98 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



lieve both are right to a certain extent. 

 Thus, the germs can live in the air if moist, 

 although air is not a liquid; but in a dry 

 time they can not, hence we find moist 

 weather so favorable to the spreading of 

 blight. Prof. Arthur says, as the disease 

 progresses the germs exude on the surface, 

 and the gummy substance thus produced is 

 washed off, the gum is dissolved and the 

 germs set free, and washed into the ground. 

 The germs multiply there in rich mold, 

 and grow all winter or year after year. In 

 a dry time the wind takes up the germs in 

 the air, or they may be taken up by simple 

 evaporation. I will add this: That not in 

 a dry time but in a wet time they will be 

 taken up by evaporation or otherwise, and 

 float in the air from tree to tree, and inocu- 

 late only such trees as have an over-supply 

 of sap or unnatural growth; hence I say the 

 pear, being a very rapid grower on only mod- 

 erately fertile soils, if stimulated by barn- 

 yard manure or any fertilizer containing 

 an abundance of nitrogen, it will cause the 

 tree to produce an unnatural growth, and 

 render it subject to inoculation by said 

 bacteria or germs. I also claim that by so 

 stimulating pear-trees, especially of bad- 

 blighting varieties, these same germs will 

 originate without any inoculation whatever. 

 This I have proven to my own satisfaction 

 and by my own experience; and I have my 

 own orchard free from blight, though blight 

 was all around me, to prove my theory cor- 

 rect so far. However, I say Prof. Waite is 

 a very good and able man and a friend to 

 the bee, and I feel sure he will finally solve 

 this question; and when it is solved, I feel 

 sure the bees will be exonerated from all 

 blame. It has been charged with many 

 crimes, but has always got a final verdict 

 rendered in its favor. 



After having read carefully all I can find 

 on blight bacteria, I have yet to see a sin- 

 gle case where a bee has been examined 

 and found to carry bacteria. So, let us 

 not pass judgment on the bee until all the 

 evidence is in, both pro and con. So far 

 all evidence against it is purely circumstan- 

 tial and light in weight as experience 

 shows; for in a season of fine dry weather, 

 when the bees are permitted to work on 

 blossoms all through bloom, and if weather 

 continues dry, blight seldom spreads at all; 

 but in wet seasons like last year, when 

 the bees are prevented from visiting the 

 blossoms, much blight may be expected. 



Williamsfield, 111. 



[You suggest that, by stimulating pear- 

 trees of bad-blighting varieties, pear-blight 

 can be induced in a tree without any pear- 

 blight germs. If the blight is due to a mi- 

 crobe — and all scientists, I believe, agree 

 to that— then the disease could never be in- 

 duced without its presence. There may be 

 something, however, in your statement: and 

 that is, that the germs, being ever present, 

 will be more apt to develop in their latent 

 state when the pear-trees are stimulated in 

 an over-productive soil; that is to say, fa- 



vorable conditions will make the disease 

 possible. 



You say you have read carefully all you 

 can find about blight bacteria; but "I have 

 yet to see a single case where a bee has been 

 examined and found to carry bacteria."' It 

 was that same Prof. Waite, I believe, who 

 found the germs of bear-blight on the 

 tongues of bees; and while Prof. Waite is a 

 warm friend of the bee, he thinks he has es- 

 tablished one of the sources of the disease, 

 or, rather, of its spread. But Prof. Waite 

 might be mistaken, although I think that, 

 in all fairness, we should assume he was 

 probablj' right, because he is a scientist 

 that stands high. 



I think I can agree with you, however, 

 that bear-blight is not propagated by means 

 of the bees nearly to the extent that has been 

 claimed; and the awful spread of the dis- 

 ease in Central California was not as much 

 due to the bees, if at all, as it was to other 

 agents, as, for example, ants crawling all 

 through the diseased juices, scattering the 

 virus over th,e healthy twigs of the trees. 

 The very fact that young trees that have 

 never been in bloom, and which the bees 

 have never visited or been near, are just as 

 badly blighted as the old trees, goes to show 

 that the sources of the disease are due to 

 some agency outside of the bees. As ants 

 are very numerous in warm countries, it is 

 reasonable to assume they play a very im- 

 portant part in the spread of pear-blight 

 in California. — Ed.] 



ORANOE=BLOSSOM HONEY. 



In Some Localities it can be Depended upon for a 

 Honey Crop. 



BY JAMES H. THOMPSON. 



I see in Gleanings you are bottling hon- 

 ey. It has always seemed to me that the 

 honey from orange-blossom would answer 

 well for this purpose, and also make a nice 

 blend. 



I have had bees since 1894, and, except 

 one year, have always had orange-blossom 

 honey. I should have had some that year, 

 but my bees were not in condition to gath- 

 er it. In fact, if it had not been for orange- 

 blossoms I should have lost bees in many 

 of these dry years; so I am convinced it is as 

 sure as any other honey in any place. 



I once saw an item written by Frank 

 Benton, saying that orange made very nice 

 honey, but that it would never do to depend 

 on it. Well, perhaps so where he was; 

 but here it is on irrigated land, and the 

 weather is all there is against it, though 

 it is better, of course, sometimes than at 

 others. 



Orange-blossom honey granulates: but in 

 my retail trade I find more people who like 

 the granulated better. I have customers 

 who buy it and keep it until it does. East- 

 ern people come here from white-clover 

 regions, and tell me thej' never ate better 

 honey. 



North Ontario, Cal. 



