POLLEN. 
87 
many Springs are so unpropitious, that often during the 
critical period of blossoming, the sun shines for only a few 
hours, so that those only can reasonably expect a remu¬ 
nerating crop whose trees arc all murmuring with the 
pleasant hum of bees. 
A large fruit-grower told me that his cherries were a 
very uncertain crop, a cold north-east storm frequently 
prevailing when they were in blossom. He had noticed, 
that if the sun shone only for a couple of hours, the bees 
secured him a crop. 
If the horticulturists who regard the bee as an enemy, 
could exterminate the race, they would act with as little 
wisdom as those who attempt to banish from their inhos¬ 
pitable premises every insectiverous bird, which helps 
itself to a small part of the abundance it has aided in 
producing. By making judicious efforts early in the 
Spring, to entrap the mother-wasps and hornets, which 
alone survive the Winter, an effectual blow may be 
struck at some of the worst pests of the orchard and gar¬ 
den. In Europe, those engaged extensively in the culti¬ 
vation of fruit, often pay a small sum in the Spring for all 
wasps and hornets destroyed in their vicinity. 
Fig. 62 (PI. XIII.), shows the magnified head of a 
Mexican Iloney-IIornet (p. 58). Fig. 63 shows the mag¬ 
nified head of the Honey-Bee. Fig. 64 shows the jaws 
of this Hornet, highly magnified. Fig. 65 shows the 
jaws of the Honey-Bee, highly magnified. A glance at 
these figures is enough to convince any intelligent horti¬ 
culturist of the truth of Aristotle’s remark—made more 
than two thousand years ago—that “bees hurt no kinds 
of fruit, but wasps and hornet3 are very destructive to 
them.” 
