ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEBS ASSOCIATION. 



115 



Mr. Moe — So far as Wisconsin is con- 

 cerned, we have had considerable trouble. 

 We tried to get a law through the state 

 legislature, forbidding spraying during 

 fruit bloom, from the bee-keepers' stand- 

 point, but it was defeated by the fruit 

 growers. We had a fanners' institute and 

 a rather interesting clash occurred between 

 myself and a fruit man who was sent there. 

 He didn't like it because I had the bee- 

 keeping authorities back of me. I wasn't 

 sure that the spray did poison the pistils 

 and directly injure the fruit bloom, even 

 if it didn't injure the bees. I may have 

 gone a little too far on that, I am not sure , 

 perhaps the gentleman can correct me if 

 I have. But the fruit growers wouldn't 

 listen to the law that the bee-keepers 

 wanted passed for their benefit and for ours. 

 You know well enough the condition of a 

 lot of farmers, they simply don't care, 

 whenever they get ready they will spray 

 in season or out of season. The result is 

 they do a lot of spraying that is evidently 

 doing a lot of injury to the bee-keepers. 

 That is the point. I thought perhaps the 

 Ohio gentleman would have some valuable 

 suggestions for us. 



Professor Hine — Well, I don't believe I 

 have any suggestion that will solve that 

 point at once, but it seems to me that if 

 we work along the lines I have suggested, 

 that we will get somewhere after awhile. 

 It is pretty hard to get everybody into 

 your way of thinking. It takes time for 

 these ideas to get through some people's 

 heads, and consequently you have got to 

 give them time, but it seems to me that 

 something can be done at the experiment 

 stations. The experiment station people 

 are interested enough to give advice, as 

 they do in most all matters. The ex- 

 periment stations, if they could be led to 

 take steps, for instance, the subject might 

 well be investigated. I reahze that I do 

 not know, possibly, quite enough about 

 this. We do not know, for instance, just 

 ■when the bees do quit working or gathering 

 honey from blossoms. The consensus of 



opinion is usually that when blossoms first 

 come out or soon afterwards while they are 

 fresh, they yield a nectar, and that as the 

 blossoms get old the bloom sort of loses 

 that ability, and just what time we can 

 begin spraying, I don't believe that point 

 has been worked out very fully. 



Of course, the only reason for spraying 

 early, is that in the case of the man that has 

 a big orchard he knows he has to spray 

 and he consequently gets at it as early as 

 possible, so he will have time to get it all 

 done before it is too late. You know well 

 enough that the codling moth for which 

 he is sprasdng at that season must be 

 reached before it gets into the fruit. If 

 you do not reach it before it gets into the 

 fruit, you won't get any results, that is, 

 the insect is beyond reach and cannot be 

 reached by the spraying method, conse- 

 quently there is a rather short time in 

 there between the time of the petals falling 

 and the codling moth appears or the eggs 

 hatch on the leaves or branches, wherever 

 the eggs are laid. The insect crawls about 

 until it finds the apple, then enters the 

 apple. The idea is to have the apple well 

 poisoned so that the young insect will get 

 a dose of poison when it eats through the 

 skin or when it begins to feed. 



Now, the fruit growers know that, and 

 they do their best to have their spraying 

 all done in time. If you have a very large 

 orchard and don't have very many spray- 

 ing machines, and you have some bad 

 weather mixed in; of course the whole work 

 may not be accomplished. It seems to 

 me that the only way we can get at this 

 is along the line of education. It is pretty 

 hard to tell the fellow that he shan't spray, 

 and I suppose passing a law goes against 

 the grain of some people. It may be a 

 little hard, but this matter is beinj; talked 

 over at all the bee conventions a ad is a 

 subject that is not altogether satisfac- 

 torily settled, but it seems to me that some- 

 ing can be done. 



The convention adjourned to meet at 

 the call of the executive committee. 



