tion is absolutely necessary. What does the 
process of pollination mean to the fruit¬ 
grower? It means that it is a potent factor, 
first, in the quantity of production, and, sec¬ 
ond, in the size and shape of the fruit. It 
is a process in which the fiowers and the 
bees co-operate for each other’s good, a proc¬ 
ess which is often termed symbiosis. It is a 
process where a member of the plant king¬ 
dom has modified its structure for the pur¬ 
pose of reaping a benefit from a member of 
the animal kingdom (in this case the honey¬ 
bee) as a pollen-distributor and has offered 
the sweet nectar as a reward. 
HOW MANY COLONIES OF BEES ARE 
NEEDED FOR THE PROPER DEVEL¬ 
OPMENT OF AN ORCHARD? 
Since the pollination of the apple flowers 
is performed almost solely by the honeybee 
it behooves the fruit-grower to have bees in 
abundance in his orchard. It can be deter¬ 
mined only experimentally whether or not 
the number of bees existing in an orchard is 
suflicient. The experiment may be performed 
by the fruit-grower by placing a hive of 
bees at one end or in one corner of a large 
orchard and then observing the amount and 
shape of the fruit set. This method of de¬ 
termining whether bees are in sufficient 
abundance is, of course, expensive, for any 
lack of them results in a shortening of the 
fruit crop. Hence it is well to insure against 
the possibility of loss by keeping a few hives 
of bees distributed through the orchard. 
Bees not only will often increase the quality 
and quantity of the fruit, but incidentally 
will furnish the fruit-grower with wax for 
grafting, and with honey for the home. 
