1907 



(iLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



noi 



FIG. 3. — A FAKT OF MK. 11' NEILL'S Ai'IAliY IN THE OKCnAKD. 



owns only a single tree would be so blind to 

 his own interest as to attempt to spray that 

 tree while in bloom. The tirst and primary 

 reason for not spraying while in bloom is 

 that the spray liquid is quite liable to fall 

 upon the very delieate and tender pistil, or 



FIG. 3. — McNeill's LAKGE hive HOLUlNvi 



14 frames of langstroth size. 



central part of the tiower, and destroy it. 

 Thus it would kill the young fruit, just as 

 would severe frost coming at the same time. 



if the person should anticipate a crop of 

 fruit that would be entirely too heavy, and 

 should desire to thin it, he might use the 

 spray-pump to aid in so doing, but this would 

 be a very undesirable and inadvisable meth- 

 od of attempting to thin fruit. 



The second reason for not spraying while 

 in bloom is that, by so doing, the bees and 

 other insects which are depended upon to 

 carry pollen from Mower to tiower are liable 

 to 1)6 killed by such spray. At the base of 

 petals or showy parts of a liower are the nec- 

 tar-glands for the purpose of secreting nec- 

 tar and attracting insects of various kinds. 

 Their function, in turn, is to carry the yellow 

 "tiower dust," or pollen, from one dower to 

 another and thus insure cross-fertilization. 

 in many tiowers there are conditions by 

 which self-fertilization is entirely impossible, 

 and no seed nor fruit would be produced 

 were it not for the agency of such insects as 

 the bees. Thus, even if a person be not a 

 l)ee-keeper, it becomes quite important for 

 him as a fruit grower to preserve the bees 

 that are Hying about the blossoms of the 

 fruit-trees, and avoid any action that might 

 destroy them. 



The'third reason for not spraying while in 

 bloom is that there is no pest for which to 

 spray at this particular time. It is too early 

 to spray for the codling moth or curculio, 

 and there will be no decidedly beneficial re- 

 sults to come from spraying at such time. It 

 is l)y all means best to wait until just after 

 the petals or showy parts of the liower drop, 

 ^nd then spray with the Bordeaux mixture, 



