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Prof. A. J. Cook, the distinguished apiarist of the Michigan State 
Agricultural College, makes the positive assertion that honey bees are 
killed in large numbers through the arsenical spraying of fruit trees 
in blossom, but he has not proven the assertion. Experiments insti- 
tuted by him in which bees fed on sweetened water poisoned by 
arsenic—l° pound to 200 gallons—were killed, are claimed by him as 
decisive upon the question under consideration. How entirely unwar- 
ranted the conclusion! The experiment had no bearing upon the 
question at issue. No one could have doubted that imbibing strongly 
poisoned sirup would be fatal to honey bees. Furthermore, in his 
experiment (see Report of the Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1891) 
the bees were fed in his laboratory, within a small cage. Bees are 
known to die very soon in confinement, even without an arsenical diet. 
(Howard, in INSECT LIFE, Vol. v, 1892, p. 123.) 
A amegile method can be resorted to by which the question could be 
definitely and effectually settled. It is this: Confine a hive of healthy 
bees to blossoms sprayed with Paris green, and when death speedily 
follows, have examination of their stomachs made by experts testing 
for arsenic. If it is found therein, then it may be accepted as 
the cause of their death. Examination of stomachs of bees collected 
promiscuously would not be satisfactory, for the statement was made 
at a recent bee-keepers’ convention in Albany that honey bees had 
been seen eagerly feeding on the liquid resting on the leaves of a 
potato patch soon after it had been arsenically sprayed, and it was 
thought to have caused the death of many of the bees. 
Up to the present, so far as I know, no examination such as above 
suggested has been made. I hope that Prof. Webster will undertake 
it, in the progress of his experiments the coming season. 
Prof. Cook desires that “everyone of the United States should pass 
a law making it a misdemeanor to spray fruit trees while in blossom.” 
Ido not know that this, although urged in some of the States, has 
been done in any. Such a law was passed by the Ontario legislature, 
in April, 1890. It provides: 
Sec. 1. No person in spraying or sprinkling fruit trees during the period within 
which such trees are in full bloom shall use or cause to be used any mixture con- 
taining Paris green or any other poisonous substance injurious to bees. 
Src. 2. Imposes a penalty, on conviction, of not less than $1 or more than $5, with 
or without costs of prosecution. 
That the above law is calculated to protect the interests of both the 
fruit-grower and honey-producer, is the opinion of Prof. J. H. Panton, 
of the Ontario Agricultural College, as given in Bulletin LXxxI, of the 
college, issued in November, 1892. He remarks: 
Although there has been no analysis of the bodies of the dead bees for the purpose 
of ascertaining the presence of arsenic, still the death of the bees is so intimately 
associated with spraying that there seems but little reason to believe otherwise 
than that the bees have been poisoned by Paris green used in spraying. However, 
this will likely soon be settled by analysis of the bodies of bees suspected to have 
been poisoned, and I have no doubt arsenic will be detected. 
