So far this season we have harvested 2,000 pounds of New Jersey Honey! It has been such a good season, here in Central New Jersey, it got me thinking about all the good things which honeybees provide mankind. One of the big benefits of honeybees is the pollination they provide crops.
A book which we really cherish is an agriculture handbook which Mary’s father passed on to us. It is titled Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants by S.E. McGregor and was published in July 1976 as Agriculture Handbook No. 496 by the Agriculture Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. For each plant listed in the book various pollinators which are beneficial to it are referenced along with the Honeybee. It is located at the following USDA Agriculture Research Services web site.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/53420300/OnlinePollinationHandbook.pdf
The following sections are covered for each plant:
- Plant
- Inflorescence
- Pollination Requirements
- Pollinators
- Pollination Recommendations and Practices
- Literature Cited
