Would like to help you in this matter, but we are all very short on pollination research. Seems like there are a lot of new varieties, etc. like Granny Smith apples which I adore, but when it comes to pollination information, only generalities exist for apples. I am sending your messsage to David Green in South Carolina and putting it up on the bee-l lists for other comments. Tom Sanford On Mon, 21 Oct 1996, Nigel Holloway wrote: > To: Malcolm T. Sanford > > Hi Malcom, > > I am an amateur beekeeper operating in Cape Town, South Africa. I run about > 80 hives all stocked with our local bee, a.m. capensis. I am interested in your experiences with capensis; I understand this Trojan horse of a bee is making big trouble in much of South Afica. I have over the > last few years been doing quite a lot of apple and pear pollination. We are > guided locally by Dr Anderson who wrote a little book discussing the > technical apects of pollination. The one thing we do however lack here is > any significant level of local research into the benefits of pollination. > We have to rely on those farmers who have tried it, and perceived it to be a > benefit, to spread the word. > > I have just recently started looking for sites on the web which could > provide me with sound research results which discuss pollination, it's > benefits, pitfalls, etc, etc. I am thus writing to you in the hopes that > you will be able to point me in the general direction of web sites where I > might be able to obtain quality, up to date information. > > In return, I could try to send local info / experiences to you. > > Thanks > > Nigel Holloway > >