1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



139 



tection of bees during the months of April 

 and May have been told. It makes very 

 nearly the whole difference between failure 

 and success in the surplus crop of honey. 

 Remus, Mich. 



BEES ESSENTIAL IN AN ORCHARD. 



Blossom-spraying Bad Policy, even from a Fruit- 

 grower's Standpoint. 



BY C. E. LAYMAN. 



As I have read a great deal in Glean- 

 ings for and against bees with fruit-grow- 

 ing, I decided to send a photo of my apiary, 

 located on one side of my orchard.' I have 

 been raising bees and fruit together for 

 twenty years, and have never had any 

 bad results from the bees bothering around 

 the fruit except after a rain, which bursts 

 open the ripe grapes so the bees can get at 

 them. I have noticed frequently that, 

 while others in this section were having no 

 fruit (or very rough if any at all) , I would 

 have a fairly good crop of nice smooth fruit, 

 and I am, therefore, of the opinion that the 

 bees do a great deal more good in the way 

 of fertilizing and making perfect fruit than 

 they do harm to the fruit that has already 

 been spoiled by rains or some insect punc- 

 turing it. 



I have also had a great deal of experience 

 in the spraying of fruit, and have watched 

 some of my neighbors frequently who per- 

 sisted in spraying while the trees were in 

 bloom, and in nearly every instance their 



fruit was damaged more or less, while my 

 trees, which had not been sprayed until 

 after the bloom dropped, were full of per- 

 fect fruit. There can not be any doubt 

 about this point in my mind, as it has been 

 so thoroughly demonstrated in this section. 



I note much complaint has been made 

 by some fruit-growers claiming that the 

 bees bothered them a great deal in the 

 picking of fruit. I am sure that the bees 

 get more blame than they are entitled to 

 along this line, as in all of my experience I 

 have never had any trouble worth men- 

 tioning. Some, if they find a bee or two 

 on fruit, would be afraid to go near the 

 tree. What is necessary for a fruit-grower 

 is to keep his fruit picked as it ripens, and 

 keep the fruit that is beginning to decay off 

 the trees, and there will be no trouble with 

 bees. I figure that my bees pay me as well 

 in the good they do me in my orchard as 

 they do in honey and increase secured from 

 them. 



Troutville, Va. 



BEAUTIFYING THE APIARY. 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



Too often our apiaries are any thing but 

 objects of beauty; but we should strive to 

 make the home apiary, at least, one of the 

 most attractive spots on the premises. I re- 

 member seeing an apiary on a hillside in 

 one of the counties of California that, though 

 certainly not in apple-pie order, yet had a 

 most picturesque appearance. 



FIG. 1.— HILLSIDE APIARY IN CALIFORNIA, 



