Mar. 15. 1912 



mary cause of the damage to the fruit. We 

 would call attention to the excellent reply 

 to a correspondent by Prof. II. A. Surface, 

 Economic Zoologist, Harrisburg, Pa., on 

 this subject, in this issue. See page 158. 

 Prof. Surface is one of the best authorities 

 in the country on the relation of bees to hor- 

 ticulture, lie has conducted some thorough 

 exi)eriments, and furthermore is an entomol- 

 ogist, zoologist, fruitgrower, and beekeeper. 

 What he has to say in this issue should be 

 given some weight. 



We find that the Cape May warbler {Den- 

 droica tigrlna) is the real culprit, and not 

 the bees, in this locality at least; and we 

 have reason to believe that in many others 

 the small holes made in the grapes attribut- 

 ed to the bees are made by these birds that 

 come on early in the morning. They run 

 their beaUs into every berry in a bunch. In- 

 stead of using up one berry they make a 

 single hole in every berry, thus ruining the 

 whole bunch. Indeed, they will go over a 

 whole vineyard in that way. As one is not 

 usually uj) at that time of day, the birds are 

 not discovered. The bees come along about 

 eight o'clock, and, of course, run their 

 tongues down into the holes made by the 

 birds. The bees are caught in the act; and 

 after they leave, these small holes are dis- 

 covered. The natural conclusion is that the 

 bees are responsible for the whole trouble. 

 Beekeepers should take pains to inform 

 their grape-growing neighbors about these 

 birds. 



PUBLIC SENTIMENT GROWING AGAINST THE 

 SPRAYING OF FRUIT BLOSSOMS. 



In any locality where there are fruit- 

 growlers so behind the times, and so igno- 

 rant as to insist on spraying their trees while 

 in bloom, it is a good plan to create a public 

 sentiment against the practice. The lead- 

 ing experiment stations and horticulturists 

 in the country are now very explicit in their 

 Condemnation of blossom-spraying, so there 

 is no lack of evidence, even from a fruit- 

 grower's standpoint, showing that it is a 

 bad plan. One way of creating such a sen- 

 timent is to get the editor of the local paper 

 to accept an article that is at once interest- 

 ing and readable, and yet full of proof that 

 fruit blossoms should not Vje sprayed. 



One of our subscribers, El. L. Dresser, of 

 Ithaca, X. Y., who has had considerable 

 trouble along this line, was at last stung in- 

 to action, and he sent to the Ithaca Daily 

 Journal a statement in which he spoke his 

 mind on the subject. We have not room 

 for the whole article, but we give herewith 

 parts of it to show what can be done: 



To (he Kililor of The .To>irnfil:—\ short time ago 

 our sen.sibilltles were shocked by the accounts of a 

 mother who poisoned her child b.v conipelline it to 

 drink carbolic acid. So outraged was the public, 

 that, when the woman was taken to Albany for 

 trial, mob violence was feared, and a special force 

 was called out to guard the prisoner from the sta- 

 tion to the jail. 



Vet within our own "Biggest Little City" last 

 summer thousands of little lives were destroyed by 

 poison, no account of which reached the papers, 

 nor was it of any seeming consequence save to a 

 few interested parties. 



15t 



The honey-bee is the friend of humanity. NoC 

 only do these little gatherers produce annually 

 thousands of tons of the most delicious and health- 

 f\il sweet known to man, but in their ciuest they 

 pollinate the llowers, and thus multiply by many 

 bushels and barrels the fruits and vegetables to the 

 enrichment of tlu- producer and the benefit of the 

 consumer. Thus the honey-bee is a friend not only 

 to the orchardist and fruitgrower, and every one 

 who has a fruit tree in his yard or a vine in his' 

 garden, but to the whole human race. 



Alter many careful experiments at both the State 

 Kxperiment Station and the Cornell Agricultural 

 College, the conclusion was reached that, to spray 

 the fruit trees when in bloom, is a positive damage 

 (see Experiment Station Record, Vol. 13, p. 36-1). 



As a result, the Legislature passed the following 

 law: 



"Any person who shall spray with or apply In 

 any way poison or any i)oisonous substance to fruit 

 trees while the same are in blossom is guilty of a 

 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than 

 ten nor more than fifty dollars, etc." (see Chap. 

 171 of laws of 1900). 



C. E. Layman, of Troutville, Va., in an article In 

 Gleaning.s in Bee Citltuke, March 1, 1911, says: 

 " I have had a great deal of experience in the spray- 

 ing of fruit, and have watched some of my neigh- 

 bors frequently who persisted In spraying while 

 trees were in bloom, and in nearly every Instance 

 their fruit was damaged more or less, while my 

 trees, which had not been sprayed until after the 

 bloom dropped, were full of perfect fruit. There 

 can not be any doubt about this point in my mind, 

 as has been so thoroughly demonstrated In this 

 section." 



An extensive orchardist of Washington writes in 

 the Pacific Homestead of last October, " I am satis- 

 fied that most orchard men do not realize the im- 

 portance of proper cross-poUinatlon of their fruit. 

 Inasmuch as the bee is practically the only Insect 

 flying at the time apple trees are In blossom, their 

 chief reliance must be placed upon it. While wind 

 does carry pollen to a certain extent, many experi- 

 ments have shown that it is only to a slight degree, 

 ft will pay the fruitgrower to keep bees to pollinlze 

 his fruit, or at least he should be willing to en- 

 courage some of his loving neighbors to keep 

 them." 



Mr. Terry, president of the Vermont Horticul- 

 tural Society, in a recent public address said that 

 In Grand Isle Co., where are located some of the best 

 orchards In the State, he and another party ex- 

 amined every orchard with great care to discover 

 if possible the cause of failure in some to produce 

 as heavily as the others. 



The results of examination showed in every In- 

 stance that, where there were failures to produce 

 abundantly, there were no bees, or too few to be of 

 much use: and further, that, where a good supply 

 of bees was kept, there was in every instance a 

 large apple crop. 



Ithaca, May 1, 1911. E. L. Dresser. 



Another way to create public sentiment 

 is to have some good speakers at farmers' 

 institutes, horticultural-society meetings, 

 etc., to present the matter and show the 

 good work that the bees do, as well as to 

 make it clear that, even from a fruitgrower's 

 standpoint, blossom-spraying is not advis- 

 able. The following clipping from Success- 

 ful Farming illustrates just what we mean: 



THE AID OF BEES IN ORCHAED WOjtK. 



At a recent meeting of the Vermont Horticultu- 

 ral Society much emphasis was placed upon the 

 keeping of bees. Last season was wet and cold in 

 spring, and not conducive to a good fruit crop: and 

 those who have set and cared for large orchards of 

 their own have observed that the orchards or parts 

 of orchards near stands of bees bore well while 

 those at a distance did not. The apple blos.som Is 

 so constructed as to render the work of bees neces- 

 sary to pollination. 



This is the reason why trees bear so much better 

 and more evenly in warm dry seasons. 



One speaker said that he had about 30 hives In 

 and about his orchard, and it bore heavily last 

 year, which was not a good fruit year In Vermont. 

 —Successful Farming. 



