The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-03

the banner or on the wings The worker
bee first pushes her head against the
hollow part Of the keel in order to In
sert her tongue in the coroila tube-anc
drink up the nectar that is there. AS
she does so, the pent pistil is released
from the keel, and jumps forward as II
moved by a spring If the bee IS q
small one and is on the banner where
she ought to be, the pistil will reach
over her back and before she can ger
away viii securely rub off the pollen
dust; since the pistil in this case Is
sticky on the under side only. The bee
sucks the honey, wriggles out, and flies
to another blossom to repeat the opera
ton 1t is of no use for another pee sc
visit the flower. The blossom needs one
visit. but il has no use for more. Ii
therefore drives a sharp bargain with
its insect friend by secreting only just
enough hOney-one drOD-tO induce the
bee TO call and SO spring its trap. After
that. not needing another visit. the
blossom. - to speak, notifies its friend.
the bee. that it is of no use to cali
again. for the trap, once sprung, re-
mains closed. Probably the been can
not get in again, since the pistil now
presses close down upon the banner
Any honey that might still remain
of the pistil
When the Trap Falls.
I suppose that the bee takes all the
available honey when the trap is first
sprung, and that she does not frequens
that flower thereafter. 1t would be in
terCsting to know more definItefy
whether or not this is so. In order to
find out. ] invite the cooperation o.
other observers. especially of the school
children and their teachers in the sixth
grade, to whom the noble group OF
leguminous plants is assigned for sps-
cial Observa ton. Suppose, however. that
the pistil of the iucern trap IS sDr,f-,s-
without catching the bee in the right
position to get the pollen from the
bee back In this case. the pistil misses
its intended aim, and remains infer
tilted. As il now presses down upon
the standard petal. it canot get pollen
upon its under side thereafter. and
hence will be precluded from rip4ning
its ovules into fertile seeds. 1t whf be
barren. Now, our students report that
the honey bee alights upon the wings
instead of upon the standard. and SO
springs the trap without coming into
contact with the pistil, unless, indeed.
the latter should brush against ths
so get pollen in this manner The re-
suit is that many of the ovules fail to
get eross-fertilized, and the crop of
lueern seed is eorrespondingly small
II we could discover what kind of bee
does the best seTvice-probabIy the
very small bees-in cross-fertilizing the
lucerD. we might be able TO double the
crop of lucern seed by putting a few
colonies of the right kind of bees near
the fields.
The observer will discover that while
the seed pods on any lucern branch
rarely number mere than half a dozen.
the flowers are usually two dozen or
more Here, then, is a practical prob
EN- for communities that desire so large
I part of their wealth from the alfalfa
Find out what bee does exactly the
right thing in pay for the honey with
which the plant provides him.
Another interesting study is to OBJ
serve how the lucern and the other
egumes protect their growing seeds in
he pods specially develop for the
purpose. The Iucern develops a stiff
,orcksrew pod that resists the attacks
IF insects; the astraglus covers Its
good case with a dense white, felIy
wool; the pea has a large, leathery, IN
lated pod; the bean, fieshy one. The
ed clover puts q leafy sheath below fts
over head. Each legune. in fact. mas
is special devices for the protection
If product that is so largely the food
# nations.
A More Excellent Way.
One word further as to school in
'truction- The excellent method by
which our city schools especially now
study geography, that is. by taking ND
certain leading commercial products
say, corn, cotton. 1umbeF.) and follow
ng them through their entire history.
s admirable. Il needs only one slight |
notification to be just right: the ma
erial should always begin with ot.r
'wn species. It should be saEebrush. |
orchweed, cactus, sego lily, Inentzelia; /
II sunfower-beetle, goldsmith-beetIe,
iger swallow-tail butterfly, meadow
ark, chipmunk, gopher; or peaches. |
Ippies, tomatoes. service berries. pine |
luts; or wire grass, asters. knot grass. |
Lnalfa-any common product that is |
ound everywhere in, and gives char |
Ieter 10. our own country. Later We
an reag TO the products of other