JANUARY 1, 1915 



packages this season with either one of the 

 substitute foods mentioned; but tlie reader 

 may rest assured that we will g-ive them a 

 thorough trial again next summer. 



Of course it is by no means proven yet 

 that boiled honey has been the source of our 

 trouble; but the indications point that way 

 very strongly. It is certainly worth inves- 

 tigating, as our replace shipments by mail 

 and express last year cost us hundreds of 

 dollars. 



A Serious Situation in 



the Spraying of Fruit-trees is Tend- 

 inof to Paralyze the Beekeeping In= 



dt^try on tlie Weslern Slope 

 More and more it is becoming apparent 

 that the spraying of fruit-trees in Colorado 

 (or rather, perhaps, the spray falling on 

 cover crops beneath) is destroying bees m 

 such a wholesale manner that, unless some- 

 thing is done, beekeepers will be compelled 

 to give up honey production entirely, or 

 move their bees, if they have any left, to 

 localities remote from any orchard. Some 

 of the orchardists feel tliat bees are their 

 best friends, and that they cannot afford to 

 adopt any policy or practice that will cause 

 their general removal. If all were like them 

 the difficulty would be solved. More and 

 more, facts 'are beginning to pile up, how- 

 ever, showing that thousands of colonies are 

 either destroyed outright, or at least are so 

 weakened tha"^t they are practically worthless 

 Unless something can be done it is estimated 

 that something in the neighborhood of 5000 

 colonies (or as many as may be left) will 

 have to be removed from the vicinity of the 

 orchards in Western Colorado. 



The expei-ience of the last year or two m 

 that State leaves no room for doubt now 

 that the arsenites of the ordinary strength 

 used for killing the codling moth will kill 

 bees when the sx)lutions containing them fall 

 on the clover-blossoms beneath. Notwith- 

 standing that, there is some testimony that 

 goes to show that the same spray on the 

 trees themselves is not necessarily destnic- 

 tive. In our last issue. Ish: J. A. Green, 

 page 794, gives some evidence showing that 

 the' wholesale destruction of bees as the 

 result of spraying can scarcely be ques- 

 tioned. On the "other hand, Mr. Woodworth, 

 on page 987, introduces some other testi- 

 mony to the contrary. Fortunately this 

 conflict of opinion can be easily explained. 

 A few days ago our Mr. J. G. Brown, one 

 of tlie Colorado sufferers, and who came to 

 Medina to work for the A. I. Root Co. 

 because his business was ruined by the 

 spraying of fruit-trees, offered an explana- 



tion. He says that the spraying of fruit- 

 trees, even when in bloom, when there are 

 no cover crops or clovers beneath the trees, 

 does not necessarily poison bees. So far he 

 agrees with Mr. Woodworth. The orchard- 

 isls of Colorado, acting on the advice of 

 their entomologist. Prof. C. P. Gillette, have 

 been in the habit of spraying before and 

 after the trees are in full bloom. Very 

 frequently such spraying will be apphed 

 before the petals begin to fall. Against such 

 spraying there is little complaint; but when 

 the orchardist grows a cover crop to fertil- 

 ize the soil of the orchard, the spraying 

 liquids fall down on the clover-blossoms, 

 which are in just the right shape to catch 

 the full strength of the poison. It does not 

 matter whether the trees are in bloom or 

 not. The sprays fall down on the clovers 

 that are in bloom, the bees visit them, and 

 are destroyed by the thousands. One yard 

 of Mr. Brown's bees is practically ruined. 

 Many colonies were killed outright, and 

 others were so weakened that he cpuld not 

 do any thing with them. One of his neigh- 

 bors, an orchardist, stoutly protested that 

 the sprays that fall on the cover crop did 

 not kill bees, saying that the cause was to 

 be accounted for in other ways. He had, 

 he said, a few^ bees in his orchard, and these 

 bees were all right. Mr. Brown told him 

 that he must be mistaken; and to convince 

 him of his mistake the two examined the 

 bees that were supposed to be " all right," 

 wnth the result that they found them nearly 

 all dead. Mr. Orchardist was convinced. 



Many of the fruit-growers acknowledge 

 that the sprays that fall on these cover 

 crops kill bees; and so far as they are 

 concerned they will do any thing that is 

 reasonable to save the lives of the bees, for 

 bees they must have. Other orchardists are 

 not willing to make this admission. Unless 

 all the fruit-growers will co-operate, bees 

 will be destroyed by the thousands, and a 

 big industry will be practically paralyzed. 



The question will be raised. " Why have 

 we not heard of this wholesale destniction 

 of bees in Colorado before? " Mr. Brown 

 explains it by saying that green manuring 



that is, growing cover crops beneath the 



trees— to renew the soil is a comparatively 

 recent practice. Orchardists over nearly all 

 the country have learned that one of the 

 simplest and most economical ways of doing 

 this is to plow under a crop of some sort. 

 Crimson clover has been used largely for 

 the purpose. In Colorado red clover is used 

 almost entirely; but it happens that it is in 

 full bloom before the spraying season is 

 over. The poisonous liquids that fall from 

 the trees drop on the dover-blossoms, then 



