June 8, 1889, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
G45 
its branches it soon puts forth other growths, which 
produce blossoms in the following spring. There is 
also a Chinese Guelder Rose, known as V. plieatum, 
which was introduced from the northern part of the 
empire in 1845. The flowers are white, larger and 
whiter if anything than our own, and quite as freely 
produced. It has large bold leaves, makes a very 
showy shrub, is apparently quite hardy, and a welcome 
addition to our shrubberies.— li. D. 
-- 
BEES AND FERTILISATION. 
“A. D.’s” heretical doubts and remarks on the 
above subject (see p. 609) will, I' fancy, be a “sting” 
to the real bee enthusiasts, to allay the swell¬ 
ing of which will require a little of something more 
than hartshorn to be applied to the puncture. Bees 
not necessary to the fertilisation of fruits—why, the 
man must be demented to speak such heresy ! I fancy 
some such like buzz will be heard in many an apiary, 
and a little louder, too, than the “croak” of any 
drone - laying queen, after 
“A. D.’s” remarks have 
been scanned. 
“A. D. ” is evidently not 
a bee enthusiast, nor is he 
smitten with any phase of 
the bee craze, otherwise his 
doubts about the sensitive¬ 
ness of bees to the proper 
fertilising of fruit blossom 
would not be quite so 
pointed. However, what¬ 
ever stings “A. D.” may be 
likely to receive in return 
for his temerity, I can 
console him with the fact 
that he is not alone in his 
doubts regarding the ab¬ 
solute necessity of bees to the 
fertilising of, at least, fruit 
flowers. I have long been 
of opinion that though bees 
may assist in the operation 
of fertilising our hardy 
fruits, yet their assistance is 
not absolutely necessary to 
secure that end ; and that 
if it were possible for every 
bee in the kingdom to be 
suddenly withdrawn during 
the blossoming period of 
the trees, our fruit crops 
would not be diminished by 
one single bushel through 
their absence. 
The fact is, the flowers 
of most of our hardy fruits 
are self-fertilisers—at least, 
they have that power, and 
of being wind-fertilised— 
and as such, do not require 
the assistance of any insect 
aid to that end. Should 
favourable weather prevail 
through the blooming 
period, with a warm and 
buoyant atmosphere, all other 
things being equal, an ample set of fruit will follow, 
and this without the aid of a single bee. On the other 
hand, should unfavourable weather prevail while the 
trees are in bloom, bees are impotent to assist in the 
procuring of a crop, for bees, like butterflies, are very 
much the creatures of the weather, and can only be 
out and doing when it is dry, warm, and sunshiny. 
At such times they can assist in the operations of 
fertilisation, but, as I have shown, it is then that their 
services can well be dispensed with, and that they are 
not absolutely necessary to the production of a crop. 
There is no doubt the utility or supposed usefulness 
of the bee in its relation and connection with the 
fertilisation of the flowers of fruits has been overstated, 
as also have the profits to be derived from the keeping 
of bees—at least, from the sale of honey alone. The 
falling off in the number of stocks of bees, as stated by 
“A. D.,” is not confined to the county of Middlesex, 
but is apparent in every county throughout the kingdom. 
This falling off in the number of stocks, and also in 
the number of bee-keepers throughout the kingdom, is 
not so much the result of bad seasons, though these 
have been bad enough, 1888 especially so, as from the 
disappointment of bee-keepers to realise the profits they 
had hoped for from the sale of their honey. 
No matter whether the season was a very good one 
or only partially so, it was difficult to find a re¬ 
munerative market for the honey. To partly remedy 
this state of things, and to benefit those bee-keepers, 
especially cottagers, who were members of county 
associations, and which were in affiliation to the 
Central or British Bee-keepers’ Association, a company 
was formed under the name of The British Honey 
Company, Limited, for the ostensible purpose of 
finding an outlet for its—I had almost said, money— 
shareholders’ honey. After three years trading, the 
company managed to go handsomely to the bad for I 
don’t know how much ; whether from bad trade or what 
I do not know, for I have never heard. 
This much, however, I do know, being a small share¬ 
holder of the said company. I received a circular last 
June stating that the company’s best course would be 
to go into voluntary liquidation, and that if I had no 
objection to make, I should rank for dividend on the 
amount then settled as being paid upon the shares 
standing in my name. Whether the company has 
liquidated itself or passed it and all its belongings 
away into the liquid air I know not, for I have not had 
another word from the company from that day to this. 
My share capital was half paid up, and by a careful 
calculation it represented something like twenty-five 
per cent, commission to the company on the sales on 
my behalf; in effect I paid the company twenty-five per 
cent, to sell my little honey at about the lowest market 
prices. As to dividends, well, I suppose they melted 
away into that thin air already spoken of ; I have not 
handled any. Someone behind the scenes may be 
laughing up his sleeve for anything 1 know, and 
saying I may thank my stars that I am let off so easily ; 
perhaps I may. “A. D.” will gather from the above 
that it is not all “ honey ” bee-keeping, and this may 
account in a great measure for the rapid falling off in 
the number of stocks, as well as the number of bee¬ 
keepers throughout the kingdom. This county (Herts) 
was amongst the largest of the county associations, and 
of which I was once a member, but the number of its 
members has rapidly declined, and for the last two 
years it has had some difficulty in keeping on its feet. 
The fact is, bee-keeping for profit in this country will 
never be anything but an uncertain and poor business. 
The time of the honey-flow is too short for the 
bees to garner large harvests ; the seasons too are 
uncertain and fitful, and some seasons, like 1888 
to wit, perfectly disastrous, when, instead of the poor 
bees bringing in honey, they had to be fed the whole 
season through to keep them alive. Bees, like the 
beer, have been “ boomed,” and those who have 
pocketed the largest spoils, as far as I can see, have 
been the manufacturers and vendors of bee appliances, 
and small blame to them, for they only set about to 
supply a legitimate, if mistaken and crazy, demand of 
the times. 
As to the fruit not setting well without the aid of 
bees, I feel, like “A. D.,” easy on that score. I 
remember a time here when there was not a stock of 
bees within three miles of us for at least five years, and 
our crops of fruit were as plentiful then as they have 
been these last ten or twelve years, with some forty or 
more stocks closely surrounding us. Most of these 
forty stocks have now disappeared, from one source or 
another, and my own ten, out of which I have lost 
four this winter and spring, are, I think, the only 
representatives of the neigh¬ 
bourhood now. I keep 
them, not with the hope 
of deriving profit by them, 
but simply for the pleasure 
of studying them, and also 
in remembrance of one 
of the kindliest of men, 
and a very dear and re¬ 
spected friend. To him I 
am indebted for my first 
stock and bar-frame hive, 
which he gave me solely as 
an inducement to enter into 
the pastime which he him¬ 
self loved so well. 
He was one of our greatest 
bee enthusiasts and experts, 
and thoroughly believed his 
pets to be indispensably 
necessary to the fertilising 
of fruits. In giving a lecture 
on them once he was so far 
carried away as to make the 
mistake of saying that only 
for the assistance of the 
bees we should have no 
Strawberries to eat. It 
happened to be in March, 
and I quietly corrected his 
error by showing him a 
crop of Strawberries in pots 
under glass that had neither 
been assisted to set their 
fruit by the bee nor the 
camel’s-hair brush. He was 
the author, too, of A Book 
About Bees, intended for 
schools. 
He was also a great 
lover of horticulture, and 
especially excelled in grow¬ 
ing and showing his favourite 
flower the Rose. Alas, that 
he should be no more ! I 
miss very much the pleasant 
chats we used to have on 
bees and Roses. He was our much-respected and now 
deeply-lamented rector.— J. Kipling, Knebworth. 
-- 
NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
A Vermilion Primula jafonica. 
When at Reading a few days ago, I saw at Messrs. 
Sutton & Son’s nursery, in the London Road, a batch 
of Primula japonica in bloom. Among them were five 
or six plants with flowers of a rich vermilion colour, 
much brighter than those of the ordinary P. japonica. 
On making inquiry, I was informed that these bright- 
coloured varieties were produced from a cross made 
between P. japonica and P. obconica, both being 
employed as pollen and seed parents. The flowers of 
P. obconica so operated on proved sterile, but those of 
P. japonica produced some seeds, and from these the 
plants I saw were obtained. I could not discover any 
change in the habit of growth, character of the foliage, 
flower-stem, the production of whorls, or in the size 
and shape of the blossoms ; but there was the striking 
hue of colour, and it was the opinion that this was 
owing to the blood of P. obconica. It is thought more 
definite changes may be developed in a generation or 
two.— B. D. 
