. The ABC and XYZ of bee culture; a cyclopedia of everything pertaining to the care of the honey-bee; bees, hives, honey, implements, honey-plants, etc. ... Bees. POLLEN. 334 POLLEN. their allotted task in the work of animal and vegetable life. They would, it is true, visit many i)lants for the pollen alone ; but with by far the greater part of them the pollen is only a secondary consideration, or not sought for at all. In vieing with one an- other, or in the strife to perpetuate their species, what will the plant do to offer the greatest attraction to the bees to visit them, and carry the pre
. The ABC and XYZ of bee culture; a cyclopedia of everything pertaining to the care of the honey-bee; bees, hives, honey, implements, honey-plants, etc. ... Bees. POLLEN. 334 POLLEN. their allotted task in the work of animal and vegetable life. They would, it is true, visit many i)lants for the pollen alone ; but with by far the greater part of them the pollen is only a secondary consideration, or not sought for at all. In vieing with one an- other, or in the strife to perpetuate their species, what will the plant do to offer the greatest attraction to the bees to visit them, and carry the precious pollen to the neigh- boring blossoms, for the purpose we have mentioned? Suppose we wish to gather a group of school-children about us, what will be the surest and most effectual method of do- ing it? Coax them with candy, maple sugar, and the like, of course; and that is just what the plant does ; or it does still more, for it ransacks its storehouse, and, we dare say, sends its roots abroad through the soil, with untiring efforts, to steal a more delicious and enticing nectar, more wonderfully ex- quisite tlian even the purest and most trans- parent maple-sugar syrup ever distilled or " boiled bown" by the skill of man, for the sole purpose of coaxing the bees to come and dust themselves in their precious pollen, or to bring from some other blossom the pol- len they have previously been dusted with. Now, this honey is precious, and it must tax the plant to its utmost to produce it. Nature, therefore, who is a most careful economist, not only deals it out in small doses, but she places it in the most cunning nooks and cor- ners, that the bee may be obliged to twist itself into all possible shapes, around and among the stamens, until the pollen is most surely dusted all over it. Observe that the flower secretes no honey until the pollen is ripe and ready to do its work; that the honey slowly exudes into the nectaries, that the bees may be kept coming and lick- i
Size: 1675px × 1491px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbees, bookyear1910
