects 
on apple blossoms is due to a combination of factors incident to the 
agriculture of the fruit districts. The relatively high land values 
tend to reduce waste land and wood lots and also tend to eliminate 
the wide fence rows which are favored nesting places for some species . 
Cultivation reduces nesting and hibernating places, especially of 
solitary bees. Clean cultivation of orchards f where practiced, still 
further reduces the opportunities for the propagation of wild bees . 
It is possible that the efforts of fruit growers to control injurious 
insects in some degree serves to destroy individuals of those species 
which are beneficial. Beekeepers have observed that dusting destroys 
many honeybees, and it is probably equally disastrous to solitary bees. 
Tysdal, H. V. 
1940. Is tripping necessary for seed setting in alfalfa? Amer. Soc. 
Agron. Jour. 32: 570-585. 
p. 583: The most effective pollinators in this study have 
been Megachile and Nonda bees, several species of which have been 
observed working on alfalfa. Other conditions being favorable, it 
would appear that one of the most effective means of insuring a seed 
crop of alfalfa would be a supply of these small, relatively harmless, 
hard-working insects. It should, therefore, be sound agronomic prac- 
tice to encourage their presence in an alfalfa seed field. The writer 
has talked with alfalfa seed growers who have plowed through a large 
colony of these bees, which often make their home in the ground, and 
in some instances it has been known that such practices have destroyed 
the entire colony ^ or at least caused it to move. 
p. 584: Entomologists who have observed the alfalfa pollinating 
insect population in Nebraska for many years unhesitatingly state 
