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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



cultivation of the gi-ound under the trees 

 was the rule; but a short time ago the 

 orchard men began planting sweet and red 

 clover for soil-renewal purposes. 



Here the trouble begun afresh. The 

 poisonous spray dripping- from the trees, 

 and sprinkling the clovers beneath, it was 

 claimed, was poisoning their colonies in 

 great numbers. The red-clover cover crops 

 would come into bloom when there was a 

 dearth of houey from any other source. 

 The arsenate of lead, when sprayed on the 

 trees after the petals on the trees had fall- 

 en, would drip on to the clover-blossoms 

 where the bees were working. From a 

 personal canvass of the situation we were 

 convinced the bees were killed by the spray. 

 A complicated discussion ensued, part of 

 this thru the columns of Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture^ and part of it in correspondence. 

 In the following summaries of their argu- 

 ment the chief parties to the discussion hit 

 the high spots of the question. 



J. G. Brown, a Colorado beekeeper, called 

 the attention of the beekeeping public to 

 the situation last August in an article in 

 Gleanings, in which he stated that bees 

 had been poisoned by the spray falling on 

 red clover. Beekeepers were moving their 

 colonies to more favorable locations. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips surmised that the 

 losses were due to European foul brood. 

 To his statement J. A. Green replied that 

 he had lost too many colonies to be con- 

 vinced that the damage came from anything 

 else than spray poisoning. He wrote an 

 article in Gleanings on this situation sev- 

 eral years ago. 



It was the opinion of B. W. Douglas, 

 formerly State Entomologist of Indiana, 

 that the beekeepers in Colorado were need- 

 lessly excited. The dripping from the trees, 

 he contended, could not poison the clover 

 blossoms underneath when so much greater 

 pressure is needed to force the poison into 

 the blossoms. In the second place, only an 

 inexperienced grower would use so much 

 material that it would slop over on the 

 ground. 



C. P. Gillette, State Entomologist of 

 Colorado, wrote that he knew positively 

 that much damage had been caused by 

 spraying during fruit bloom, but he lacked 

 conclusive evidence that bees had been poi- 

 soned in working on the clovers. Thoro 

 spraying, he averred, always resulted in a 

 large amount of drip. 



Neither spraying the blossoms nor spray- 

 ing while the clover is in bloom is sane 

 horticultural practice, according to Dr. H. 

 A. Surface, of Pennsylvania. No fruit- 

 grower, he said, sliould leave a cover crop 



until it blooms. He agreed with Douglas 

 that it is poor practice to use so much 

 spray. 



Dr. A. J. Cook, Horticultural Commis- 

 sioner of California, was well satisfied that 

 the sprays falling on the cover crops of red 

 clover would and did kill bees. The whole 

 difficulty could be eliminated, he said, by 

 using the annual sweet clover for a cover 

 crop that would come into bloom at a time 

 when the trees would not be sprayed. 



Our sympathies naturally go out to the 

 beekeepers. We are convinced that bees 

 are killed by the thousands in Colorado by 

 the sprays that fall upon the red-clover 

 cover ci'ops. The fact that the colonies 

 immediately build up as soon as they are 

 removed from the vicinity of the orchards, 

 and die outright when left there, is signif- 

 icant. See what Wesley Foster says in his 

 department in this issue. 



Shipping Bees by Express in Combless 

 Packages versus Shipping them by 

 Freight with Combs, Hives, and 

 Equipment 



For some time back we have been coming 

 to the conclusion that sending bees by 

 freight in car lots — hives, combs, and all — • 

 is a very expensive way of moving bees. In 

 the first place, it is a little difficult to make 

 a carload of bees come up to the minimum 

 weight on which freight must be based. 

 Those who have had experience in shipping 

 bees know that all colonies must be light, 

 and it is not easy to crowd in enough light 

 colonies to make up the minimum weight. 



In our several shipments from north to 

 south, and vice versa, we have found that 

 the strong colonies would not go thru near- 

 ly as well as the weaker ones. To put it 

 in another way, a colony of moderate 

 weight will have more bees and brood alive 

 and in good condition on arrival at desti- 

 nation than a strong one. Two and a half 

 to three pounds of bees, with double screen 

 top and bottom, to a single brood-chamber, 

 will ship better than four or five pounds. 

 Of course, if one uses two-story hives he 

 can ship more bees; but the ratio of differ- 

 ence will be about the same. 



It has been our experience that it costs 

 about $1.00 per colony for freight on bees 

 from Florida to Medina. When we add the 

 cost of cartage at both ends of the line, the 

 cost of crating, which amounts to $40 or 

 $50, and cost of a man's transportation 

 both ways, the cost per colony runs $1.50 

 per colony. To prepare a hive of bees, 

 screened top and bottom — hives, combs, and 

 all — it is worth, we will say, $4.50 includ- 



