In 1907 a report from the New York State Department of Agriculture discussed experiments that indicated many crops were dependent on bees for productive pollination, e.g., apple, cherry, pear, strawberry, raspberry, red clover, white clover, melon, squash, pumpkin, and cucumber. In a typical experiment researchers placed netting around some branches of an apple tree to exclude bees and then determined that the number of blossoms was dramatically reduced:

 

“I have not attempted to name all the agricultural products benefited through insect agency in pollination but have named a few important and common products as examples. “It is estimated that more than a hundred thousand varieties of plants would disappear, if bees could not visit them”; add to these those plants that do not wholly depend upon insect agency in fertilization but whose productiveness is increased by such visitation, consider if you can the countless ages, past and future, these plants have added, and will continue to add to the earth’s productiveness, and you can but slightly comprehend the importance of the honey-bee in agriculture.“*

 

*1907, Report of Director of Farmer’s Institutes and Normal Institutes For the Year 1906, (Report from Department of Agriculture of State of New York: Transmitted to the Legislature on January 14, 1907), “The Honey-Bee (Apis Mellifera) and Its Relation to Agriculture” by W. F. Marks, Start Page 295, Quote Page 301, J. B. Lyon Company, State Printers, Albany, New York

​