206 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I^^?L.I2Sr 



The brooks leaped up to catch it. 



And the breezes held their breath; 

 The lilies sprang up boldly 



And shook their heads at death. 

 The roses blushed to crimson 



At the kisses of the rain, 

 And the sun looked out and saw it 



With a flush of jealous pain. 



-May Riley Smith. 



Topics o! IjitEreat. 



Spraying Fruit Trees Wiiile in Blooi. 



A. J. COOK. 



I hope you will publish the following 

 from the American Oarden: 



"A law against killing our insect foesi 

 Two generations of cultivators have been 

 striving to discover methods or enact 

 laws to enable man to harvest his share 

 of the crops. And now comes that wise 

 and good man, Prof. A. J. Cook, of 

 Michigan, advocating a law to prevent 

 fruit-growers from spraying blossoming 

 fruit trees with poisonous insecticides, 

 because, forsooth, the bees are also 

 insects, and will go iuto the trees in 

 search of honey. Verily, it must be 

 that Prof. Cook was trained in an ultra 

 'protectionist' school! The bees are all 

 right, and honey Is a good thing, but 

 really, it seems as if the fair old rule of 

 'the greatest good to the greatest 

 number' were a just guide in such 

 matters. Surely fruit is of more impor- 

 tance than honey 1 If those busy workers 

 must have legislation, let us advocate a 

 training school for bees, in which they 

 may be taught to keep out of the orch- 

 ards at the dangerous period. The fence 

 question' comes in here, too. ^Vill not 

 the law compelling an owner of domestic 

 animals to fence them in, apply to 

 apiarians, as well as to other stock- 

 farmers ? Is it more lawful for bees to 

 trespass, than for a cow or a pig ?*' 



It shows that-even the veriest nonsense 

 will occasionally find a place in the best 

 of papers. The editor of the American 

 Garden would denounce the above, as we 

 would, as sheerest absurdity. He knows 

 that bees are as valuable to the horticul- 

 turist as to the apiarist, and that the 

 law referred to is as much desired by 

 every intelligent horticulturist as by the 

 apiarist. When trees are in blossom is 

 not the time to spray, setting bees aside, 

 as the Michigan Horticultural Societv 



has urged for years. The writer of this 

 article should study the elements before 

 he essays to instruct others in horticul- 

 tural matters. I am sure such pseudo 

 wisdom would pain the editor of the 

 Oarden as much as any one. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. 



Bee-Keepins and Frnit Culture, 



S. L. WATKINS. 



A San Diego County apiarist writes mo 

 as follows: 



I have read your articles in the Pacific 

 Rural Pres>< regularly, and I am always 

 pleased with what you have to say. 

 There is one thing that I have wanted 

 to see you or some of our good writers 

 do, and that is, write on the subject of 

 law, or California law, in relation to 

 bees or bee-keepers. 



Some of my neighbors have an idea 

 that they can make me move my bees 

 any time they see fit, until those bees are 

 five miles from any orchard or vineyard. 



Now, if this is California law, we ^^avo 

 not much right left us, and I do not feel 

 like giving up a good business. L. Y. 



Elsinore, Calif. 



Friend Y., do not become frightened : 

 there is no danger of those neighbors of 

 yours forcing you to move your bees five 

 miles, or five inches either, for that" 

 matter, unless you want to. 



Ignorance is generally the cause of the 

 whole thing, and I strongly suspect that 

 your non-agreeing neighbors are not up 

 with the times. 



In Placerville, at one of my apiaries, I 

 was threatened with lawsuits on several 

 occasions by a couple of persons who 

 knew nothing at all of the habits of bees. 

 They stated that the bees were eating up 

 all their grapes, and in proof of their 

 statement, invited me to come to their 

 vineyard. I went. I found thousands 

 of yellow-jackets and wasps at work, and 

 also qdlte a number of bees. 



"Now I want to see the bees opening 

 grapes," I said. We watched a long 

 time and took careful notice of a great 

 many bees, and at last they had to admit 

 that they were mistaken in regard to 

 bees opening grapes. It is the yellow-" 

 jackets and wasps that do the real injury. 

 Bees do nothing but suck at the juice 

 after the fruit is injured, and unthinking 

 persons seeing them do this, jump to the 

 conclusion that the bee is the original 

 trespasser. 



I once asked the most extensive fruit- 

 grower of Upper Placerville about how 



