Over 100 crops
0. : By JOANNE SPAHR
ROBESONIA - Mention the
word “bee” and nearly
everyone loses their “cool”,
so to speak.
“A bee?!?” they whisper
in terror. “Where’s a bee? Is
he on me somewhere?”
Yellow jackets, wasps,
bumble bees, honeybees, and
almost any stinging insect
are commonly classified -
with one term - “bee.”
According to several
beekeepers in the area, this
is totally unfair. Like the
current misnomer, “swine
flu”, the word “bee” as an
overall name for stinging
insects gives the honeybee a
bad reputation.
“The only fear is fear,
itself,” says Walter Bucks,
Robesonia Rl, a hobbyist
and ardent fan of the
honeybee.
“We need the honeybee,”
he notes, “for the pollination
of over 100 of our crops.”
And, this is a fact.
m. The United States
Department of Agriculture
says that the following
agricultural plants would not
be able to produce fruit or
seed if it weren’t for insect
pollination; alfalfa and
berseem; almond, apple,
apricot, asparagus, avocado,
blackberry, blueberry and
huckleberry, brocolli,
brussels sprouts, buckwheat,
cabbage, carrot,
cauliflower, celery, cherry,
chestnuts, clovers (alsike,
crimson, red, strawberry,
white, and Ladino white),
coffee, collards, cotton,
cranberry, cucumber,
dewberry, gooseberry,
grape, flax, honeydew
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melon, kale, kohlrabi, lima
beans, macadamia nut,
mandarin, mango, musk
melon, onion, parsnip,
passion fruit, peach, pear,
pepper, persian melon,
persimmon, plum, prune,
pumpkin, radish, raspberry,
squash, strawberry, sun
flower, sweet clover, turnip,
and watermelon, to name a
few of the 100 crops.
In total, the USDA
estimates that one billion
dollars worth of crops are
dependent of the honeybee
for pollination and that five
billion dollars worth are
benefited by honeybee
pollination.
Some other up-to-date
figures reported by Bucks is
that in a good year, the
honeybee will produce 60
pounds of honey and help to
generate 80 tons of fruits and
vegetables. So, their value as
pollinators is 20 times their
value as honeymakers.
Some unique facts
associated with the
honeybees are that honey is
nearly a perfect food. It
never spoils and never
promotes bacterial growth.
According to Garner and
Betty Burt, commercial
beekeepers from Columbia
county, Egyptian tombs
have been opjmed up to
reveal honey still intact.
The Burts should know
what they are talking about,
since they have ap
proximately 900 hives spread
out over a 35 mile radius.
And, in the summer, when
it gets too cold outside for
their honeybees, they take
them to Florida. The bees
don’t get a vacation,
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Two concerned beekeepers are Walter Bucks (left) and Garner Burt (right).
however. Instead, they end
up making orange blossom
honey for their keepers.
A honeybee pollinates by
inadvertently dropping bits
of pollen, which gathers on
their bodies as they collect
nectar, as they fly from plant
to plant. This cross
pollination, which is also
performed by other insects,
the wind and hummingbirds,
produces a genetically
superior crop to those
produced by self-pollination.
One of die biggest plus
factors in the use of the
honeybee for pollination is
that they only collect one
type of nectar at a time. This
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1976
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WHAT YOU DO NOW IS IMPORTANT.
depend on bees for pollination
FARM
is very important to plants
that are self-sterile and must
be cross-pollinated. Other
pollinating insects may
gather nectar from 50-60
types of plants.
Yet, with all these good
points to their name, very
few people know about bees,
and very few people care. As
a result, bees are being
exterminated right and left
by various causes.
Just recently, 2000 colonies
were destroyed in Lewiston,
Idaho, and for three years
now, the states of
Washington and Oregon
have had to undergo “bee
lifts” to replenish the bee
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Sept. 11,1976
population they have
destroyed. Without the bee
lifts, their crops would not
have pollinated. And, the
Wall Street Journal reported
in 1974 that there were 20 per
cent fewer honeybee colonies
in the U.S. than 10 years ago.
One of the worst problems,
according to Bucks, who is
especially concerned for bee
extinction, is that people
spray excessively with
overdoses of insecticides,
which can 101 l the bee, or
they employ insecticides
that are toxic to this insect.
“The average person just
doesn’t know or realize the
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affects they can have,” he
explains.
Another problem is
draining of the sprayer and
letting the water stand in a
place where it doesn’t
evaporate. The reason this is
a problem is that bees use
stagnant water, pollen, and
honey to feed their larvae. If
they pick up water with
insecticides, they will kill off
their young.
So, Bucks offers some
suggestions to farmers and
home gardeners, and almost
anyone who uses pesticides.
First of all, there are
certain pesticides which will
do the trick on the unwanted
insects without being toxic to
the honeybee. The names of
these can be found out by
just a little inquiry when
buying pesticides.
Another suggestion is that
when dumping and cleaning
out the sprayer, make sure
that the contents can either
evaporate quickly or drain
properly.
A third caution is to never
spray something that is
blooming, since the
honeybee will be gathering
nectar from the blossom and
inadvertently pick up the
insecticide. Or, another
possibility to cut down on
killing the bees is to spray at
night when they are not
flying.
These are just a few
suggestions to help to keep
the little pollinators per
petuating and flying.
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