1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



451 



tions are favorable, that is, if the 

 weather is warm enough so that the 

 bees are flying' freely, the antiseptic 

 used (sodium hypochlorite) may be 

 expected to chock the disease suffi- 

 ciently to enable the bees to clean it 

 up. 



The first experiments conducted by 

 the inspectors this year were in the 

 Fraser Valley, during the month of 

 April. The weather then, with the 

 exception of a few days, was wet and 

 cold, and the bees inactive, and the 

 results were not conclusive. Several 

 things were found out at that time, 

 however. The two proprietary anti- 

 septic preparations, containing so- 

 dium hypochlorite, that were used, 

 are known and sold as "BIK" (Bacil- 

 li-Kil") and "Fecto." The strength 

 of the solution that was first tried was 

 two ounces of B-K, or Fecto, to the 

 imperial gallon of water. This was 

 subsequently increased to four 

 ounces. Mr. Lewis had suggested that 

 it was possibly an advantage to add 

 a little oil to the solution, which was 

 also done. The plan followed was to 

 shake the bees off the combs, which 

 wei-e then sprayed with a fine mist 

 sprayer-, so that the liquid would pene- 

 trate into each cell. The combs were 

 then replaced in the hives as quickly 

 as possible. It was not long before 

 it was discovered that the solution 

 killed all the eggs, but that the larvffi 

 escaped injury; also, that it did not 

 affect the bees adversely, but, on the 

 other hand, acted as a great stimulus. 

 After the spraying they quickly got to 

 work cleaning up house, and the 

 queens very soon started laying again. 



There was considerable re-infection 

 however at that period which, in all 

 probability, was mainly due to the 

 weather being too cold for the bees 

 to fly freely, so that they were hin- 

 dered in cleaning out the diseased 

 cells and getting rid of any infection 

 that was left. When the experiments 

 were continued later it was found 

 that a solution containing eight 

 ounces of antiseptic to the impei-'al 

 gallon of water gave better results 

 and the following may be taken as a 

 typical example of what then oc- 

 curred: 



June 1, 1921 — Colony at Langley. 

 European foulbrood. Very bad. At 

 least 60 per cent of brood dead. 

 Sprayed eight ounces of B-K to gallon 

 of water, to which four teaspoonfuls 

 of "3 in 1" oil added. 



July 2 — Colony cleaning up well. 

 No new infection. 



July 14 — About 5 per cent new in- 

 fection. Sprayed again, same 

 strength as before. 



July 29 — 100 per cent clean. No 

 trace of European foulbrood. Full 

 of brood from side to side, and stor- 

 ing honey well. 



During the time these experiments 

 were being carried out by the apiary 

 inspectors in British Columbia, Mr. 

 Arthur C. Miller, of Providence, R. I., 

 who had had his attention called to 

 the possibilities of the Lewis treat- 

 ment, made up his mind to give it a 

 trial. 



His first report, which was received 

 about the end of May, is as follows: 



"One colony I treated with BIK, 



full strength, and while it killed some 

 brood, they are now as clean as a 

 hound' tooth." (Mr. Miller started 

 off by using B-K at full strength to 

 find out what dilution was necessary 

 to avoid killing larvs). 



His second report arrived about the 

 middle of June, in which he said: 



"I have treated several complete 

 apiaries, and the results are glorious. 

 The virulent type of European foul- 

 brood is worse than the others, or 

 than American foulbrood. Combs 

 with it are simply filthy and big colo- 

 nies will not touch the job of clean- 

 ing up, but after a dose of B-K — 

 what a change. They clean up with 

 feverish haste, and the queen seems 

 to outdo herself in egg production." 



Mr. Miller's last report arrived 

 about the middle of August. It is 

 brief and emphatic. Summed up in 

 five words, he says: "The Lewis cure 

 does cure." 



Mr. Miller states that sodium hypo- 

 chlorite can be made as follows: 



Dissolve two pounds of sal soda in 

 two gallons of hot water, and one 

 pound of chloride of lime in one gal- 

 lon of cold water. Pour together and 

 allow to settle. The clear solution is 

 ready for use. Once in a while the 

 mixed solutions fail to clear. If so, 

 heat it and it will separate. 



British Columbia. 



TROUBLES WITH ORCHARD 

 SPRAY IN THE NORTHWEST 



By A. E. Burdick 



No season ever opened more prom- 

 ising for a good crop of honey than 

 the season nearly over. Early, the 

 hives were full of bees amply supplied 

 with honey, and I was a real optimist ; 

 but presto, along comes the codling 

 moth and apple blossom time in Ya- 

 kima. The orchard becomes en- 

 chanted, it is filled with exquisite 

 bloom, sweet and fragrant, divinely 

 planned to attract the bees, who are 

 Cupid's fairies charged with no less 

 a mission than the origin of life itself. 

 "Man has sought out many inven- 

 tions" and in his desire to destroy the 

 codling moth provides Cupid with 

 poisoned arrows (arsenate of lead) 

 and friend and foe meet the common 

 fate. 



This is the price the bee men are 

 paying, that the orchardist may have 

 nice red apples. Along the shores of 

 the Dead Sea, so I am informed, are 

 the "apples of Sodom." They are 

 very fair to look at, but rotten to the 

 core. I have sometimes wished that 

 all the apples that were made possi- 

 ble by my bees, and for whose frui- 

 tion they gave up their lives, might 

 become as the "apples of Sodom." 



Orchardists are now using a cover 

 crop in their orchards. This cover 

 crop is usually alfalfa or vetch, which 

 begins to bloom amout the 15th of 

 June, and from that time on it re- 

 mains a tangled mass of bloom. About 

 every 10 days to two weeks, during 

 the summer season, the trees, and in- 

 cidentally the cover crop are given a 

 fresh coat of arsenate of lead. In 

 this way the larva of the codling moth 

 as well as the bees are poisoned. 



An injustice is being done. Our 

 bees are necessary and are used to 

 make fruitful the orchard and with 

 that accomplished they are destroyed 

 by their beneficiary. 



An issue involving fundamental 

 personal rights is at once apparent. 

 Our bees are listed for taxation and 

 thereby become property. No State 

 can justly tax bees as property and 

 withhold protection to the individual 

 owner, to the use and enjoyment of 

 that property. 



The issue then is: Is there justifi- 

 cation for the destruction of the api- 

 arist's property by the orchardist? 



The answer might be in the affirma- 

 tive if it were necessary for the or- 

 chardist to do so in order to protect 

 his property, but fortunately for the 

 apiarist, it is not necessary or advis- 

 able to spray an orchard in full bloom, 

 and the cover crop can be cut down 

 before each spray, or some bee repel- 

 lant, such as " Black Leaf 40," used 

 with the arsenic, and in my opinion 

 it is time the bee men insist on having 

 their rights respected. 



The view of the orchardist is il- 

 luminating. No Golden Rule in- 

 volved. Here it is: "Keep your bees 

 at home. They have no business over 

 in my orchard. They are trespass- 

 ers." 



Certain abstruse and perplexing 

 thoughts are thus aroused. Perhaps 

 the status of the bees has not been de- 

 fined by the laws. Perhaps they are 

 neither wild nor domestic animals; but 

 they are my property, a part of my 

 business, which is recognized as le- 

 gitimate and as a corollary the habits 

 and activities of the bees are legiti- 

 mate. If they are trespassers, I am 

 conducting a thieving business and 

 ought to be suppressed. Mr. Or- 

 chardist, you have missed nothing, 

 they have not injured the orchard or 

 cover crop; on the contrary they are 

 your best friends. They are a paid-up 

 insurance policy against loss from 

 lack of pollination. 



This season a number of orchara- 

 ists sprayed their orchards while in 

 full bloom and as a consequence bees 

 died by the thousands. My yard was 

 hard hit, but not quite so bad as one 

 of my neighbors.' There is no way to 

 adequately visualize the wreck of an 

 apiary following such a disaster. The 

 unsealed larva, nurse bees and queen 

 are potential victims, while outside 

 the hives are clumps and windrows of 

 the dead and dying, with here and 

 there individual bees hopping up, as 

 if to take wing at your approach, 

 only to settle back to the ground, and 

 I am reminded of one of the lines of 

 Burns': "Why startle at me, thy 

 poor- earth-born companion and fel- 

 low mortal?" 



As I view the graveyard of my 

 hopes and see my mute friends done 

 to death by a slow, corrosive poison, 

 I am led to believe that "Man's inhu- 

 manity to man" is only equaled by 

 man's inhumanity to these dumb crea- 

 tures over which he was given domin- 

 ion. 



An orchardist to whom I suggested 

 that if he permitted the vetch to con- 

 tinue blooming in his orchard he 

 would kill oflf many bees, replied: "I'll 



