1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



829 



use of leguminous plants for this purpose 

 will readily see that this would prove sweet 

 clover one of the most valuable plants to the 

 agriculturist and especially to the orchardist. 

 "But," you will say, "of what interest or 

 value is this subject to the bee-keeper? Why 

 try to get any one to raise sweet cjover for 

 the purpose of plowing it under before it 

 blossoms?" For two reasons. In the tirst 

 place, any thing that will help to remove the 

 unreasoning prejudice that many entertain 

 against sweet clover will be beneficial to the 

 bee-keeper. If the farmer can be brought 

 to see that sweet clover is a valuable plant 

 in his fields, he will look at it with a more 

 tolerant eye in the waste places. In the s-ec- 

 ond place, if sweet clover should be larf^ely 

 raised for any purpose whatever it could be 

 depended on that some of it would be allow- 

 ed to bloom, for one reason or other. A 

 great deal of seed would be I'aised, for one 

 thing. 



SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES — WHEN TO DO IT. 



Some have criticised me a little for giving 

 the fruit-man's side of the spraying question 

 in the May 1st number, on the theory that it 

 is not best to publish any thing that might 

 be used against us. I feel, though, that it is 

 best that we should post ourselves thorough- 

 ly on all sides of a question as important to 

 us as this of spraying blossoming trees in 

 order that we may better instruct the ig- 

 norant or combat the prejudiced or mistak- 

 en notions of the fruit-men. The successful 

 genei'al knows well how important it is to 

 be informed as to the plans of the enemy. 



It might well be charged against me that 

 I did not go as fully into the matter as I might 

 have, and I will try to remedy that now. 



Fruit-trees are sprayed for several purposes 

 — first, to combat injurious insects, of which 

 the most important is the larva of the cod- 

 ling-moth or apple-worm. Other insect-pests 

 for which spraying is done are the scale in- 

 sects and the aphides. For these latter pests 

 the spraying is best done when the trees are 

 dormant, or if done at other times the sprays 

 used are not poisonous, and there would be 

 no object in spraying at or near the blossom- 

 ing time, so these need not be considered 

 further. 



The second object of spraying is to cure or 

 prevent various diseases, generally fungous 

 in their nature, such as sca'b, rot, and mil- 

 dew, which we do not have here to any ex- 

 tent, but which are more or less prevalent in 

 the eastern States. The specific for these is 

 spraying with absolution of a copper salt — 

 sulphate of copper — in combination with 

 lime, forming what is known as Bordeaux 

 mixture. While this is of a poisonous nature 

 it would not be specially destructive to bees. 

 There is no advantage to the orchardist in 

 using it at the blossoming time- except that 

 he may "kill two birds with one stone" by 

 combining it with the spray used to poison 

 the apple-worm. The only spraying then 

 that is of importance to the bee-keeper is 

 that which is done at the blossoming time 

 for the purpose of poisoning the larvie of the 



codling-moth. For this purpose an arsenical 

 poison is ased, such as Paris green, London 

 pui'ple, arsenite of lime, or the arsenite of 

 lead. Orchardists here use only the two lat- 

 ter, with the preference given to the arsenite 

 of lead. 



The codling-moth lays its eggs on the leaves 

 or bark of the tree. These do not hatch un- 

 til some time after the blossoming period. 

 After they hatch they make their way at once 

 to the young apples and burrow into them. 

 The object of spraying is to coat the apple 

 with a poisonous covering so that the first 

 few bites the worm makes into the r.pple 

 may be its last. Spraying befoi'e blossoming 

 would be of little or no advantage, since the 

 apple is scarcely formed then. There would 

 be no advantage in spraying until' a couple 

 of weeks after the blossoms had fallen, ex- 

 cept for one thing. Sixty per cent of the 

 worms, it is found, enter the apple at the 

 blossom end. It is necessary then that there 

 be a poisoned meal I'eady for him at this 

 point. When the blossom opens, the sepals 

 (the green leaves that form the calyx) are 

 more or less folded backward along the stem 

 of the apple. After the petals have fallen, 

 the sepals begin to turn forward; and by a 

 time varying somewhat with varieties and 

 the weather, but seldom longer than a week, 

 they have folded tightly over what we call 

 the blossom end of the apple— the point where 

 most of the worms make their entrance into 

 the apple. Effective spraying requires th^t 

 this vulnerable point of the apple be coated 

 with poison before this closing of the calyx. 

 To spray while the blossoms are still on will 

 not do this as effectively as a little later, 

 when the stamens and pistils are more or less 

 withered, besides injuring these delicate or- 

 gans and thus reducing the crop of fruit. 



The very best time to spray is several days 

 after the petals have fallen and the sepals 

 have tui'ned forward so that the calyx is a 

 cup which will catch and hold as large a 

 quantity as possible of the poisoned spray. 

 The man who can get through with his spray- 

 ing in two or three days is going against his 

 own interests if he does not watch carefully 

 this closing of the calyx and delay his spray- 

 ing until it is in this cup-like shape that will 

 best receive and hold the poisoned spray. 



In the foregoing I have given the period 

 for the closing of the calyx as it has been 

 generally accepted here. Since writing this 

 i have received a bulletin on the subject from 

 the Illinois Experiment Station. While 

 agreeing genex'ally with the conclusions reach- 

 ed here, I notice that they extend this period 

 somewhat, though they conclude that, on the 

 average, orchards should be sprayed within 

 seven days after the time that most of the 

 petals have fallen. Observations here for 

 the present season also indicate a somewhat 

 longer period than has been considered cor- 

 rect before. From this it is evident that this 

 time varies with locality and season, as well 

 as with variety, and would probably average 

 somewhat longer than I have indicated in 

 the foregoing article. 



This Illinois bulletin places even^more 



