BEES AND FLOWERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2373, 14 August 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

BEES AND FLOWERS.

A writer in the Alta California declares that insect pests are conveyed from tree to tree.by bees,;and girei the following evidence to that effect. He says:—" lam ready to prove that the setting- of fruit trees is not in the least dependant on beei. I: am a pioneer, and was engaged in buying and selling fruit in 1851. The-orchards and vineyards about the missions were as fruitful then as now, or have been since; yet no bee was seen in California till four or five years later, Up to that time the orchards and vineyards •never failed in their abundance of fruit. While the injury done by..liees. to raisins in the Santa Ana Valley has been great during the past year, the injury to oranges has been greater. .The bees carry the red scale from tree to tree. This scale is the most destructive and the most difficult todestroy o{ any that has ever visited the Santa Ana Yalley, The young of this pest are too small to be seen by the naked eye. The females are taken from tree to tree, by bees, Simple declarations, without the evidence on which they are' founded, are, valueless. Therefore, I i will give the facts which establish my ■ propositions ir-First, the habit and i manner of the bee in gathering" pollen

makes it practicable to collect these. microscopic mites- with pollen and. carry "them from one tree to another. That they do this is evident froth the fact that the lemon tree, which is always in bloom 'and covered with bees, is the first. •to be infected with red scale, Second, I planted a small orange tree two-years ago. ; They were taken from a nursery remote froni any red scale, and appeared to be entirely free from pest, Soon after they began to bloom the scale appeared, while those

trees that did not bloom at all were free' from "the pest.', Hence, iLis evident that the bees visiting the blossom- brought the : scale,-. There'has been a remarkable, increase of thia : pest during the past season. • Many orange groves have been dug up and bnrned solely on account of the damage of the red scale-__ There is plenty of room in 'California as' .yet for ..both industries, But they cannot flourish ..together. .Our valley was.once a good sheep pasture,

.but when it became evideut that it was more valuable for fruit than for wool and mutton, the sheep had to' le.ave. When it becomesfevident that our-soil and acreage are more valuable for another industry, horticulture will modestly and silently.retiie."' . - L

;-'• STUNG TO DEATH.-. / THE FATE OF THE BIG. BROWN BEAR OF ALASKA IN. MOSQUITO TIME. \ ' "\ A fair wind one. day made me think ifcpassibloto take A hunt inland, but to my disgust;'it died down' after I had proceeded "three miles, and ray fight back to camp with the mosquitoes I shall always .regard as one of the .salient, points of my.life, It seemed as if there was an • upward rain of insects from , the grass that became a -deluge ov'ei> marshy tracts -and- more' than half the ground was marshy; Of course not a sign of gai'ne was seen except afewoldtracks \ andtheiraoks of the animal are about the only park, of it fcbafc could exist here in the mosquito season, which lastsfrom the time the snow -is half ,off the ground until jth'e first severe frost, a period of some j three or four months, .During'that time every creature tbat can.leave the valleys.asoends the mountains, closely following the snow Una, and even here their peace is'not completely attained, theexpoEure to the winds being of far more benefit than the coolness due; to the altitude, while the mosquitps are left undisputed^ masters of the valleys, except tor a. few straggling animals on their'way from one range of mountains to the other, - "-'• •

Had there.been any game, arid ' had T obtained a fair.shot, I'honestly doubt if I could 'hay'q' secured it, owing to these pests; not altogether on account of their ravenous attacks upon my face, and especially the eyes, hut' for the leason that ..tbey 'were so absolutely■ dense that.it was impossible to see clearly through the mass in taking aim. •• , .

When I got to camp I was thoroughly -exhausted- with my incessant fight, and completely out of breath, which I had to regain as best I could in a stifling smoke:' from dry resinous pine knots,.\ A traveller, who had spent a summer on 'the, lower Tukan, where I did not find the pest so bad on my journey as.qn tbe upper river, was of opinion that a nervous person,' without a*mask, would- soon be killed by nervous prestations, unless he were to take refuge in midstream,. I know that the native dogs are killed by mosquitoes under certain circumstances, and I bear reports, which I believe to be well, founded, both from Indians and - trustworthy white persons, that the great-brown bear—erroneous called the. grizzly of- these regions is at. times' compelled to succumb to these insects. The statement seems almost .preposterous, but the explanation is comparatively simple. Bruin having exhausted all the roots and berries of one mountain, or, finding them scarce, thinks he will. cross the valley to another-rarige, "or perhaps it is the odor 6f mlmon washed »p along the river's banks that 'attracts bun. Covered with a.heavy fur on his body,, his ;eyesj ,nose'and ears are the vulnerable points for mosquitoes, and here, of course, they.' congregate in the greatest numbers,' At last, when he reaches a swampy stretch, they rise in myriads, until his forepaw is kept'so busy, -as he strives. to .keep his eyes clear of them, that he cannot walk, whereupon he becomes enraged, and bear-like, raises upon his haunches to fight. It is now a mere question of time,-until the bear's eyes become so swollon from innamerablo bites as to render him' perfectly blind, when ho wanders helplessly about until he gets mired in the mud and starves to death,