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Date: | Thu, 4 May 1995 09:27:09 -0500 |
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> It would be awful barren without our honeybees. I spent about three
>hours at midday today just observing the Kiwi pollination. I saw only one
>solitary bee and one carpenter bee, besides our busy little helpers. I love wa
>tching the honeybees wallow around among the anthers.
>
> Some of the growers tell me that bumblebees work them, but I think it's
>carpenter bees. I haven't seen a bumblebee yet this season, but carpenter
>bees have been plentious.
That scenario would probably change if folks started trying to develop ways
to encourage and/or mass rear these native bees, don't you think? They'd
probably get better pollination services in the long run for many of their
crops, too. (I know, I know... *HERESY!*...but it *is* probably true)
Doug Yanega Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA phone (217) 244-6817, fax (217) 333-4949
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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