BEES AND PLANTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 17 February 1942, Page 1

BEES AND PLANTS

TTo the Editor) Sir. —In a recent issue of "The Mai!"] a statement was made that the bees]) were responsible for the loss of a large \ proportion of the bean crop in Canter- J bury. As a bee-keeper and an observer : of the habits of these insects I would < say that as far as the honey-bee is con- j cerned this is entirely erroneous and ID would challenge anybody to prove , otherwise. I take ud this attitude be- j cause such a statement is apt to cause |j unnecessary prejudice against the honey-bee and thereby encourage gar-* 1 geners to destroy them. Actually they r do not destroy or damage the flowers i*in any way, but are most valuable tOjj all plant life and indeed, without them i a large number of plants on this earth j would soon be extinct, or may not have ever existed. So much for the honey- * bee. The real culprit in this instance is * the bumble-bee. There are about half , a dozen species of these in New Zealand and they were originally imported •] for the purpose of pollinating the large red clover. This flower has a long nar- ' row' trumpet, much too long for the j honey-bee to reach the bottom, so she i' neglects it for that reason. i 5 The bumble-bee fills the bill admir- i “ ably, but there is, of course, an in-]j sufficient amount of red clover to satisfy j ♦be daily diet, so it searches further! t afield. Going over the Scarlet Runner j and French beans and being too cum- 8 beriome or too lazy to enter the flower it pierces the base of the flower and ' kills it. hence no bean. In the case if of the Broad bran the base of the! flower is pierced, but on account of the t size and robustness of the flower it is not damaged very seriously beyond a ' somewhat large hole. When the'hone.vbee follows later it usually obtain* ar- ' cess through the hole made by the bumble-bee, but without further damage. The bumble-bee, generally speaking, is a poor pollinator, firstly because it is too cumbersome to serve all varieties n of plants, and secondly because it does not confine itself to any one variety of 1 plant on any one day, thereby doing a more harm than good. The honey-bee on the other hand can „ serve almost any kind of flower and ~ once it selects a variety it rarely is changes to another on that particular (. dav. Bv so doing it pollinates each J variety almost perfectly and intro- B duces no undesirable cross-breeding of 11 plants. In conclusion Sir, while hoping 1< p have not transgressed, I trust that this n will interest gardeners generally and;H dispel any tendency towards prejudice j against the wonderful honey-bee.—l A am, etc., •‘HONEY-BOY.” f. Nelson Kith Feb