Crops Which Need The Bees

A publication of the United States Department of Agriculture, (E-584), entitled "The Dependence of Agriculture on the Beekeeping Industry" states, "At least 50 agricultural crops depend upon honeybees for pollination or yield more abundantly when bees are plentiful. "

The plants listed in that publication which are benefited by the visits of the honeybee follow:

Fruit Crops

Grape Muskmelon Peach and nectarine Pear

Persimmon, native Plum and prune Strawberry Tung

Watermelon

Almond

Apple

Apricot

Avocado

Blackberry

Blueberry and huckleberry

Cherry

Cranberry

Cucumber

Gooseberry

Seed Crops

Place Of The Beekeeper

Since so many people fear bees, most farmers prefer to have beekeeping specialists in the neighborhood rather than to care for their own bees.

American agriculture as yet, has failed to settle down to a permanent basis. It is more of a speculative game than a settled routine. There is too much tendency to plunge into crops which are high in price at the moment, with too large a portion of our acreage cultivated in a manner to deplete soil fertility.

Under such conditions our prosperity is that of the gambler, rich today and broke tomorrow. Since the beekeeper is dependent for his livelihood upon crops which are mostly of more than one year duration, such conditions have compelled too many bee-men to become nomads with no settled habitation. This is very unsatisfactory both from the standpoint of the honey producer, who must face an uncertain future and the farmer, who cannot be sure of the presence of the needed bees at the proper time.

There are many problems which still remain to be solved before the beekeeper can settle down to an assured position in the community. In the fruit districts, his position is especially precarious. Fruit growers have been among the first to recognize the necessity of bees to insure pollination of their blossoms. Yet it is in the orchards that we find the greatest uncertainty among the beemen. The use of poison on a wholesale scale to control insect pests results in the loss of large numbers of bees each spring. This problem must be solved if either the fruit grower or the beekeeper is to survive.

In some areas the bees are brought in for the fruit bloom and then moved out again until after the spraying is done. This requires a large amount of labor and is not a practical solution.

It has been my privilege to visit many of the important fruit growing districts. In some cases the beekeepers have suffered such large scale losses that they have been compelled to seek locations elsewhere. Where insufficient bees have remained to secure pollination, the fruit grower has found his orchards unprofitable and many of them have been cut down.

Thus, heavy loss has come to both fruit grower and beekeeper because of their inability to solve the pressing problem of pest control without killing the bees.

Heavy crops of fruit come only with good pollination as a result of insect visits to the flowers.

We can hardly expect a permanently prosperous agriculture except under conditions which favor the security of the beekeeper. With a sufficient area devoted to the clovers, we find bee pasture to justify the honey producer in making a permanent investment in a home and efficient beekeeping equipment. With a large bee population, the farmer can anticipate dependable crops of seed and can maintain his soil fertility.

The type of farming followed in the neighborhood will determine the system of practice which the beekeeper must follow. The time of the honeyflows will determine whether he must buy his bees in packages from southern shippers or whether he can profitably make increase from his own apiaries. It will determine his system of swarm control and whether it is more profitable for him to produce extracted honey or honey in the comb.

The activities of the farmers will determine whether the beekeeper can maintain all his bees within a small area, or whether he must scatter them far and wide in a series of small outyards.

It is not only the acreage of the main crops from which he gets his honey that concern him, but also what may be within reach of his bees in early spring and late fall to enable them to continue brood rearing outside the active season and to store a reserve. supply of pollen for winter.

The more carefully we investigate the problems, the more closely do we find the interests of farmers and beekeepers to be united. Not so many years ago, when less specialization was the rule, there was much antagonism between the beekeeper and his neighbors. His bees were regarded as trespassers who gathered honey for their owner at the expense of others.

With the development of large orchards, it was discovered that the fruit grower must have the bees if he was to get any fruit. Later the vegetable grower made a similar discovery and found that if he was to get a crop of cucumbers or melons, the bees must first visit his flowers. Then it was found that the service was needed for a much larger variety of vegetable crops.

It has been only within very recent times that the farmer came to realize a similar dependence. The more we learn of the life and activity of the honeybee, the larger her place in the agricultural scheme. Now we know that bees must come back to the farms either in the hands of specialists, or we must have farm apiaries as in the old days. Without them agriculture will remain a precarious calling without the security which all are seeking so assiduously at present.