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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



portunity to see this great country for bees, 

 of which they have heard so much. Further 

 announcements will doubtless be given. 



SPRAYING IN bloom; IS THE PRACTICE HARM- 

 FUL TO THE BLOSSOMS AS WELL AS TO 

 THE BEES? 



Quite a number of our subscribers, as, in- 

 deed, they do every spring, have been send- 

 ing in circulars from a manufacturer of 

 spraying outfits in which it is strongly urg- 

 ed to spray the trees while in bloom, or, 

 perhaps, more exactly, just as the petals 

 begin to shed. Protests have been made by 

 bee-keepers from all over the country, be- 

 cause it is understood this concern is doing 

 a large business, and the literature that it 

 has been sending out broadcast, it has been 

 alleged, has been doing considerable damage 

 to the bee-keeping interests. In this circu- 

 lar matter testimonials are given, going to 

 show that it is an advantage to spray while 

 in bloom; but these come mainly from men, 

 I judge, who are not discriminating, and 

 who are in no sense prepared to pass an im- 

 partial judgment as would the carefully 

 trained scientific men who have charge of 

 the work at the experiment stations scatter- 

 ed all over the country. 



At the present time I do not know of a 

 single station that recommends spraying 

 trees while in bloom. If I am not mistaken 

 they universally agree that it is a damage 

 to the bee-keeping industry, and, if not ac- 

 tually hurtful to the blossoms themselves, 

 it is a waste of time and material and a pos- 

 itive damage to the bee-keeping interests. 

 The stations say that just as good results 

 can be obtained after the blossoms have 

 fallen, and that, too, without injury to the 

 bees. In spite of this, this concern has been 

 putting out this advice year after year. 



It is but fair to state that they claim the 

 bees will not be killed ij their directions are 

 followed. They recommend reducing the 

 strength of the mixture while the trees are 

 in bloom, and applying it only just when the 

 bloom begins to fail. We have no desire to 

 do this company any injustice, and should be 

 pleased to receive reports from those bee- 

 keepers who are located in the vicinity of 

 fruit-orchards sprayed according to these 

 directions. 



New York, as well as some other States, 

 has rigid laws against spraying trees while 

 in bloom; and these laws, as I happen to 

 know, are based on information furnished 

 by two of the best experiment stations in 

 the United States, one of them being located 

 at Ithaca, N. Y. It is no doubt true that 

 other States will now follow suit very soon. 



I would respectfully suggest to all bee- 

 keepers' associations that they take this 

 matter under consideration, and appoint 

 committees who will not only see members 

 of the legislature, but see to it that a bill is 

 framed, and finally enacted into law. We 

 know that thousands of colonies have been 

 injured by this practice of spraying in bloom. 

 Every year our queen-rearing yards are 

 made to suffer on account of the ignorance 



of the local farmers. As we have no law in 

 Ohio against spraying while in bloom we 

 have to stand and take it. As it was, our 

 $200 queen — a queen that we would to-day 

 give a thousand dollars for three months 

 old, was killed during fruit-bloom. The 

 brood died in her hive at the time, and the 

 good queen herself finally was found dead 

 out in front of the entrance, as were other 

 queens. As soon as the spraying season 

 was over, all trouble stopped. 



RAW NECTAR WANTED; A] HERESY COR- 

 RECTED, 



Mr. W. a. Selser, of No. 10 Vine St., 

 Philadelphia, Pa., who has devoted not a 

 little of his time to analytical chemistry, es- 

 pecially that phase which relates to the com- 

 position of honey, desires me to say that he 

 will pay $5.00 or $10.06 or even more, if nec- 

 essary, for a sample three-ounce bottle of 

 pure raw nectar — that is, the nectar from 

 any blossoms before it has been gathered by 

 the bees. If only a single ounce can be pro- 

 cured he will pay liberally for that, as he 

 might be able to obtain a like amount from 

 others. 



There is a possibility that some bee-keep- 

 ers are located in a vicinity where nectar 

 from flowers is secreted so abundantly that 

 it can be gathered by hand. Something over 

 25 years ago I remember my father gather- 

 ing one morning from the spider- plant quite 

 a quantity of nectar with a teaspoon. Great 

 drops of the sweetness would collect where 

 the plants were covered, and finally drop 

 down on to the ground. Those who may be 

 in position to obtain the raw nectar in this 

 way would do well to correspond with Mr. 

 Selser direct. 



He has been analyzing sugar syrup fed to 

 bees, of different degrees of density, and 

 feels satisfied that he can now detect any 

 sweet substance fed by man to bees in honey. 



The impression has gone abroad that sugar 

 syrup fed thin, and slowly ripened by bees, 

 and sealed, is, to all intents and purposes, 

 honey, because it has been argued that the 

 nectar of flowers, and sugar from the beet 

 or cane, when greatly diluted with water, 

 are one and the same thing chemically; that 

 when either one of them is subjected to the 

 same treatment of ripening by the bees that 

 either one will be honey, one just as much 

 as the other. 



Mr. Selser is prepared to prove that this 

 is not true. He is satisfied that he or any 

 good chemist can prove unerringly the dif- 

 ference between sugar-fed honey and that 

 produced entirely from the flowers; yet he 

 wishes to secure additional evidence by get- 

 ting a sample of raw nectar that he knows 

 to be the simon-pure article. It is, per- 

 haps, unnecessary to state that Mr. Selser 

 could not be fooled by sending him a sample 

 of thin sugar syrup with the representation 

 that it was nectar. 



We will shortly publish an article from 

 Mr. Selser that will go into this matter 

 more fully. 



