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up the shortage of wild pollinators. Consequently, plant growers and 
farmers generally have not been greatly concerned about pollination 
simply because some beekeeper has relieved them of this worry by keeping 
his bees within flight range of their crops. 
The service rendered to agriculture by the beekeeper in furnishing 
the public with pollinating insects has commonly been overlooked. In 
too many cases his only reward has been his honey crop, which, until war 
years, he often had to dispose of at depressed prices. In addition, his 
bees were frequently killed through the indiscriminate use of insecticides 
by the very man he was benefiting. Under such circumstances, since the 
beekeeper's interest was not safeguarded by sufficiently high honey prices, 
rentals, or a subsidy of any kind, the keeping of bees has declined in 
many communities, and this in turn has meant decreased yields for the 
grower of insect-pollinated crops. 
The fertilization of flowers is so imperative that beekeeping must 
be carried on to maintain a profitable agriculture. Cwing to conditions 
brought about by the recent war, of which increased acreage of i?isect- 
pollinated seed crops is but one, safeguarding the beekeeping industry 
has become doubly urgent. Beekeeping can be mastered only through years 
of experience. It cannot be learned as a trade is learned, and there is 
no floating population of persons seeking employment in beekeeping. The 
fact that bees have a propensity for stinging discourages many people 
from keeping them, and only certain individuals possess the proper tempera- 
ment to be beekeepers. For these reasons every experienced beekeeper should 
be encouraged to continue with his bees. It may even become necessary to 
subsidize the keeping of bees, since there is no practical substitute 
for honeybees in the transfer of pollen from flower to flower and from 
plant to plant. 
