The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-02-28
HONEY BEES IN
HORTICULTURE
HOW Fertilization IS EFFECTED
Many Experiments and Observations
as Related by Well-known
Yakima .Apiarist.

10Y EuW. hTekllIleT, council BIUHS,
Iowa.
!. In these few lines | shall not at
tempt to write an essay on bee cul-
ture, as more complete information
on that subject may be obtained
from text books, but shall confine
my remarks to their relation to hor-
ticulture and items not generally
known, using only well known in
nation to explain my subject
Nearly all flowers require fertili
cation through the medium of pollen
from another flower of the same spe-
Gle, which is accomplished in vari-
Gus natural ways, some from gravi-
ty in dropping from a higher eleva-
ton, some by the winds blowing the
pollen from one flower to another.
But such fertilization is only Incl
dental, always uncertain and imper-
feet
An all wise creator placed nectar
in nearly all flowers to entice bees
to them. He covered the bodies of
the bees with a covering of fine hair
and made their diet to consist of
honey and pollen. To obtain this
the bees visit the flowers to extract
the nectar and whilst doing so sin
gle bee visits sometimes as many as
fifty flowers before obtaining a load
to carry to the hive. At each visit
to the fifty or less of different flow
ers, the flow pollen of the various
flowers becomes entangled in their
hair like covering and in their effort
to extract nectar firm the next visited
pollen obtained from a previously
visited flower is dropped and fertili-
cation is thus effected. this adher
ence of the pollen to the hair like
covering is quite often so
complete as to change, for the time
being, the color of the bee. The
writer has seen bees, by nature black
or brown, return to their hive color
ed orange, yellow, white, or a mix
ture of these colors, so thoroughly
were they covered with pollen. Not
only does bee visit a flower once
but hundreds may visit the same
flower in a day and for number of
days in succession and thus the most
perfect fertilization is brought
about.
In my earlier days when l was as
much of an enthusiastic horticulture
list as an apiarist, l conducted many
experiments and made many obser
vations, and found that during the
blooming of fruit trees should the
weather be too cool to permit of the
bees flying. an imperfect crop was
the result. Believing that the cool
days might be the cause of the inn
perfect fruit rather than the absence
of the bees. l investigated a little
farther in the succeeding years. when
it was pleasant weather for the bees
to visit the flowers, by covering GER
tain parts of blooming trees with
wire cloth or netting to exclude the
bees yet to admit the free access OF
all pollen carried by the winds. and
in every instance the limbs and trees
thus covered produced either no
fruit or only a few small and imper-
feet specimens. After repeated eX-
periments it is my candid opinion
that without bees our fruit crops
would be reduced fully ninety per
cent.
Not only is this true of the fruit
of the orchard but likewise with Der
ries and vegetables. As an example
let me cite the case of Senator Smink
of Rocky Ford. Col, who raises mel
ons in fields miles in length. Years
ago he was afraid of even the hum OF