Evening journal., 1907-09-02
GREAT DISPLAY AT
THE COUNTY FAIR
Says That Every Far
mer Should Keep
Bees For Their Value
AS a Fertilizer

There are very few who have not
good idea of the industrious habits
Of the little busy bee In prose and
poetry its devotion to labor is praised.
But few are aware of the important
part 1t plays i'm the economy of nature
and how necessary it is to the life of
the farm 1t is known everywhere as
the honey producer / was asked in a
Joking way the other day If l still held
to the false theory that the honey bee
gathered honey. l thought he had in
mind the distinction between the nee
tar which the bee gathers and the
same when transformed into honey by
the mysterious process of the bees in
the hive and I answered that l still
believed that the bees make honey.
His pleasantly however only referred
tot his unsatisfactory attempt to keep
bees from which he was unable to get
any honey, and at last he let them
all so to take to the woods"
From a commeroial standpoint the
bee is valued according to its honey
and wax production. The United
States census gives the total value of
bees in the United States as something
over ten millions OF dollars; of this
they allow twenty thousand dollars for
the state Of Delaware. The State of
Delaware could prohtably sustain more
bees to the advantage both of the bee
keeper and also to the farmer and
fruit raiser. Tor the honey value of
the bee is but an inhnitesimal sum
compared to the value its presence
gives to the other products of the
State.
There is that in plant life which an
swers to sex in animals Fruitfulness
depends upon proper fertilization. In
some plants both sexes are found in
the same flower or blossom, in others
in different blossoms on the same
plant, and in others again in different
plants. 1t is necessary to carry the
pollen Of one flower to its correspond
ont flower Of the opposite sex. This
is done in various ways. 1t may be
carried by the wind or by various in
sects that visit the flower for the
sweets that it contains. But BY far
the greater part of this pollen carry
ing is done by bees. And the little
bees must keep busy TO see that this
pollen has been distributed and dis
tributed in the right place. But why
do the bees busy themselves with this
pollen? They do not make honey out
of it. No; but they distribute the pol
len from blossom to blossom while en-
gagged in providing for the wants OF
their own household. They are at
tracted to the flower by the scent of
The nectar II contains and while diving
trrnf thew
make their honey, they come In con-
tact with the pollen, which adheres
to their bodies, and as they dive into
the next blossom this same pollen, or
part of it at least, is rubbed off on the
pistle. which thus fertilizes the bios
som.
Provision is also,mad by the Author
of all life to secure the visits of the
bees to such flowers and blossoms as
do not secrete nectar. And this has
been done by creating a necessity In
the hive for a substance that can only
be made from pollen, and that is the
bee bread which is fed to the young
bees when they are In the grub stage
OF their existence. This necessity
sends the bees to many a blossom
where there is no nectar to attract
them. Another provision Of nature
designed to secure the best results in
the fertilization of blossoms is the in
stinct Of the bee to gather the pollen
from the same class Of flowers for any
one load. II the bee starts 20 gather
pollen from the apple blossom it will
continue on apple blossoms until IL
has a load and carries it home when
it may start on some other blossom for
the next load. This provision provides
for the fertilization Of the blossom by
pollen from its own kind.
THIS year (l90O was a bad one for