Bees & Bee-Keeping; Scientific and Practical. a Complete Treatise on the Anatomy, Physiology, Floral Relations, and Profitable Management of the Hive (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVI. BEES AS FERTILISERS, FLORISTS, AND FRUIT- PRODUCERS. Method of Study-- Tropaeolum majus---Anthers: Movements of-- Colour Streaks on Petals: their Uses -- Delphinium -- Scrophularia nodosa -- Water Ejected by Bees--Epilobium angust1folium--Kalmia latifolia---Poisonous Honey--The Retreat of the Ten Thousand--Heather--Erica tetralix--Calluna --Erica Unedo--Berberis--Dimorphism-- Primula veris--Linum grandiflorum--Trimorphism--Lythrum salicaria---Order Composite--Cineraria--Flowers Sleeping -- Papilionaceous Blossoms -- Clovers -- Effects of Netting--Lamium album--Salvia offici- nalis--Fertilisation of Orchis mascula -- Bees as Florists -- Conjugation the Door of Progress -- Bees as Fruit-producers -- Apples, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries -- Hints on Culture-- Conclusion. We are now in a position to examine the modifications in form and arrangement of the several parts of flowers, in order to grasp their meaning in relation to fertilisa- tion by insect agency. Since some of the most beautiful aspects of this highly poetical page of the book of Nature depend upon proportion and interfitting by mutual accommodation, we should be making the greatest mistake if we confined our attention solely to the insect which has been the central object of our investigation; as well might we endeavour to realise the beauties of melody by the perpetual sounding of the key note, or to get harmony and contrast in colour by banishing all but one. Our bee, nevertheless, will claim as its right the principal part of our attention, and it will be its work, rather than the botanical position of the flower visited, that will determine our arrangement. Many of the orders, standing widely separate in systems of classification, ...