Bees Valuable to Horticulture
By careful management and by employing some help in certain seasons, horticulture—small fruits and orcharding—may likewise be profitably undertaken without interfering with apiary work. Bee culture and horticulture may in fact be combined to mutual advantage. The nectar from the fruit bloom is always regarded as an advantage and comes when nectar from other sources is not available.
In flying from flower to flower bees carry pollen and thus produce cross-pollination. They are of value also in the pollination of buckwheat, the clovers, and of many other farm crops. Horticulturists have learned to appreciate this service so highly for orchards and small fruit gardens that few commercial fruit growers will be without a good-sized apiary in the orchard if there are no bees in flying reach. It is impossible to measure the good that is accomplished in this way, but since many varieties of fruits are not fertile to their own pollen, it is obvious that were it not for the bees and other insects which carry pollen there would be much less fruit. Of course not all the pollen is carried by honey-bees, but this is the only species of insect which may be taken to the orchard to insure pollination.