In article ,
Lazarus Cooke wrote:

Bear two things in mind:

1) Most plants require pollination by bees to reproduce - that's how
flowers evolved to become what they are, and that's what they are
for!!!

Hmm. I rather doubt that is true. Try the following:

Many plants with decorative flowers (all vascular) that are hardy
in the UK require pollination by bees to reproduce. Not all of them
do. There are a hell of a lot of wind-pollinated plants, others
that are pollinated by other animals, a lot of asexual plants (even
excluding the unicellular ones), and some with some very strange
sexual practices.

2) Most wild bees in Britain have been wiped out by disease. Therefore
the majority of pollinating honeybees are kept by beekeepers.

Or are solitary bees (bumblebees etc.).

given this, the law is very kind to beekeepers. If it weren't for them,
forget about rec.uk.gardening. There would be precious little
gardening/fruit/trees left.

You might be surprised. It would definitely change the pattern out
of all recognition, but that is not quite the same.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.