718 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



ning to see that they must advance on their 

 prices or else they will not get much honey. 

 Producers in these States should go around 

 and visit all the small producers in their lo- 

 calities and get them to hold their honey at a 

 certain figure. If they vrill not hold, buy the 

 honey outright. You better have the low fig- 

 ure than the buyer who will use it as a club 

 on you. 



If more bee-keepers who produce the ex- 

 tracted article would turn their attention to 

 bottling, it would have a tendency to stiffen 

 the market for their kind of honey. A large 

 number are doing so now ; and it is an en- 

 couraging fact that con.sumers are beginning 

 to learn that, when honey is bottled, bearing 

 the name and address of the producer, it is 

 pretty fair evidence that the goods are pure. 

 There is not a particle of doubt that the care- 

 ful, intelligent beekeeper may get a better 

 price for honey for bottling it, even includirg 

 all expenses, providing, of course, that he 

 puts up an article that will not candy for a 

 year, is neat and attractive, and providing, 

 too, that the honey is of first quality. All off 

 and dark grades should be sold in bulk — 

 never, never, put it in bottles. 



Our bottling business is growing larger and 

 larger ; and from what we can see and learn, 

 the field for such goods is very large, and ev- 

 ery one can, in his own locality, build up a 

 nice trade. Do not be discouraged by the 

 sales of one year ; and if the grocer tells you 

 he can buy of a certain syrup and refining 

 company at a good deal lower price per doz- 

 en, tell him that you do not sell that kind of 

 goods. Ask him to sample your honey and 

 that of the city chaps with the barrels of glu- 

 cose in their warehouse.. 



THE OPINION OF SCIENTIFIC MEN ON THE 

 PEAR-BLIGHT MATTER. 



After publishing the article on page 602 of 

 Gleanings for July 15, regarding the ques- 

 tion of pear-blight as it relates to the region 

 round about Hanford, Cal., I jent marked 

 copies to several scientific men ; and among 

 the number was one to Pn.f. Wa^te himself 

 (one of the government officials v.ho places 

 part of the blame on the bee), stating that I 

 believed the bee-keepers in that vicinity were 

 preparing to move their bees out of that local- 

 ity during the time the trees were in bloom. 

 In reply I received the following, dated Aug. 

 14, which will explain itself : 



tr. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Mr. Root : — Your favor of .\ugust 7, with a copy of 

 Gleanings, came duly to hand. I am interested in 

 your vicwa as expressed in the journal and trust that 

 the attention called to the subject of bees and the 

 spread of pear blight may lead to valuable results. 

 In case the bee-keepers of Hanford and vicinity re- 

 move their bees to a five-mile limit from ihe pear-or- 

 chards and retain them thus during the entire period 

 of bloom, this department will try to undertake a 

 thorough and comparative study of the results. It is 

 hoped thst this laboratory will be able to prepare a 

 careful record of the number of spring infections or 

 blighted branches in -everal leading orchards about 

 Hanf6rd this season— platting the orchards and charg- 

 ing each tree with the number of cases of spring 

 blight it sustained in the season of VJtU. At the same 

 time next year, provided the bees have been duly re- 

 moved as 'here outlined, the same orchards will be 



again studied, and the number of spring infectious 

 which have been induced in the season ol 1902 will be 

 charged to each tree. K compari.--on of the lecords of 

 1901 and 1902 may then throw much light upon the in- 

 fluence of bees in spreading blight, and incidentally 

 upon pollination, and, I hope, may lead to a broad and 

 impartial adjustment of the interests row seeming to 

 conflict. Newton B. Pierce, 



Pathologist in Charge. 

 Santa Ana, Cal., Aug. 14. 



This letter fully justifies the good opinion 

 that I expressed concerning Prof. Pierce ; 

 namely, that he is a fair man, and will endeav- 

 or to give the bees full justice. 



In a recent article in the Atnencan Agri- 

 culturist Prof. Waite, another one who has in- 

 criminated the bees, has this to say : 



I have thoroughly worked out the question relative 

 to bees carrying blight. The conclu-sion reached is 

 that bees carry peai-blight extensively, and, with oth- 

 er insects, are the principal or almost the only agency 

 of distribution of the geims. . . 



Bees were seen repeatedly visiting the infected flow- 

 ers, and some were caught taking in'ected nectar, and 

 by means of pUte culturts the pear-blitht germs were 

 isolated from their mouth parts. By covering [.arts of 

 the trees with sacks of various kinds if mateiial, in- 

 cluding mi squito-netting, and then artificial I j' infect- 

 ing ceilain flowers on the tree, the blight was observ- 

 ed to spread very freely over the uninfected and un- 

 covered blossom.s, but was entirely absent in the blos- 

 soms covered by mosquito-netting. . . 



It may also be well to state that, as a result of this 

 serious chaige ag.iinst befs, I was led to carry on an 

 extensive series of experiments in the pollination of 

 pom.iccons fi uits, and as a lesult of these I found that 

 ijees are iiidi'pei sable to the pi llinaiion and setting 

 of most of our pomaceous fiuiis, hence they should 

 not be destruj t d, as some California growers think. 

 They simply carry the pear-bbghl incidrntally while 

 performing an important and necessary function. 



From this it appears that Prof. Waite recog- 

 nizes that " bees are indispensable to the pol- 

 lination and setting of most of our pomaceous 

 fruits." This opinion set-ms to be sustained 

 by all of our agricultural colleges and all the 

 best scientific authority throughout the United 

 Sta.es ; and it would appear that, even though 

 the bees are declared guilty of spreading pear 

 blight, yet the pear grower can not and would 

 not be able to dispense with their .';er\ices. 



In addition to the letter from Prof. Pierce, I 

 have letters from Prof. Cook and Pre f Gillette, 

 both of whom, as bee-keepers well know, 

 have been warm friends of our friends the 

 bees. Prof. Cook writes : 



Department Biology, Pomona College, 

 Claremont, California. 

 The "pear-blight" is a very serious question. I 

 shall do all I can to determine the truth. I hrive little 

 doubt that bees do aid in scattering the virus ; but I 

 am far from convinced that their removal will abate 

 the trouble, or is wise and necessary. Yet I fully ap- 

 prove vour action, and for reasons you give. We 

 must be fair, and shall lose nothing i:i the end by such 

 conces!-ii.>ns as made. I shall do all I can to aid in the 

 matter. Surely bees are nrt at the very worst, the 

 exclusive wrong-doers. Ag;-in. < ther means than in- 

 sects mn^t aid in spreading the evil. A. J. Cook. 

 July 29. 



The following is a letter from Prof. C. P. 

 Gillette : 



The State Agbiculttral CoLLKnE, 

 Dep't Zoolofjy, Enlt niolrgy, and Physiology, 

 Fort Collins. Cn'lorado. 

 All science (properly so called) is a search after 

 truth, and not a search after cvidr-nce to e-tablish or 

 defend a preconceivt d opinion. Whoever takes up 

 the matter of bees and blight should s- e to it that so 

 good a friend to man as the honey bee is not condemn- 

 ed \\x\\.\\ proven guilt}'. If the blight bacillus develops 

 freely in the nectar of flowers it seems certain that 

 any insect that sips nectar from flower to flower will 

 scatter the disease. It seems to rue that the first inoc- 



