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spraying of trees with arsenate of lead is killing the bees 

 and yet we can have no apples without spraying, what are 

 you going to do about it? 



Dr. Gates. I think it is a good horticultural rule that 

 to spray fruit trees when in bloom is not only dangerous to 

 the bees, but also kills the blossom. That is, it affects the 

 tender functioning part of the blossoms, the male and fe- 

 male part of the blossoms, so that the spray when your 

 tree has petals on it, when it is in bloom, is as fatal to 

 production of fruit as it is to the bees. Consequently the 

 rule is to spray either before the blossoms open or after 

 the petals fall, and the custom is generally the petals fall. 



Mr. Wheeler. What would you say is the ideal lo- 

 cation in respect to the position of the bee hive? Which 

 side should they be, above, or below? 



Dr. Gates. It would vary with the individual or- 

 chard. I should presume it would be preferable to place it 

 to the east or where the sun would strike them, where they 

 would get some sun, the east and south. I should prefer 

 to have them below, I think, rather than above. If your 

 orchard is on a hill I should prefer to have them below, 

 because the tendency of the bee, of course, is to rise. 

 They don't go down as well as they do go up. I should 

 liik out, too, if the orchard went around a hill, perhaps 

 to divide the apiary into two parts, because there is that 

 tendency of the hill to act as a barrier and shut them off 

 in this direction (illustrating) so that under those circum- 

 stances if the orchard went around I should divide it and 

 have them on two sides. 



Mr. Wheeler. In a large, continuous orcliard, how 

 much ground will one hive cover? 



Dr. Gates. That is something that will liave to be 

 ascertained by experiment. We are at a loss. We estimate 

 that two or three colonies will take care of five acres, as I 

 believe Professor Franklin has found with cranberries. But 

 the point in an apple orchard or in fruit growing is that the 

 blossoms hold such a short time and we should much prefer 

 to have bees on hand to actually flood that orchard during its 

 fruit growing. It is better to have too many than too few. 



Mr. G. W. Sprague. I would like to ask in relation 

 to experience with poisoning the bees. In our orchard there 

 are currants and it is almost impossible to spray the orchard 



