OCTOBER 15, 1914 



On the wagon is my son Claud, who is 

 now one of my general hands. The one at 

 the left of those standing is Charlie Keil, 

 my helper at general work; next, myself; 

 and then Otto Baty from Highgrove, Cal., 

 ray foreman, with my little daughter of six, 

 Bonny Anderson, between. She always 

 likes to be witli me when I am among the 

 bees. 



The other iiicture shows Miss Novella 

 Turnbow, my sister-in-law, and my daugh- 

 ter, Geneva, who have done all of my un- 

 capping for a number of years. I don't 

 believe there are two men in the West who 

 can uncap more honey in a day nor keep a 

 neater honey-house. They frequently uncap 

 two tons of honey in a day. 



Beaver, Utah. 



CUCUMBER = SPRAYING THAT I§ HARMLESS TO BEES 



BY STEVEN T. BYINGTON 



One hears more about the evils of reckless 

 spraying than about the methods by which 

 the necessary spraying can be done so as to 

 be harmless. Cucumbers, and many sorts 

 of cantaloup, need to be sprayed with a 

 copper spray for protection against disease. 

 They do not, in my garden at least, need 

 any arsenical spray for protection against 

 biting insects. They sometimes (not every 

 year) need a contact insecticide, such as 

 soap suds, to kill off the plant-lice; but that 

 is not dangerous to any bees except those 

 that are on the vines at the very moment of 

 spraying. I do not know if it is dangerou>3, 

 even to those. But it is very common to 

 spray them with " pyrox," a mixture of 

 ai'senical and copper spray, because the 

 arsenate helps the copper to stick to the 

 leaves, and because pyrox is skillfully made 

 to be as wholesome as possible for the vine, 

 and because it is considered good policy to 

 do whatever Avill kill bugs at any time. I 

 notice just now that an agricultural paper 

 which always recommends the liberal use of 

 pyrox is complaining that this year there 

 were so few bees that the cucumber crop 

 was short. 



This season I have been trying the exper- 

 iment of spraying late in the evening with 

 the ammoniaeal copper-carbonate solution. 

 It has seemed to 'vork well except on some 

 vines which, in my judgment, had the dis- 

 ease from the start because they were not 

 sprayed soon enough. (You know spraying 

 can never cure this disease — only prevent 

 it.) I doubt if this solution, in the very 

 small quantity that is used, would kill a bee 

 or larva, even if nectar were taken from a 

 freshly sprayed flower; and by spraying 

 late at night I feel sure that by morning 

 the copi:»er will all be beyond a bee's reach, 

 even in the few flowers that have not wilted 

 during the night. It will, I am sure, dry 

 on to the leaves firmly, even while the dew 

 is falling, so long as it is not rained on in 

 the first half-hour; hence it can be used at 

 night and in other non-drying weather. 

 And it is so cleanly that washing it out of a 



brass sprayer after using is a mere matter 

 of form. Some say it burns the leaves. 

 Pei'haps my using it in the dew protects me 

 against that — at least I have no such com- 

 plaint to make. 



To make tliis solution, get from the drug- 

 gist a pint or pound of extra-strong am- 

 monia (such as you cannot buy at the 

 grocery), in a glass-stoppered bottle marked 

 " 26^ B," and an ounce and three-quarters 



Misses Novella Turnbow and Geneva Anderson, wlio 

 frequently uncap two tons of honey in a day. 



