1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11 



Wr have a larg^er amount of good availa- 

 ble matter on hand awaiting- insertion in 

 these columns than we ever had before. 

 Some of it may not be published for two 

 months yet. Those of our friends who have 

 sent us some good articles will understand 

 why they have been delayed. 



AN ENCOURAGING OUTLOOK FOR CALIFOR- 

 NIA. 



M. H. Mendleson, of Ventura, Califor- 

 nia, on Dec. 12th writes: " We are now 

 having a splendid rain. Last season at 

 this time the soil was nearly dried up." 

 This year he saj's the ground is wet down 

 nearlj' three feet, and present indications 

 go to show that this will be the wettest win- 

 ter the}' have had in 3'ears. This, if it 

 means any thing, means that 1903 may be 

 a big year for honey. 



ANTS THE CHIEF MEANS OF SPREADING 

 PEAR-BLIGHT. 



The statement is made in American 

 Gardenins:, referring to pear blight, that 

 the blighted twigs exude a milk-white liq- 

 uid ; that this fluid the bees are likely to get 

 and spread to the flowers of healthy twigs 

 which thej' may visit. The bees would 

 have no occasion for sucking up the virus, 

 and there is no use in la3'ing the blame on 

 them, where common ants (very numerous 

 in California where the blight is the worst) 

 crawl all through it and thence all over the 

 trees. While the bees maj' spread the virus 

 from a diseased to a health}' blossom, it is 

 extremely improbable that they should seek 

 out the poisonous sap from a diseased twig. 



While I was in California looking through 

 those great pear-orchards, so fearfully 

 blighted, I saw ants in great numbers 

 crawling all over the diseased and healthy 

 twigs, and some of the twigs were covered 

 with that deadly milky fluid. I believe the 

 time will come when it will be proven that 

 the bees are not the chief means of spread- 

 ing the blight; that those ever-present ants, 

 that are continually crawling over the trees 

 from top to bottom, will be declared to be 

 the real culprits. 



BUTTERFLY VS. BEE AS AN AGENCY FOR 

 BLIGHTING PEAR TREES; WHAT THE BUT- 

 TERFLY IS DOING IN THE WAY OF DE- 

 STROYING ALFALFA, PREVENTING IT FROM 

 YIELDING HONEY WHEN IN FULL BLOOM. 



Whii,e I was sojourning in Arizona I 

 was told that one of the worst pests of the 

 alfalfa was a little yellow butterfly that 



hovered over the great fields in such im- 

 mense numbers that the air was almost yel- 

 low with them at times. I was told that 

 they would eat the blossom, injuring the 

 plant and cutting off the exudation of hon- 

 e3'. Now it appears, from an article in the 

 Weekly Tulare Register, Tulare County, 

 California, for Dec. 12, that the butterfly 

 may be also responsible for the spread of 

 pear-blight; and why shouldn't it be, when 

 there are such countless numbers of them 

 at just the right season of the year? Mr. 

 A. D. Fleming, in the issue above named, 

 has this to say: 



What has become of the Hanford fruit-men who are 

 accusing Ihe houey-bees of spreading the ptar-blight? 

 They said they were going to inclose last spring a few 

 ot their pear-trees while iu bloom, those that were not 

 affected with the disease, to see if the bee-, had not 

 been spreading the disease. My fight is n t against 

 the poor honey-bees, but for them. 1 want to know 

 what we are g ing to do with the yellow butterflies 

 that are abi ut lo starve the bees to dtalh. They are 

 intermediate in size and when the alfalfa gets in 

 bloom they &.■ e there by the millions to stay as long as 

 the bloom lasts, and to suck the last bii ol sweetness 

 out of the bloom. I should judge that there were 

 enough alfalfa-blossoms on my ranch lo have made a 

 thousand pounds or twoth' usa'nd of honey. But, alas! 

 I ha\e only thiee .'■tands of bees; and evety time I ex- 

 amined their sui ers ihey proved to be empty, Srtve one 

 that made some 5 poui as of honey. It was about all 

 they could do to live. The poor bees would come in 

 from f'>raging so weak, so tiied. and perhaps hungry, 

 th it they would fall down at the month of their hive 

 exhausted, scarcely able to get in Starving the bees 

 is not all that Mr. Butterfly has done He i)lighis the 

 alfalfa bloom, which prevents it from seeding well, 

 They are like the grasj-hoppers, worse in son.e places 

 than others. They struck my alfalfa so hard that it 

 was impossible for any of it to go to seed. 



Tulare, Dec. 10, 1902. A. D. Fleming. 



PASSAGE OF THE PURE-FOOD BILL IN THE 

 NATIONAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



Recent press dispatches show that this 

 bill, which has been so long before the 

 public, and for the enactment of which there 

 has been such a strong demand, has finally 

 passed the lower House by a good substan- 

 tial majority. The majority is so strong 

 that it would seem as if it ought to go 

 through the Senate with a rush; btit it is 

 very probable that, this session being a 

 short one, the bill may be "held up" in 

 committee by " influence " brought to bear 

 by the food-mixers or glucose people. We 

 would urge every one of our subscribers to 

 write to his Senators, urging the support of 

 this most excellent measure. Don t delay 

 writing, but attend to the matter just as 

 soon as you read this item. Go to your 

 desk and write a letter at once. Let us 

 keep the iron hot, for there is no more im- 

 portant work before the bee-keepers of our 

 leind just now than this. The following is 

 a copy of the item in one of the press dis- 

 patches: 



Washington, December 19. — The House to-day pa.ssed 

 the pure food b 11 by a vote of 72 to 21. 'I here was 

 not a quorum present, but the point was not raised by 

 the op, onents of the measure. The s) eakers to- 

 da\ were Messrs. R'chard.son (Ala.), Hepburn dowa), 

 (iaines (Tenn.), and .Schirm (Md.), for the measure, 

 and Mr. Chandler (Mi^s.) against it. 



The bill prohibits the introduction into any Stale or 

 Territory or the Distiict of C'llumbia or from any 

 foreign country, or the shipment to any foieign coun- 

 try, of any article of food or drug which is adulerated 

 or misbranded. The abjve inhibition is made to apply 



