GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the bees get them. As these clovers furnish 

 nectar Avhen there is nothing else, bees are 

 killed by the thousands.* Sometimes the 

 spraying is applied on the trees before all 

 the petals have fallen ; but if no more nectar 

 is yielded, no harm is done to the bees. So 

 the spraying of orchards before cover crops 

 were used, did little or no harm to the bee- 

 keeping industry. The damage occurred only 

 when there was ignorant spraying, the 

 poison being applied when the blossoms 

 were full of nectar. But such spraying has 

 practically gone out of vogue. But the 

 recent introduction of green manuring in 

 the State has brought on a new and serious 

 problem, because the bees, naturally enough, 

 will help themselves to the nectar in clover- 

 blossoms. 



The only remedy seems to be in cutting 

 the clover just before it comes into bloom, 

 or turning it under. The best authorities on 

 soil culture recommend plowing the clover of 

 cover crops under before it blooms, because 

 at that stage of growth it makes a better 

 fertilizer. Whether all the orchardists can be 

 induced to see that this would be to their 

 advantage as well as that of the beekeepers 

 is doubtful. For that reason remedial leg- 

 islation will have to be enacted, for there 

 will always be a few who will persistently 

 remain ignorant, for no ignorance is so 

 dense as prejudice. There will always be 

 some Avho imagine that bees are stealing 

 something from their fruit-trees, and that 

 the bees are of no use to them. Considering 

 the fact that a large number of intelligent 

 fruit-gi'owers will not wish to destroy their 

 best friends, the bees, and will favor suit- 

 able legislation, and the further fact that 

 all the beekeepers will unite with them in 

 asking for a law that will protect their 

 common interests, it is to be presumed that 

 the legislature of Colorado will, at its next 

 session, provide the needed relief. If it 

 does not, we are informed that something 

 like 5000 colonies on a conservative estimate 

 will have to be moved out of the vicinity of 

 the orchards on the western slope; and this 

 will cut down the fruit crop over a large 

 section of the State, and at the same time 

 have a tendency to overcrowd other loca- 

 tions in Cnlorndo that are already over- 

 crowded with bees. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing the 

 following extract from a paper read at the 

 Montrose Co. Beekeepers' Association meet- 

 ing has been sent us. The author of the 

 paper, 0. C. Skinner, of Montrose, Col., is 

 the Speaker of the House of Representa- 



* The fruit-mpn know that these crops should he 

 plowed under before they come into bloom; and 

 about the only reason why they don't do it is because 

 they are too busy with their spraying. 



tives of Colorado. Here is what he has to 

 say confirming to a great extent what we 

 have already said above: 



The beekeepers of Colorado, and especially those 

 located within the fruit belts and on the western 

 slope, have been heavy losers this year on account of 

 the poisoning of bees and larvae with spray poisons. 



The new Colorado law, passed by the last General 

 Assembly, prohibits the spraying of fruit-trees "while 

 in full bloom," and it was thought that this would 

 sufficiently protect the beekeepers from this danger; 

 but in place of the regular fruit-blossom-spray dan- 

 ger, another has arisen to plague the honey-gather- 

 ers. 



Many orchardists, especially on the western slope, 

 which is an extensive fruit section, have begun to 

 plant a cover crop under the trees in order to fertil- 

 ize, and to protect the surface from sun and wind 

 and drouth. In that locality the cover crop usually 

 chosen is red clover, and the danger now developed 

 is that this clover blooms long and vigorously, after 

 the trees have shed their blossoms, and when the law 

 as it now reads will allow spraying, for the trees 

 are not " in full bloom." 



The result is that the beekeepers in the heavily 

 fruit-growing sections have been almost put out of 

 business, some having not only lost all the honey 

 crop, and failed entirely on increase, but also lost 

 many stands of bees from dwindling. 



Around Montrose the loss was very heavy because 

 there is a lot of red clover used as cover crop there. 

 TJie spray mixture falls on the blossoms of the clover ; 

 and while it is generally supposed that bees do not 

 work extensively on red clover, yet in the season of 

 1914 they worked enough to make the honey business 

 almost a failure in that locality. It is suggested that 

 the year 1914 was conducive to the small growth of 

 the flower of red clover, making it easily worked on 

 by bees, and therefore more to be dreaded than in 

 ordinary years, but that is not proven. 



The effect of the spray poison is quickly apparent, 

 the bees hopping along the ground, unable to rise, 

 and those which do yet fly exuding a yellowish or 

 brownish watery mixture, which can readily be 

 seen on the ground and on the hives. On crushing 

 the dead bees, this yellow excretion will be seen to 

 exude. 



Among the orchardists who were driven from the 

 orchards of that locality are J. C. Mathews, who 

 had to move two apiaries ; J. J. Corbut, Will Corbut, 

 A. B. Clement, and O. C. Skinner; while the Allen 

 Bros, and J. G. Brown held their bees in the 

 orchards, and especially in the case of the former, 

 an entire loss of crop and a heavy loss of bees re- 

 sulted. 



In any yard located in the fruit belt, in the early 

 morning, and just after the bees had begun to fly 

 lively, the ground in front of the hives would be 

 literally covered with sick bees trying to fly, or 

 crawling along the ground, while at any time of day 

 the dead bees could be found all about. 



J. C. Mathews got little or no return from the 

 bees he moved out of the orchards. The Corbuts had 

 about the same results. A. B. Clement got no re- 

 turns from those he moved out, but saved the bees. 

 O. C. Skinner moved his apiary into two new ones, 

 and got about a quarter of a crop of honey from one 

 apiary and a fair number of swarms; but from 142 

 moved later to another location he got no honey 

 whatever; had no swarms at all, and the original 

 142 colonies are now reduced to 114, with a fair 

 chance that there will not be over 100 left in the 

 .spring. This latter heavy loss was probably due to 

 having the apiary, as located before moving, directly 

 alongside a clover-field under fruit-trees, where the 

 bees worked constantly. It seems that the bees were 

 so reduced before moving, and so discouraged, that 

 thev did not even Imild up properly for winter. 



