I was most pleased to see Chris Plowright's posting about Bombiculture when I looked into BEE-L this morning, his snarky remarks notwithstanding. I congratulate him openly for having made the important break-through which I have considered a prerequisite to the full entrenchment of the use of bumblebees into agricultural and horticultural pollination. Bumblebees have joined the ranks of such valuable crop pollinators as hive honeybees, alfalfa leafcutting bees, orchard bees as being reliably and consistently available for practical manipulation and management. I apologize for conveying what is now clearly mis-information. However, even a short year to year and a half ago, it seems the break-through wasn't known, even if accomplished. As far as I am aware, the methodology is not described in the scientific literature. Thank you, Chris, for bringing me up to date on the latest in Bombiculture! Cheers, Peter