No. 4.] STATE INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 121 



flj', but would hardly lift herself from the groimd. I at first thought that 

 they were chilled. I cleaned up a cupful of them and took them into the 

 house, but found they died. This continued for a number of days, until 

 I had lost nearl}^ the whole colon3^ After talking with other beekeepers 

 I concluded that thej' had been poisoned, as I feared might be the case. 

 Our tree warden . . . had been spraying fruit trees, that xoere in full bloom, 

 all about me, so I hardly expected to escape. . . . 



A similar appeal came on May 22, 1914, from Mansfield. 

 Later, June 8, the same beekeeper wrote: "We have not found 

 any dead bees since the spraying." The disasters occur, as 

 dates of observations indicate, simultaneously with spraying, 

 while trees are in full bloom. . 



Indicative of the disaster sustained during the spraying 

 season, on July 6, 1914, a significant report was received from 

 West Roxbury, explaining "disastrous results among my bees 

 due to tree spraying, referring not alone to fruit tree spraying. 

 . . . Three of my friends who keep bees have had the same 

 results. One of them last spring [1913] had 5 or 6 colonies, all 

 of which were completely destroyed but one, which, though 

 very weak, survived." He further explained that in the spring 

 of 1914 the colony had revived and was strong, but again 

 "dwindled down to a handful of bees." He expects to lose 

 it, he added. 



A sequel to the spring disasters, typified b}^ the above quo- 

 tations, is expressed by the West Roxbury correspondent. 

 "You will notice that in the latter part of August the bees 

 (if they have carried through the §ummer) begin to build up 

 their colonies w-ell; this is due I think to the summer rains and 

 storms w^hich wash off large amounts of the poison. Also 

 plant lice begin to disappear about this time." The observa- 

 tion is probably correct. After the period of disaster commonly 

 noticed during the weeks of spraying, if there are any bees 

 left and the forage conditions remain favorable, colonies re- 

 cover by fall. But all bee men recognize that this is of little 

 advantage. The harvests have been lost, and as one beekeeper 

 says, what is the use of building up the remnants, for "next 

 year will not the same trouble be with us?" Indeed, it must 

 be conceded that such a succession of experiences is discourag- 

 ing, to put it mildly. In successive years such conditions may 



