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without spraying the currants, while in bloom. We have 

 done that for two years past and of course we haven't bees 

 enough and haven't used the honey enough to know wheth- 

 er we were in danger. The bees work the blossoms and there 

 is arsenate of lead on the blossoms. Do you think we are 

 getting into danger from that? 



Dr. Gates. Well, there is no question but that the 

 bees work currants. They do; they are very active in cur- 

 rants, so that if your arsenate from the apples falls on the 

 currants I should presume there might be some slight danger 

 There is only one thing to be done in regard to the killing 

 of bees by spraying, so-called, and that is to do the best you 

 can to overcome all the difficulties. I don't see how you can 

 avoid spraying under those conditions. 



Mr. Sprague. Are there different kinds? If so, Avhat 

 kind would you have? 



Dr. Gates. The Italian bees have been favored and 

 the tendency all over the country is to Italianize. They are 

 proving perfectly remarkbale. It is due not only to the fact 

 that the Italians are gentle and prolific and gather the honey 

 and stay at home and mind their own business and do not 

 go out roving like some of the other races, but at the same 

 time it is found that in dealing with the infectious brood 

 diseases which are found in Massachusetts and elsewhere, 

 particularly the European type of foul brood, it is found 

 that the Italian are greatly resistent to the European foul 

 brood; consequentl}^ bee keepers are everywhere Italianiz- 

 ing. 



]\rr. Eace. There is another side you haven't touched 

 on. I dont' know much about it, though. When I was a 

 boy my father used to keep bees and I used to get stimg. 

 Of late years they have been exterminated in our section 

 and I never had a heavier growth of apples than last year 

 and I don't know that there was a dozen bees in the whole 

 field in that section. What is the bee on the flower for; 

 what is the bee there for? He has to get the sweet out 

 of it. Is that the germ? 



Dr. Gates. No indeed. 



Mr. Race. It isn't? Doesn't he do more damage than 

 he does good, by taking away something from the blossom 

 that should be left there to protect the fruit What sort of 

 a situation is that? The bee is there to get something and 

 he robs the blossom of something. He has to. He doesn't go 



