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O Ti E A N I N fi S IN BEE U I. T TT R E 



Apkit., 1921 



FRUITS vary 

 in their ne- 

 cessity for 

 c r s s-pollina- 

 tion from com- 

 plete self-steril- 

 ity to self-fertil- 

 ity. Some of the 

 best-known com- 

 mercial varieties 



of apples, pears, cherries, etc., are entirely 

 dependent on pollen from other flowers. 

 Even in case of self -fertility it has abun- 

 dantly been demonstrated that more perfect 

 fruit results from cross-pollination than 

 from self-pollination. Bees, either the many 

 native wild species or the hive-bee, are the 

 most important agency for carrying pollen 

 from flower to flower. From the point of 

 view of fruit-growing, therefore, every thing 

 possible should be done to propagate bees, 

 jiartieularly the honeybee. 



Progressive fruit-growers appreciate the 

 importance of bees in setting a crop of fruit 

 and commonly rent colonies of bees for the 

 blossoming period, paying $5.00 per colony 

 and allowing one colony to each acre or two 

 of orchard. The increasing custom of grow- 

 ing a honey-producing cover crop would 

 make the combination of orcharding and 

 beekeeping particularly desirable, were it 

 not that some fruit-growers overdo their 

 spraying so as to allow spray poison to drip 

 froni the trees. This poison, falling to the 

 blossoms of the cover crop, is taken up by 

 the bees and has resulted in the destruction 

 of so many bees as to cause commercial bee- 

 keepers to move away to safer zones. 



In return for their good services many 

 bees meet a pitiful death at the hands of 

 those they help. For two or three days after 

 the spraying of an orchard nearby bees fre- 

 quently die in numbers. The field force first 

 is depleted, either failing to return or some- 

 times bringing into the hive sufiicient poison 

 to spread agony and destruction to brood 

 and nurses. Many colonies of bees have been 

 completely exterminated. Others have been 

 so harmed as to fail to build up even in time 

 of full honey flow and later succumb to dis- 

 ease and winter-kill. Instead of producing 

 honey these colonies must be fed that the 

 remnant survive. 



Source of the Poison. 

 Bees secure poisonous fruit sprays as a 

 result of the following improper horticul- 

 tural practices: 



a. From the drip upon honey-producing 

 cover crops grown under the trees. This is 

 the fault of excessive application. 



b. From spray reaching fruit bloom. This 

 is the fault of spraying too early, before the 

 blossoms have dropped. 



c. From spray mixing with honeydew, the 

 excretion of plant lice. This is the fault of 

 neglecting to keep plant lice under control. 



Another doubtful source is from foliage 

 before the spray has dried. This is insigni- 

 ficant as compared with the others, on which 



SPRAY POISONING 



How the Bees Obtain the Poison 

 and How This Can be Avoided 



By Dr. A. L. Melander 



State Entomologist of Washington 



it is largely con- 

 sequent. Bees 

 would not fre- 

 quent the or- 

 chard if there 

 were no honey 

 available. 

 Symptoms of 

 Spray Pois- 

 oning. 

 Arsenic is a quick-acting poison; hence 

 those bees that secured a full toxic dose fail 

 to return to the apiary. Countless dead bees 

 have been noticed between the orchards and 

 the apiary. Especially about their watering 

 places do the bees congregate, visiting moist 

 ground, a brook or a ditch, as tho in an en- 

 deavor to quench the burning away of their 

 organs. Many come back to their homes laden 

 with pollen and poisoned honey, but drop 

 fagged out, instinctively remaining outside 

 to die. 



Those that receive poison close by may de- 

 posit their load in the combs before becom- 

 ing affected, unwittingly spreading agony to 

 the nurses and the brood. Few of the pois- 

 oned bees die within the hive to be carried 

 out. Such is the remarkable instinct among 

 bees, where the family comes before the in- 

 dividual, that when the bees reach the stage 

 of poisoning characterized by a diarrhoea 

 they crawl forth even thru the night to 

 void the poison outside of their home. 



The next morning after the spraying was 

 done the field workers sally briskly forth, 

 but because the poison in their system has 

 paralyzed the wings their attempt at flight 

 results in failure. Down they drop from the 

 alighting-board — usually never to arise 

 again. At first excited and nervous they 

 scurry about, climbing up weeds and grass, 

 clustering on the outside of the hive, which 

 because of the diarrhoea afflicting them they 

 spot profusely. With wings quivering they 

 jump along, trying to fly a few inches at a 

 time, gradually getting further and further 

 away from the hive. In a few minutes a 

 stupor overcomes them; they have less and 

 less control over their movements; they are 

 barely able to crawl; they fall over on their 

 sides; some spin on their backs; they clutch 

 convulsively with their legs; their tongues 

 become extended full length. As the paraly- 

 sis becomes complete they quiet down, ac- 

 cumulating in depressions of the ground 20 

 or 30 feet from the apiary by handfuls or 

 even by literal quarts. Their mission in life 

 is over, altho unfulfilled. 



As the sun warms up, some of these af- 

 flicted in less degree revive sufficiently to 

 fly or crawl away from the vicinity of the 

 hives. Such bees probably never completely 

 recover. It is doubtful if they ever return, 

 for we have noticed that other insects once 

 stricken with arsenic become unable to di- 

 gest food, and tho they may linger on 

 for days and even weeks finally die of star- 

 vation, if not of poisoning. 



The poisoned honey brought into the hives 

 kills the nurses and young bees. Drones and 



