VALUE OF BEES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21244, 14 January 1939, Page 13

VALUE OF BEES

INCREASE OF FRUIT CROPS IMPORTANCE TO ORCHARDISTS Most orchardists and gardeners recognise the value of bees as pollinators of fruit and vegetables, and some keep hives primarily for their value in this respect. Mr Cecil Hooper, at the recent National Honey Show in England, however, pointed out that, while bees have been known to fly a couple of miles in search of nectar, observations in orchards have shown that the effective range of bees as pollinators is not much more than a hundred yards from the hive. To get the maximum return from the fruit trees, therefore, the fruitgrower must be careful not merely to plant a number of compatible varieties of trees, but to plant the various kinds in quite small blocks in order that the bees shall not be tempted to confine their pollen collection largely to one kind. While wind and other insects than bees play a part in fertilising friiit blossoms, it seems clear that bees are by far the most important agency in doing this valuable work. Mr Hooper is a fruit-grower, who was, among others, trying to arouse interest in fruit-growing in England. He has no interest in bees other than _3S a means of increasing his fruit crops, but contended that the fruitgrower—in England at least—should hire bees on contract during the blossoming time, spacing the hives in little groups all over the orchards.