54 



The value of the honey bee to the orchardist is contin- 

 ually increasing. Modern methods of orchard care tend to 

 destroy large numbers of the wild insects — spraying, prun- 

 ing, and clean culture which are now the rule in all well 

 ordered plantations render insect life in the orchard more 

 precarious than formerly. As long as men were content to 

 grow a few mixed varieties of fruits in the back yard or 

 along stone walls, th6 wild bees, other insects and neighbor- 

 ing apiaries were capable of effecting cross-pollination — at 

 least after a fashion. Now, however, with the development 

 of large commercial orchards this task has grown beyond 

 these casual agents and if profitable crops are produced 

 adequate provision must be made for a thorough cross-pol- 

 lination. 



The spraying of fruit trees while in full bloom has given 

 rise to much discussion between bee men and fruit growers, 

 and as a result many states have enacted laws forbidding 

 this practice. The bee men have maintained that their bees 

 were badly injured if neighboring trees were sprayed with 

 arsenical poisons at blooming time. "While the fruit men 

 claimed various advantages and belittled the complaint of 

 the bee men as of secondary importance as compared with 

 the fruit interests. 



General observation has as a rule shown that the bee 

 men were in the right, and instances are noted where great 

 damage has resulted to bee owners. All the research so far 

 made corroborates this. The Ohio Exp. Station* has se- 

 cured results which warrant the conclusion that bees may be 

 and frequently are injured by spraying blossoming trees 

 with arsenicals. Not only are adults that visit the sprayed 

 blossoms killed, but the nectar and pollen carried to the hive 

 has been known to destroy both the adults and the brood 

 resulting quite frequently in the destruction of whole 

 colonies. , 



Prof. Beach**found that spraying apple trees with 

 arsenicals while in bloom often resulted disastrously to 

 bees. Both adults and brood being poisoned. It was also 

 shown that the application of spray mixtures to open 



*Bull. 68. 

 **N. Y. Exp. Sta. Bull. 196. 27th. 



