BEE PHILANTHROPISTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2634, 16 October 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

BEE PHILANTHROPISTS.

HOW THEY DO GOOD BY STINGS AND STEALTH. .

The busy bee, despite the precautions which fruit-growers take to keep it away from their fruit, and despite the unreasoning anger of the people whom it stings, is a misjudged insect. In fact, it is a philanthropist, cleverly, disguised. Mr Walter F. Reid, vice-chairman of the British Bee Keepers’ Association, explained this in a lecture at the Royal Horticultural Hall recently. He told of the elaborate precautions he had taken to keep bees from liis fruit. He covered a gooseberry bush with muslin. The result was there were no bees, and, practically speaking, there was no fruit. At least, the bush only yielded six berries, while two neighboring bushes which were uncovered bore 151 and 167 respectively. A fruit-grower, he added, who saw that bees were not so bad as they were painted, actually encouraged them to. visit his fruit. He placed hives of bees among tlie trees, with the result that kisgicroD increased fourfold. The reason, Air Reid declared, was that the bees, passing from one plant to another, distributed pollen, which fertilised the blossom. “It is estimated ” ho said, “that one maize plant would produce 50,000,000 grams of pollen, and in the course of a single journey *i bee would visit several thousands of blossoms.” \nother point in the bee’s favor mentioned by Air Reid was that when people were stung by bees once or twice tliev became immune from bee poison and also other poison. , . „ Sir Albert Rollit said that this theory probably gave rise to the country belief that a bee-sting was a remedy for rheumatism, which was, after all, only a kind of poisoning.