262 
CUCUMBER 
latter “female” blossoms. The nectar is 
secreted in the bottom of a cup formed by 
the fusion of the floral leaves at base. In 
the staminate flowers this cup is covered by 
A part of the “apiary” located above the wires 
some twelve feet from the ground. 
the fleshy expanded stamens, and access to 
the nectar is gained thru three narrow 
lateral passages between the anthers. 
When an insect inserts its tongue in one 
of these passages both sides of its head 
are dusted with pollen. In the pistillate 
flowers the pistil rises from the center of 
the cup. The staminate flowers are the 
larger and open first. 
In order that the pistillate flower may 
be fruitful, pollen from the staminate 
flowers must be brought to the stigmas; 
and in the fields this work is chiefly per¬ 
formed by honeybees, other insects than 
bees being of little importance. A market 
gardener in Manitoba states that during 
three years he was unable, without colonies 
of the domestic bee, to obtain more than a 
dozen cucumbers, and in the case of these 
exceptions the flowers were pollinated by 
hand. He purchased a colony of bees, later 
increasing them to eleven colonies. That 
year cucumbers to the value of $55 were 
sold. It may be regarded as an axiom in 
cucumber growing: No bees, no fruit. 
Cucumbers raised under glass must either 
be pollinated by hand or by. hives of bees 
placed at each end of the hothouse. In 
Massachusetts, Ohio, and New Jersey cu¬ 
cumbers are grown very extensively in hot¬ 
houses, and more than 2000 colonies of 
bees are required annually to pollinate the 
blossoms. A single grower is reported to 
have 40 acres under glass. Pollination was 
formerly effected by hand, but the bees 
have proved most efficient pollinators, and 
enormous crops of cucumbers are obtained. 
The cucumbers themselves are much more 
symmetrical in shape, bringing a better 
price. In the small greenhouses many 
bees are lost by bumping up against the 
glass. In the large ones there is very little 
trouble of this sort. See Fruit Blossoms, 
subhead “pollination op cucurbitaceous 
FRUITS.” 
The honey obtained from cucumber blos¬ 
soms is pale yellow or amber, and has at 
first a rather strong flavor, apparently 
suggestive of the fruit; but this probably 
largely disappears in time. In localities 
Looking down between two of the rows of cucum¬ 
ber vines growing seven to nine feet high. 
where there are pickle factories beekeepers 
find the cucumber a valuable addition to 
the honey flora. Sufficient honey for win¬ 
tering is often secured besides a small 
surplus. 
The cucumber has been in cultivation in 
