88 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 2 : 3 -march, 1906 



In a certain county where bee-culture is an important industry, 

 great losses have occurred, due to the death of bees in the midst of 

 the honey-making season. Year after year this loss of bees has been 

 repeated. Lately the government was called upon for aid in the 

 matter. An able man who thoroughly knows his business was sent 

 to this county to study the situation. He soon found two things 

 which were sufficient to account for the trouble : careless handling of 

 the bees which induced robbing, and the presence of a considerable 

 number of poisonous weeds in the neighborhood of the apiaries. The 

 remedies were very simple : careful handling of the bees and the 

 destruction of these weeds. This report and the simple remedies 

 were not well taken. The "bee-men" expected a report showing 

 that some mysterious microbe was causing the trouble, and almost felt 

 hurt when it was clear that such was not the case. Most of the men 

 will continue to handle bees in the same old way, until forced by 

 competition with those who are more appreciative of expert sugges- 

 tions either to adopt better methods or to go out of business. 



Not long ago the entomologist of the experiment station at the 

 University of California was called upon to visit a certain peach- 

 growing section of the State where the peach worm was threatening 

 the crops. After a careful study, a course of procedure involving the 

 use of a particular kind of spray was recommended. About this time 

 an agent for another spray came along which he represented to be 

 much better and cheaper than the other. Many orchardists bought 

 of the agent, some used no spray, and some took the advice of the 

 entomologist. The result as shown by the fruit crop is about as fol- 

 lows : Those orchards on which the agent's spray was used yielded 

 45 per cent good fruit ; those on which no spray was used yielded 50 

 per cent, or 5 per cent more than those treated by means of the 

 agent's preparation ; and those on which the spray advised by the 

 entomologist was used yielded 90 per cent. 



The wheat industry in California has deteriorated greatly both in 

 yield in bushels per acre and in percentage of gluten. Year after 

 year the same ground is put in wheat and very little attention is paid 

 to the selection of seed. A year ago $10,000 were appropriated to 

 carry on work for the betterment of the wheat raising industry. This 

 should have been done long ago, and will do little good now unless 

 there is a better disposition on the part of the farmer to accept the 

 results of intelligent investigation. 



These are a few random instances of many that might be given 



