THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 201 



applied with a low pressure, two, three and even four applications 

 may be required; if applied with heavy pressure, 180 pounds or 200 

 pounds, then the calyx spray alone may suffice. This works a great 

 saving in time, material and money. The spray must never be applied 

 until the blossoms have largely dropped from the trees. This is the 

 time to secure the best efficiency, as the eggs of the codling moth do 

 not hatch until after this season, and wind and rains are wont to 

 remove the poison and lessen the success. Again, bees and even the 

 brood of bees may be killed to a serious extent if the trees are sprayed 

 at the time of full bloom. I have known this to happen repeatedly. 

 Recently a professor in one of the great universities argued in a leading 

 bee journal against this contention, as he had known of a single case 

 where bees were in an apple orchard at the time of full and abundant 

 bloom and at this time the trees were heavily sprayed with an arsenical 

 poison — T think arsenate of lead. Close examination revealed no loss 

 of bees nor the presence of any poison upon chemical analysis of the 

 same. If this professor had been as close a student of the apiary as 

 of laboratory methods of work, he would have known that often fruit 

 bloom yields little or no nectar, doubtless owing to seasonal peculiari- 

 ties. Every bee-keeper knows that very often every variety of honey 

 plants fails to secrete nectar, and so are strangers at the time of blos- 

 soming to bees and all sweets-loving insects. Even white clover and 

 linden groAvn in the East and the black or button sage and the white 

 sage in California very frequently fail to win bees to their bloom. 

 Thus we may spray at the time of bloom with no loss at all, while at 

 other times heavy loss will be the result. 



In the great apple sections of Colorado there is another complaint, 

 a very just one, against spraying apple trees, even though the opera- 

 tion be delayed until after the bloom has all disappeared. Alfalfa 

 is grown in the orchards in that state, so the spraying not only drenches 

 the apple trees but also the alfalfa underneath the trees. The poisoned 

 nectar of the alfalfa has often killed bees in destructive numbers. This 

 will be likely to be more unfailing than will the poisoned nectar of 

 the fruit blossoms. 



Cold and dampness at tho early period of fruit bloom are inimical 

 to nectar secretion. The later, more continuous and repeated bloom- 

 ing of alfalfa will make failure either of nectar secretion or bee destruc- 

 tion the exception rather than the rule, while it is just the opposite 

 with fruit trees. 



Much fruit-blossom honey is rare in California, very rare in Michi- 

 gan, or in the eastern part of the country. There are, however, two 

 helpful suggestions which we gladly offer: Never spray fruit trees 

 until practically all the blossoms have dropped. This safeguards the 

 bees, the fruit growers' best friends, even in seasons of abundant fruit 

 bloom nectar ; second, always cut the alfalfa grown in the orchard before 

 it blooms. There is no objection to this, as alfalfa is of highest value 

 cut thus early. Indeed, except for seed, it is always unwise to leave 

 alfalfa uncut after one third of the blossoms are open,. and, as already 

 expressed, when grown in the orchard it should be cut before any 

 blossoms open, especially in case the trees are to be sprayed with the 

 arsenites within a short time. 



