GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and the pear men were among the first to 

 ask to have the bees brought back. In the 

 mean time, they had neglected to prune off 

 the blighted limbs. Instead, they applied 

 l^iatent medicines; bored holes in the roots 

 of the trees, and poured dope into the holes. 

 The result was, that the blight practically 

 destroyed the orchards. The destruction 

 should not be charged to the bees, but rather 

 to the ignorance of quack doctors. 



This matter of blight among ordinaiy 

 apple-trees comes and goes certain seasons. 

 Some varieties of trees are more immune 

 than others; but even if we admit that the 

 bees do the largest part in the transmission 

 of blight, no less an authority than M. B. 

 Waite, of the Department of Agi-iculture, 

 Washington, D. C, has made the statement 

 that, even if the bees do carry blight, they 

 are indispensable in most fruit-orchards, 

 especially if the varieties are sterile to 

 their own pollen. In this opinion he is sup- 

 ported by other scientific men and by most 

 of our intelligent fruit-growers. The facts 

 are, bees do ten times more good than harm 

 in an orchard. The great Creator of bees 

 and trees did not intend that they should be 

 out of harmony with each other; and they 

 are not if man understands his job. In 

 the writer's own orchard last season consid- 

 erable twig blight showed up in several 

 apple-trees. I referred the matter to our 

 State Orchard Inspector, N. E. Shaw, at 

 Columbus. He came down to inspect the 

 trees; and while be admitted there was twig 

 blight and that the bees might have helped 

 to carry it, he told us not to worry about 

 it, as it would probably all disappear 

 another season, and it did. Intelligent 

 pruning, if the blight runs down the larg- 

 er limbs, will keep the disease in check. Very 

 often careless pruning spreads the blight, 

 because the shears or saws which are used 

 again on other tiees carry with them the in- 

 fection right into the wood. I do not sup- 

 pose I. C. R. did this; but unless he was 

 verj' careful to prune clear back of the 



blight, and disinfect the tools, he would 

 only aggravate the trouble. 



Beekeepers everywhere are being asked to 

 put bees in orchards. We have more calls to 

 supply bees for the large fruit orchards in 

 our immediate vicinity than we can supply. 

 The call has been so insistent from the fruit- 

 growers that we shall need something like 

 a thousand colonies next spring to take care 

 of the demand. One apple orchard of 50 

 acres grew 16,000 bushels of apples where 

 our bees were placed by request ; and we 

 might cite hundreds of instances of a like 

 nature, but we will refer to only one — the 

 famous Kepp Brothers, of Gloucester Co., 

 New Jersey. These people raise apples and 

 other fruit by the tons and the thousands 

 of bushels, and yet they say they must have 

 bees and plenty of them. Blight? Yes, 

 there may be a little of it; but what of it? 

 They cannot get along without the bees. 



If I. C. R. will cover some of the limbs 

 of iiis fruit-trees with mosquito-netting the 

 spring before they come into bloom, on va- 

 rieties that are sterile to their own pollen, 

 he will be surprised to see how little fniit 

 will set. If he needs authorities as evidence, 

 let him consult the Experiment Station at 

 Ithaca, N. Y. ; the Experiment Station of 

 Oregon; Horticultural Commissioner Dr. A. 

 J. Cook, of Sacramento, Cal. ; and Cali- 

 fornia is the largest fruit-gTowing state in 

 the Union. In fact, I suggest that he get 

 in touch with any experiment station in 

 the United States. The notion that bees, 

 because they may scatter blight in orchards, 

 ought to be banished is as foolish as it is 

 unwise. If bees are a serious menace to 

 the fruit industry, the great mass of fruit- 

 growers would have discovered the fact 

 years ago; but many of them are asking to 

 have them put on their places. An example 

 of this will be found in the next largest 

 cherry-orchard in the world at Bellevue, 

 Ohio. Bees are placed all over the orchard ; 

 and when enough could not be secured some 

 were secured from Florida. 



E. R. Root. 



A HIVE -BOTTOM THAT IS ALSO USED AS A COVER 



Some Interesting Appliances for Feeding, Introducing, and Queen-rearing 



BY WESLEY DIBBLE 



My hive bottom is of uniform size, I6I/4 

 by 20, and can be used on any style of hive. 

 It is also used as a cover, and I use it for 

 many purposes, as shown by the illustra- 

 tions. The rim is of y?-inch material which 

 is the proper height for the feeding-pan 

 accompanying it. This bottom-board re- 



quires only a flat surface to stand on for 

 one, two, three, or four hives, and is excel- 

 lent for the Hokcvtnatni \vin(er-»iand, four 

 ill a group. 



The feeding-pan, which holds one quart 

 of sirup, is also a receptacle for a queen- 

 introducing cage, which I use either below 



