Sept. 7, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



565 



1 



year, nor from their mother. According- to Dzierzon. the 

 young- queens, as well as the mother would all produce Ital- 

 ian drones. As this man who stockt his apiary with Italian 

 queens took no pains to restrict the rearing of drones, mul- 

 titudes of such were reared the next season, and, as a re- 

 sult, fully ' ; of the queens reared that year by our black- 

 bee bee-keeper gave more or less bees with yellow bands, 

 as I well know, being called in to see them. 



I lived nearly five miles from this same Italian bee- 

 keeper, and many of the young queens which I reared 

 proved to have mated with these same Italian drones, from 

 the markings of their workers. This fact has always 

 proven to my mind that drones not only congregate, but 

 that bees must be kept more than five miles apart if we 

 would secure the mating of our queens to the drones which 

 we rear in the colonies set apart for drone-rearing. 



From the above it will be seen that I do not take any 

 " stock " in the idea that queens are liable to meet the 

 drones reared for them to so mate, where apiaries are loca- 

 ted within two miles of each other. Onondaga Co., N.Y. 



Spraying- Fruit-Trees — Expert Opinion. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



nPHK following- letters were sent me by the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal, with the request that I comph- 

 with the desire of Mr. Roe, of Texas : 



EiJiroK YoKK : -The enclosed letter I received in reply to a question 

 in retrard to bees and pear-bliffht. lam defending- the bees against the 

 efforts of a nurseryman at Alvin, Tex., who recommends spraying- pears 

 when in bloom, in order to prevent the spread of blight. Please inquire 

 into this, and publish in the Bee Journal. I would like to know Prof. 

 Cook's opinion. Westropp Rok. 



Mk. WKSTKum- Ki)K, Esq. — 



Dear Sir : -You can ascertain just what the best information on the 

 blight of pears isby writing to Prof. M. B. Waite, Division of Vegetable 

 Pathology, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

 He is an extensive pear-grower, and has publisht the best treatment of 

 anything publisht on pear flowers. 



It is well establish! that bees are very instrumental in spreading 

 pear-blight, especially if the trees are blighting while they are blooming. 

 If the blight comes after the trees are thru blooming, then the bee cannot 

 help to spread it. It has been proven that bees visiting the bloom of 

 blighted trees, and going away to those yet healthy, will carry the germs 

 to the healthy orchard. This matter of the agency of bees in the spread 

 of blight is publisht in a short article in one of the Year Books of the 

 Department, but I am not sure which one. 



Trusting that you will get Mr. Waite's bulletin on pear flowers, and 

 get together all the information possible for your own instruction as well 

 as others, I beg to remain. Very sincerely yours, 



Frei> VV. M.^li.v, 

 Entomologist Texas A. and M. College. 



I am much interested in the letters from Mr. Roe and 

 Prof. Mally, from Texas, regarding pear-blight, and the 

 influence of bees in spreading it. I am rather surprised 

 that Prof. Mally did not speak with authority against all 

 spraying of fruit-trees with poison while the blossoms are 

 yet on. I am also glad that he referred Mr. Roe to Prof. 

 Waite. There is certainly no better authority in this coun- 

 try than Prof. W. in regard to this matter. It is also a 

 pleasing fact that with all his knowledge he is an ardent 

 friend of the honey-bee. and urges that every fruit-grower 

 sees to it that there are abundant bees in the vicinity of his 

 orchard. 



It is true that pear-blight is one of the most .serious dis- 

 eases that the orchardist has to contend with. It is prob- 

 ably true that the disease is conveyed by insects visiting 

 the flowers. This is no more true of bees than of any other 

 insects. The remedy against such disease is the spraying 

 of the trees with the copper salts in some convenient mix- 

 ture- the Bordeaux mixture being favorite — I think, tho, 

 that none of our best authorities in vegetable pathology 

 recommend the spraying of fruit-trees with this or any 

 other poison while they are in bloom. 



In case of treatment with the Bordeaux mixture the 

 spraying is done before the blossoms are opened, and again 

 later in the season. The spraying while yet in bloom is to 

 be strongly objected to because of this evil effect upon the 

 bees, and again because there is no use in doing this. As 

 a remedy against blight, or other microbe diseases which 

 are destroyed by a solution of the copper salts, it should be 

 applied very early, as soon as the buds begin to swell. It is 

 at this time the disease is most susceptible of treatment. 

 Suppose we wait till later, and spray the trees while in 

 bloom, it is probable the treatment is not so eftective, and 

 tho it might kill the bees it would not do so immediately, 

 and so would not prevent these insects, or any other nectar- 

 loving species, from visiting other bloom and conveying the 

 germs of this disease. Thus there is no excuse for ever 



spraying trees with poisonous compounds while the blos- 

 soms are yet on the trees. 



Mr. Roe may safely follow Prof. Mally's advice, and 

 get all possible information on this subject. 



SPRAYING -WITH THE ARSENITKS. 



While discussing this matter of spraying I wish to ex- 

 press my gratification that all the entomologists have fallen 

 into line and now discourage the use of Paris green or Lon- 

 don purple in spraying trees while the blossoms are still 

 hanging. I well remember when I was alone in this posi- 

 tion. Years ago I knew of colonies of bees almost depopu- 

 lated by this arsenic poison. As I have intimated above, 

 the bees were not at once poisoned, and so were able to 

 carry the poison to the hive and store it with the honey. 

 This was fed to the brood, and as a result there was a great 

 mortality among the brood no less than with the mature 

 bees. It is not strange that the bees are not at once killed. 

 The bees do not sip the nectar from the flowers for their 

 own immediate nourishment, but store it in their honey- 

 stomachs to be conveyed to the hive. Thus little if any of 

 this nectar is absorbed into the blood, and so will not poison 

 the bees until fed upon later, after it is digested or changed 

 to honey. It might be argued, with no light force, that 

 trees should never be sprayed with poisons while in bloom, 

 lest persons may be poisoned who may eat the honey. In- 

 deed, I think there would be great danger of this except 

 from the fact that bees gather so little honey from the fruit- 

 bloom that it is rarely stored for sale, and only used by the 

 bees. I am not sure that the bees would get enough of the 

 poison to hurt us, even tho they did store nectar from 

 sprayed blossoms in the hive. I have reason to believe that 

 there would not be enough poison in the nectar of the blos- 

 soms to do us any perceptible harm ; yet I think all ot us 

 would prefer our honey with the Paris green left out. 



There is another reason why no one should spray their 

 trees while yet in blossom. Such spraying is usually done 

 for the codling-moth, and we now know that the eggs are 

 not laid on the fruit until the blossoms fall, and do not 

 hatch for some days after this. We also know that the 

 wind will remove the poison, and thus to get the best results 

 from spraj'ing we should not spray until about three weeks 

 after the trees begin to bloom, or until the blossoms have 

 all fallen from the trees. 



Prof. Waite has performed a most valuable series of 

 experiments, which show conclusively that we cannot grow 

 either apples or pears with the best success unless we mix 

 many of the varieties, and have the presence of bees to per- 

 form the important and often necessary work of cross-pol- 

 leiiization. 



There are a few insects— the bud-moths — the larv» of 

 which feed upon the buds. In cases where these insects are 

 very numerous it may be very well to spray with the arsen- 

 ites. And in case of the presence of either the apple or 

 pear blight it may also be well to use the Bordeaux mixture. 

 In this case it is found well to combine the two — the arsen- 

 ites with the Bordeaux mixture. But here again the spray- 

 ing should antedate the blossoming season, as the bud- 

 eaters are doing their mischief before the bloom opens. 



We see, then, that in all cases spraying should be de- 

 layed until after the bloom has fallen from the trees, or else 

 performed before the trees blossom, and never be applied 

 while the bloom is on the trees. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



York's Honey Almanac is a neat little 32-page pamph- 

 let especially grotten up with a view to create a demand for 

 honey among should-be consumers. Aside from the Alma- 

 nac pages, the forepart of the pamphlet was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

 a stamp ; 25 copies for 40 cents ; S(J for 70 cents ; 100 for 

 $1.00; 250 for $2.25; 500 for S4.()0. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



