The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-29
FRIENDS or THE FLOWERS
insect Gardeners That Labor E.,..
fuiiy to Help Them to Live.

From Our Animal Friends
The fiowers-even the coror,ono.. 49,.
blossom in April along the peadside-a;,
nave their insect gardeners w,.v work moro
faithfully and who take better care Of
them than the boys ana girls with tie
Dest Kept gardens you know.
Every Kind of flower has its own kind ~
gardeners. The pussy willows have ,nanv
gardeners. In the springtime In New Fng-
idhd attle bees, smaller than the ordinary
money Dee, may he seen coming in hungry
sWarms TO feed on the sweets hidden dean
IN the pussy willows. but after they have
sathered what honey they need. thev NV
LOT thebr marketing by obiigingly CARVING
the golden grains here and there exact,J
where the blossoms wish them placed IN
mat way the bees oct as gardeners and tha
plants Keep sweetmeat shops that renav
tnem FOR their trouble. Sometimes a great
ounlpfcpee Will come along with his two
poilen baskets, one fastened on each loo.
Tor ne too is a gardner who is willing ~
carry from one another The golden powdar
which the pushes must have IL thew ara n
I'VE FOR another year. There is a deljebtfu,
book by Mr.. c. NJ. Weed called Ten New
england blossoms and Their Insect Wis
tors, which tell US. however. that he
big bumbiebees ask too high WAGES In
nectar and pollen for the return thew
give, to be profitable gardeners In compar-
lson with the less greedy small bees which
are really the very best gardeners Of all
Inc trailing arbutus has for its garden
ers the handsome bee fly, the big bunh,a-
bees, the small bees, the beautiful hum
ming-bird moth and one of the earliest
spring butterflies, which is called the
American iortoise-shell These par,io,,e,.-
nd
quicAness that should mako inzy bows ana
girls blush. They push their long SLENDER
tongues down 10 the bottom of the omen
flower cup, which the plant holds our co
gladly; they take every drop of honey that
IS offered; and then they load themselves
With the pollen. which they know perfect
~ well it is their duty to leave at the next
place they so before they carry the honey
to their own homes.
What would happen, you may ask if
by any chance, the llttle gardeners should
be prevented from carrying pc.en from
flower TO flower? The only thing that in
terferes with an insect gardeners work is
rainy weather. The insects that visited the
fruit blossoms in some orchards of South
ern New hampshire mad a long period OF
dry weather in the spring of 1891 They
worked so husuN hat the fruit crop wos
finer and larger than il had been Tor years:
put III SeutuSfN New Jersey, during The
same season, when the trees and vines
were in bloom, there were frequent and
heavy rains The result" MIR. Weed goes
on 10 say. was a marked failure of the
crops" simply because natures best gar
deneTsf could not thoroughly do their work.
On Easter day when you see the exqui-
site Bermuda lily which we ell know best
by the name of Easter lily, think with
gratitude OF the tiny gardener who worked
TO make that flower the thing or beauty
that Il is. The sphinx moths carry the pol
len OF the Easter lilies. They fly at dusk
and only for a few hours. but so well DO
they work thu they manage 10 visit many
lily blossoms IN a short nme The lilies help
them by sending forth their sweetest per
fume az the time that the sphinx moths
need IL for a guide. and they also hide
their honey deer down IN their glistening
cups where no other insect can possibly
reach 10 rob the favored ones OF their re.
ward.