1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



417 



stand just how comb honey is "manufac- 

 tured" by bees in the hives, and that the 

 beautiful little combs they see in the boxes 

 on the market are real bee honey, we shall 

 bei^^in to see an advance in the price of our 

 product. 



Now, brother bee-keeper, every time you 

 can g-et hold of a reporter invite him to your 

 bee-3'ard and show him how you handle 

 bees. Mayhap he will g-ive j'ou a nice little 

 advertisement; for to be known in any lo- 

 calitj^ as "the bee-man who produces real 

 bee honey" is worth something. Then 

 when you are around selling- your product 

 3'our prospective customer will say, "Oh, 

 yes! this is Mr. Jones whom I read about. 

 Yes, I'll take some of that nice bee honey." 



STAHL AND HIS SPRAYING CIRCULARS. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Wm. 

 Stahl, of Quincy, HI., manufacturer of 

 sprajdng--outfits, is sending out circulars 

 broadcast all over the country, advising- 

 the spraying- of fruit-trees while in bloom. 

 These circulars have a string of testimoni- 

 als without date, saying- that spraying- in 

 bloom is beneficial. Notwithstanding- some 

 of the agricultural papers (no way inter- 

 ested in bee-keeping) have told Stahl that 

 his teaching was contrary to the advice of 

 all of our experiment stations, he persists 

 in his course in sending out those same cir- 

 culars all the more. 



Some two or three years ag-o the experi- 

 ment stations at Ithaca and Geneva, N. Y., 

 made quite an elaborate series of experi- 

 ments in spraying one set of trees while in 

 bloom and another set before and after 

 bloom. The result of all these experiments 

 showed conclusively that the latter plan 

 was much the more preferable. More and 

 better fruit matured; and it was shown, 

 also, that many of the spraying-liquids had 

 a decidedly injurious effect on the delicate 

 organs of the blossoms. 



Very recently, N. O. Booth, assistant in 

 horticultui-e at the Missouri State Univer- 

 sity, has prepared a bulletin giving general 

 directions what, when, and how to spraj^ 

 He says very emphatically that the spray- 

 ing should be administered before and after 

 blooming, and this is the advice that all the 

 experts give. 



We have just come in possession of a let- 

 ter sent to one of Mr. Stahl's customers, 

 who, having followed his advice to spray 

 while in bloom, found that, so far from giv- 

 ing beneficial results, it was decidedly in- 

 jurious. This is what Mr. J. M. Fay, the 

 party referred to, wrote to Mr. Stahl him- 

 self, and is right in line with the experi- 

 ment stations all over the United States: 



IVm Stahl, Esq., Quincy. III., Dear Sir: — About one 

 year ago I purchased a spraying-outiit from you; also 

 received your private instructions on spraying, which 

 instructed me to spray fruit-trees when in full bloom. 

 Some of my early varieties had mostly got through 

 liloomin^ when the spraying-outfit arrived ; but the 

 later varieties were in full bloonl, and this spraying 

 was done according to instructions, except a few trees 

 which were not sprayed at this time, because the mix- 

 ture I had on hand ran out and I did not have enough 

 to complete the work, which was done later, but not 



before the blossoms had all fallen off. Now, what I 

 wish to say is, the advice you gave me in the instruc- 

 tions you sent me, to spray in full bloom, is all wrong, 

 and was very unsatisfactory to me; for on the trees I 

 sprayed in full bloom, the application at this time 

 killed ^wA destroyed all the best fruit by its falling off, 

 and the trees ne.Kt to the ones spraved in full bloom' 

 that were sprayed later, after all blossoms had fallen 

 off, gave a third more fruit and a fourth larger in 

 size. So you see that recommending to spray in full 

 bloom must injure your business as well as do a great 

 damage to the innocent by following your advice. I 

 write you this .^o you may" not injure "others in this 

 way. "Verv respectfully, J. M. Fay. 



Detroit, Mich., April 26. 



Of course, Mr. Stahl will never give l/iis 

 letter publicity in his circulars, for it is 

 not to his way of thinking; and I venture 

 to say he has received a good many like it; 

 but this is the only copy that has so far 

 been placed in my hands. There are plen- 

 ty of careless observers who, having never 

 made any comparative experiments, would 

 conclude that spraying during blooming 

 would be beneficial; and I do not suppose 

 there is any doubt that spraying, even dur- 

 ing blooming, would result in a better crop 

 than without spraying. While it would cer- 

 tainly cut down the quantity of fruit, injure 

 some of it, and kill bees, it would probably 

 destroy some of the enemies that would in- 

 jure even more than the spraying. A string 

 of testimonials sajnng that spraying dur- 

 ing bloom is beneficial, such as Mr. Stahl 

 is sending out, does not prove any thing. 



The advice that this man is sending out 

 broadcast over the country is doing a fear- 

 ful damage to the bee-keeping industry. 

 Every spring after the spraying season we 

 get reports showing that quantities of young 

 brood are poisoned, and this comes just at a 

 time when it can be least afforded. And 

 not only is brood killed but bees are de- 

 stroyed by the thousands. The effect of 

 this is to cut down the honey crop by one- 

 half. If there is any law that can stop a 

 man from using the United States mails 

 for the purpose of propag-ating heresy that 

 is damaging to a large industi-y, the Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association will see to 

 it that it is enforced. The A. I. Root Co. 

 will help raise a fund, if the $1000 to the 

 credit of the Association is not large enough 

 to prosecute. 



Another manufacturer of spraying-out- 

 fits who had been advising to spray during 

 blooming time, as soon as he had been in- 

 formed of his error immediately recalled 

 his advice, and now sends out directions in 

 accordance with the experiment stations. 



THE LATEST FROM THE PEAR-BLIGHT FIELD 

 IN CALIFORNIA. 



N. W. MOTHERAL, of Hanford, Cal., has 

 been one of the principal persons in that 

 district to stir up feeling against the bee- 

 keepers. When I came on 1;he scene there 

 as an officer of the National Bee-keepers' 

 Association he thought I was going to bluff 

 and bluster, and immediately began to in- 

 form me, before I had a chance to say any 

 thing, what they, the pear-men, were going 

 to do; and among other things he intimated 

 that, if we didn't get the bees out, they 



