January, IDIC 



American Hae -Journal 



"austed. The new bulletin is revised 

 and brought up to date and contains a 

 list of the available bulletins relating to 

 beekeeping issued by the government 

 and by several different States. 



Almost all the bee-books now on the 

 market are described so that the reader . 

 can decide for himself which will best 

 meet his needs. The bulletin will be 

 sent free to Iowa beekeepers who write 

 to the State Inspector, Frank C. Pellett, 

 Atlantic, Iowa, and ask for Bulletin 



No. 4. 



^ 



Death of Mrs. Emerson T. Abbott. — A 



letter received in St. Joseph from Em- 

 erson T. Abbott, who for many years 

 was a resident of St. Joseph, Mo., con- 

 tains the information that his wife died 

 in a hospital at Jackson, Miss., Oct. 8. 

 Mr. Abbott's home is at McHenry, 

 Miss. He writes that his own health 

 is very poor, and that he fears he will 

 never see St. Joseph again. 



Emerson T. Abbott was interested 

 in bee-culture here and published a 

 paper called The Modern Farmer and 

 Busy Bee for a number of years. With 

 his wife he moved to Mississippi ten 

 years ago. — St. Joseph Xcius-Press. 



Mr. Abbott was at one time one of 

 the directors of the National, and well- 

 known among the leading apiarists of 

 the central West. We extend to him 

 our sympathy. 



Ontario Experiments The Ontario 



Experimental Union report, published 

 by the Ontario Department of Agricul- 

 ture shows a number of experiments 

 carried on by 541 beekeepers. Although, 

 owing to a poor crop in 1914, the ex- 

 periments were not so conclusive as 

 they might have been , still the Provin- 

 cial apiarist in charge, Mr. Morley 

 Pettit, is to be congratulated on get- 

 ting so many beekeepers to become in- 

 terested in these experiments, for noth- 

 ing is better to induce a man to take 

 care of his industry than comparative 



tests of different methods. Those who 

 have undertaken those experiments 

 will undoubtedly become better bee- 

 keepers as they continue their work. 



The Apple — This is the title of a 

 finely executed and well illustrated 

 book of 402 pages, by Albert E. Wilkin- 

 son, published by Ginn & Co. ($2.00). 

 It would be outside of the scope of the 

 American Bee Journal, were it not for 

 two or three paragraphs, of importance 

 to us because they relate to bees and 

 their connection with pomology. We 

 read on page 221 : 



"It is an old story that orchards 

 should not be sprayed with any arseni- 

 cal spray during their bloom, both for 

 fear of killing the bees that pollinate 

 them and of fear the spray will itself 

 injure the stigmas or pollen. Recent 

 investigation, however, seems to show 

 that spraying an apple tree in bloom 

 does not do so much damage to bees 

 visiting the tree as had been supposed; 

 though there is still room for further 

 test experiments. But, on the other 

 hand, it is now thoroughly established 

 by experience (and it conforms to 

 common sense, too), that there is a 

 great and ruinous danger to bees from 

 spraying an apple orchard at a time 

 when a cover crop of clover under the 

 trees is in bloom, whether the trees are 

 in bloom or not. Of course, the spray 

 falls down into the clover, and clover 

 blossoms have just the right funnel ar- 

 rangement to concentrate the poison. 

 In considerable parts of Colorado the 

 beekeepers have had to move their 

 be.'S away from the neighborhood of 

 orchards, far enough to be beyond a 

 bee's ordinary flight ; those who stayed 

 by the orchards have lost almost all 

 their stock of bees, and this was not 

 on account of spraying while in bloom 

 (which is now prohibited by law in 

 Colorado), but on account of spraying 

 when the clover under the trees was in 

 bloom. 



"The spraying appears to kill not 

 only the bees that visit the flowers but 

 also the larval bees in the hive, to 



wliich the poisoned honey is carried 

 back. One might easily stir up a scare 

 about danger to human beings who 

 might eventually eat honey from that 

 hive, but doubtless the bees die otT too 

 fast to lay up a store that would hurt 

 human beings much. 



"A suggestion has been made that 

 whenever the spray is poisonous to 

 bees it should be mixed with enough 

 tobacco tea so that the odor will keep 

 the bees away from the sprayed area 

 until the poisoned blossoms have had 

 time to wilt." 



On page 417, in explaining pollina- 

 tion, he writes : 



"The pollen of one variety is carried 

 to the blossoms of another in two 

 natural ways — by the wind and by in- 

 sects. There are many kinds of in- 

 sects, such as bees, wasps, and flies, 

 which aid in the cross-pollination of 

 orchard fruits, and of these the wild 

 bees of several species are probably 

 the most important. But few of the 

 wild bees can live in a large orchard, 

 especially if it is well tilled; therefore, 

 as the extent and thoroughness of cul- 

 tivation increases, the number of these 

 natural aids to cross-pollination de- 

 creases and it becomes necessary to 

 keep domestic honeybees for this pur- 

 pose. 



" Every large orchard where the trees 

 are numbered by the thousands should 

 have near by a bee-yard of at least 50 

 swarms to help in thoroughly pollinat- 

 ing the blossoms and obtaining the 

 best results. Bees will not be pois- 

 oned by the spraying of fruit trees 

 with poisoned substances if the work 

 is done at the right time, which is just 

 after the blossoms fall. No sensible 

 orchardist will spray his trees when in 

 full bloom, and thus poison one of his 

 best friends, the bees." 



This testimonial is of value, being in 

 the same line as the representations of 

 practical beekeepers against spraying 

 fruit trees in bloom. Our own expe- 

 rience, and that of most of our friends, 

 is that the greatest danger is in the 

 bee sipping poisonous nectar from a 

 fruit blossom. At that time the clover 

 is rarely advanced enough to be much 

 sought by the honey gatherers. But 

 every statement made by this author in 

 this connection is of value to the bee- 

 keeper in helping him to convince the 

 orchardist. For that reason, and be- 

 cause this work is up-to-date and prac- 

 tical, we believe it should be recom- 

 mended. It may be secured at this 



office. 



♦^ 



Bee Moths. — Empty combs kept over 

 winter in a place where the thermome- 

 ter goes down to zero will be entirely 

 free of moths or moth eggs in spring. 

 In our northern and middle States bee- 

 moths can winter only in a living col- 

 ony of bees or a warm house. 



i EATHONEKr,\ 



I HATUUrS own SmCCT- AIDS DIGESTION ■, 



APIARY OF W. D. CRAIG, HINDSBORO. ILL. 



