LS'.rj 



«jm<:anin(js in hkk ciii>tiikk. 



24?) 



bo«»s. This fuiiniliit ion, Imili out' and two vt'iirs 

 olil. will he ooinpan-il with new ami frrsli i'oim- 

 datioii. TIk' oxti'iit ol' injury (l(>n(> by nsiiifj 

 tliis old foiiMiiation will hi' csiiinatt'd hy a com- 

 parison of tile amount anil urutic of iioiwy |iro- 

 diUM>d. 



Of roiiisc. these experiments will depend 

 largely upon the season for the value of their 

 results, whii-li in a good season would he very 

 ditTerent from the results diiriiifi such a season 

 as last year. They each would in their place 

 be valuable. It would lie very interestin;^ ami 

 valuable to compare the results to be obtained 

 duriiiii various seasons and in vai'ious hn-alities. 

 and w ill) various races and stfains of bees. 



With this end in view I have made arrange- 

 miMits with one of our wr||-|<nown foiittdation- 

 maUers tosiipplythe reipiired foundation to a 

 numbcrof bee-U-e<>pers in various localities. I 

 should lil<(> one i)i'rson in the East, one in the 

 lower Ohio River \'alley: on(\say.in Nebraska. 

 and one in \Vi^consin or Minnesota, and per- 

 haps one in the irrigaled ie<;ion of the West, to 

 signify their willin<rness lo help me ill this. It 

 will not cost a large amount in either lime or 

 money in any apiary run for comb honey. On 

 the other hand, although it will require, some 

 care it will. I hope, be interesting to the bee- 

 keepers undertaking it. to observe per.soiially 

 the results of the experiment in on(» case. I will 

 forward full directions and blank foiins to ren- 

 der the work more exact and simple, with de- 

 tailed explanations, to those who are selected 

 from the various localities. It will require 

 about '2.") supers to contain all the foundation 

 and combs used in the experiment, so that at 

 least 2.5 colonies are necessary. The experiment 

 will probably not atlect the amount of honey to 

 be obtained from these colonies. 



I'rof. Cook has suggested to me. with regarci 

 to the above, that an exhibit at a fair, of the 

 honey obtained in this experiment, would be 

 very interesting and instructive to bee-keepers. 

 It could be labeled. "This 2.5 lbs. of honey was 

 produced upon starters of foundation only:" 

 "This ui)on foundation 14 feet to the pound;"' 

 ■'This in empty combs left from last year." etc. 

 BeH-keei)ers interested in fair exhibits of honey 

 will, of course, take the cue as to the possibili- 

 ties in this line. I wish to hear from those in- 

 terested as soon as convenient, that arrange- 

 ments may be made in ample season. 



Since concluding the above I have received 

 Glkanixos for March l.jth, and was much 

 pleased at seeing there Mr. Elwood's article 

 upon the spraying of fruit-trees. At the Mich- 

 igan bee-keepers' convention last January I 

 offered to have samples of bees analyzed "for 

 the presence of poison. There should be a 

 handful of them, whether mature bees or 

 larviB. To determine whether the poison came 

 to tlie hive in the pollen or in the lioney or in 

 both, in cases where the larvte are poisoned, 

 samples of the freshly gathered honey and pol- 

 len should br' inclosed. If it is possible to de- 

 tect such a small quantity of ar.senic as would 

 kill a handful of bee<. I think it can be done 

 here. Having found the poison, the next step is 

 to determine how it got ther(^ 



The strength of arseiiites as recomm<'iided is 

 generally one pound to two hundred gallons of 

 water. Now. if each drop of these two hundred 

 gallons contains dozens of particles of insoluble 

 arsenic, who will say that the bee can filter 

 tliem out? \\'e know that i)ollen grains are 

 found in honey and in the food of certain larvie. 

 probably in the latter case having entered the 

 second stomach mentioned by Mr. Elwood, 

 been partly digested (»r dissolved, then regurgi- 

 tat<'d with" the larval food. Will not grains of 

 arsenic also penetrate here and be fed to the 

 larvie'? 



Now. this arsenic can come from i he trees to 

 the hive in t wo w a\ s: It miiv be taken in by 

 the bee sipping the w ater or nectar diluted witn 

 this water containing arsenic, it which case it 

 is very easy to see howlhr' larva- may Ix' poi- 

 soned: or it may be gathered on tin- legs of the 

 bee with the pollen which it takes from the 

 blossom. In order to kill the young larva of 

 the cotlling moth, the poison must lie ui)on the 

 " l)low," or corolla, of the embiyfi fruit, whence 

 it is very liable to be gathered by the bec^s with 

 the pollen or honey. 



If horticulturists insist upon spraying during 

 fruit l)loom. and be(>s ai'<' poisoned thereby, o 

 course; laws should be made protecting the bees. 

 I believe that fruit-men are coming to consider 

 their own interests in the; matter of spraying. 

 I''ew or no entomologists recommend spi-aying 

 diirinsr bloom, and friiit-mi'ii here in Michigan, 

 with whom I have talked, are heartily in accord 

 with the desires of bee-men on this point. Spray- 

 ing before bloom may be desirable : but bees 

 would not, I think, be injured by such spraying. 

 It would be interesting to know what insects 

 Prof. Lintner would combat bi-st liy s[)raying 

 with arsenites during th(; bloom of the common 

 fruits. With regard to the strength of the mix- 

 ture of arsenites most desirable for spraying, 

 experiments have been made at various State 

 stations: and a gentleman who sits beside me as 

 I write, and who has had considerable experi- 

 ence along this very line, says he believes there 

 is no danger of injuring the germs of the fruit 

 when the arsenites are of the commonly advised 

 strength, if applied at any time. As Mr. El- 

 wood says, there "is here room for experi- 

 ment." .1. H. Laishabee. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



[In the above. Mr. Larrabee shows that he is 

 th(> right man in the right place. In another 

 column we publish the experiment made by 

 the Ontario Agricultural College and Experi- 

 ment Union. On page 2.39, J. A. Green gives 

 some suggestions that bear directly on the line 

 of experiments proposed above; and on page 

 228, Mr. Elwood suggests some practical fields 

 for practical e.xperimentation.] 



HELEN KELLER AND TOMMY STRINGER. 



THE .M.^SSACJUiSETTS SCHOOL F<.>R THE IST.IXD. 

 BY A. I. ROOT. 



On my return home I was informed that the 

 sum of .¥124.(i.") had beeii collected from the read- 

 ers of Geeanixgs, and forwarded to Tommy 

 Stringer. Doubtless these contributors and the 

 readers of (Ji.EANiX(is in general will b(» pleased 

 to learn something of the work that is being 

 done tlK^re; and in order to give a fair glimpse 

 of these I will make some extracts from the 

 H)ili annual '-eiiort of the Perkins institution. 

 I presume copies of this rep(»rt can be obtained 

 by writing to the Massachii.setts ScIhkiI for the 

 HIind. at l{<tston. It is a big |)aper-boiind book 

 of 408 pages. Besides Helen and Tommy, there 

 is another very iiromi<in<r i)Ui)il from Throck- 

 morton. Texas, named Willie Elizabeth Roi)in. 

 Down south. Willie is a girl's name, as you will 

 please reinemlier. I hav(; chosen her case, as it 

 gives one an insight to the methods of working. 

 The lirst extract I make gives an idea of her 

 attainments before she canie to the institution: 



Willii' (nearly eight .years old) was once taken to 

 town, wlii'fe siie had a tooth e.vti'aeted. Si.v months 

 aftt-rwiii-fl the doctor who i)ullefi it called at tlie 

 house with anotlii'r ph>sii-ian. The little giy\ ex- 

 amined the sti-aii^er tirst. by passing her hands 

 ov^er the soles (jf lii.s feet, tlien smelling' of her 

 hands; then toucliinjf him in various places in like 



