26 
BEE -CULTURE. 
Bees in Relation to Flowers 
and Fruit-Culture. 
By Isaac Hopkins, Apiarian, in Bulletin 
18 of N.Z. Department of Agriculture. 
I. IN RELATION TO FLOWERS 
GENERALLY. ~~ 
(Continued from previous issue). 
—Mechanism of Flowers.— 
Darwin.and others have proved that 
* cross fertilisation is a most important 
factor in the continued vitality of any 
species of plant, and gives an enormous 
advantage in the struggle for existence 
where the conditions of life are not wholly 
favourable.’ In the hermaphrodite or 
-double-sex flowers, where self-fertilisation 
is possible, Nature has provided in most 
cases some wonderful contrivances to 
prevent it. and to insure cross: fertilisation 
by the transference of the all-potent 
pollen-grains from some other plant of 
the same species. 
The adaptability of the hive-bee to the 
work of cross-fertilisation seems most 
marvellous, when we realise that in its 
‘separate expeditions in search of nectar 
and pollen it keeps to the flowers of the 
same species, otherwise its visits would be 
-of no service in most cases, and probably 
‘detrimental in many. 
On the subject of hermaphrodite flowers 
‘Cheshire says,— 
An examination of most blooms will 
show that the essential organs before 
referred to (authers and pistils) are so 
placed that an accidental or unaided 
transfer of pollen to stigma is unlikely, 
and where this arrangement of parts is 
not found it frequently occurs that the 
anthers ripen and dehisce much before, or 
not till some time after, the stigma has 
so matured as to be ready for pollination. 
In the former case, as we may observe in 
the common garden nasturtium (Tro- 
pxolum majus), the pollen is all carried 
away by insects by the time the stigma 
presents itself, so that if fertilisation be 
effected it must be through the bringing 
of pollen from some other blooms still 
shedding it. Insects are the means which 
accomplish this, and to secure their 
_ visits the blooms spread 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
ban 
thew a 
quet. 
In the common sage (Salvia officinalis). 5 
both the stamens and the pistil are of a 
very peculiar form, and the latter is not 
fully developed and ready to be fecundated 
until after the anthers of thesame blossoms 
have shed their pollen. 
The anther-cells, instead of being close 
together, are at the two ends of a long 
connective, which is attached by a sort of 
pivot joint at about one-third of its length 
to the stalk of the stamen. ‘he lower 
anther-cells contain very little pollen, 
sometimes none at all, while the upper 
ones are fully developed. When the bee 
thrusts its head into the tube, it presses 
against the lower cells and pushes them 
back; the connectives revolve on their 
axis, and the upper. anther-cells are 
brought down on the bee’s back, the 
hair of which brush off the pollen, which 
the bee carries away, and as soon as it 
meets with an older blossom, in which 
the pistil is fully developed, it is evident 
that upon entering the tube of this 
blossom the pollen already on the bee’s 
back must be rubbed against the stig- 
ma, and the cross-fertilisation be thus 
effected. 
See 
Il IN RELATION TO FRUIT 
CULTURE. 
Professor A. J. Cook, the well-known 
entomologist and apiarist, author of ‘ The 
Manual of the Apiary’ formerly of 
Michigan Agricultural College, and now 
of Pomona College, California, who has 
paid particular attention to this subject . 
extending over a long period, wrote me 
a short time agoin reply to some questions 
I sent him. He said,— 
Bees never harm blossoms, but are 
always a help. Bees are a tremendous 
aid through pollination. Many of our 
best fruits must be cross-pollinated to 
produce. Many pears, apples, and 
plums, &c,, are utterly sterile to their 
own pollen. Bees are alone numerous 
enough to effect this valuable service. I 
am sure that it is an incontrovertible fact 
that bees as the great agents in pollination 
are far more valuable to the world than 
for the honey they produce. The best 
orchardists (in California) now arrange 
with apiarists to bring their bees to the 
orchards; they find they must have the 
bees, 
Coming from such an authority, this is 
September 1° 1909. 
eminent testimony as to the value of the 
hive: bee to orchardists. 
Conclusive evidence in this respect 
came under my own observation. In the 
winter of 1882 I started a bee far.a at 
Matamata, and had about one hundred 
colonies of bees when the fruit-blooming 
season came on. The apiary was located 
close to a mixed orchard of large trees 
covering some 10 acres. The nearest 
bush was about five miles distant, I 
should judge, and the orchard being in 
ap open plain, there was no shelter for 
wild bees 1iearer than the bush, so that it 
is not at all likely the orchard was ever 
by bees. I was informed that, though 
the trees blossomed abundantly each 
season, the trees bore very little fruit, that 
the whole 10 acres did not supply fruit 
enough for the station. The result 
in that and subsequent seasons, by the 
aid of my bees, was that the trees had to 
be propped up in all directiuns to» keep 
them from breaking down under the 
weight of the fruit. 
(To be Continued,) 
Bickford’s 
Arsenate « Lead 
An infallible insecticide for all leaf- 
eating insects, including Codlin Moth, 
Potato Bug, Curculio Beetle, Apple 
Root Borer, etc. 
Does not burn the foliage 
Gives rise to no poisonous dust 
No danger to the sprayer 
Adheres firmly to the leaves 
Mixes with water in any proportion 
One pound of Paste makes 30 gallons 
of Spray. 
No Lime Required. 
THE AUSTRALIAN 
BEE BULLETIN 
A Monthly Journal 
Devoted to Bee Keeping. 
Edited and Published by E, ‘TIPPER, 
West Maitland; Apiary, Willow Tree, 
New xouth Wales. 
Circulated in all the Australian Colonies 
New Zealand, and Cape of Gool Hope. 
Per Annum 5s., booked 6s 6d., in Aus- 
tralasia, outside NS.W., add 6d. postage. 
