ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



73 



couple of those standing in front of 

 our hives for over two weeks at a time 

 and not one bee has attempted to drink 

 from them. What is more, we have 

 sprayed bushes and trees around our 

 hives, and we have had our hives cov- 

 ered with spray two or three different 

 times in the year, and none of the bees 

 were killed by this process, except 

 those actually flying at the time of the 

 spraying and going through the spray 

 and the liquid coming in contact with 

 them as they were going through it 

 when it was as thick and heavy as a 

 fog. 



Not only did we spray these trees 

 with the lime-sulphur was-h before the 

 bursting of the ibuds in the spring 

 time, but we also sprayed them . just 

 after the petals fell, and there was no 

 injury to the bees then. The two im- 

 portant times is in the spring before 

 the buds burst, for the scale insect 

 and after, the petals fall, within a few 

 days from the time the petals fall, 

 using arsenical poisons for the cud- 

 dling moth, and again ten days after 

 that with something like Paris Green 

 or the Bordeau mixture. 



None of the bees were killed by the 

 process of spraying which I came in 

 contact with. I feel it is a.uite absurd 

 and unjust to the fruit growers and 

 bee-keepers for these articles to be 

 constantly circulated by editors who 

 know very little indeed about fruits 

 and think they know a ferttit deal 

 about such things. They take it upon 

 themselves to to take up horticultural 

 practice, especially the grafting that 

 goes on by every person who holds a 

 state office. That is about all they do 

 know about horticulture. They ex- 

 press their ignorance constantly in 

 such articles as the first I read. Yet 

 the scissors were used freely, and that 

 article was clipped and copied and 

 many fruit growers and bee-keepers 

 were led to think there had been seri- 

 ous loss by the bees being killed by 

 spraying. 



Let us go forward with the good 

 -word that the best thing possible in 

 an orchard is a number of bee-hives 

 I have had hives in my orchard, and I 

 am well satisfied with the result. I 

 know one of the most extensive fruit 

 growers in Pennsylvania, Mr. A. I. 

 Young, of Northeast Erie, provided 

 ten hives with bees and put them in 

 his orchard, and told his neighbors if 

 they would simply take care of the 



bees and see the hives were kept there 

 that they could have the honey and 

 the increase. He did that for the pur- 

 pose of having his fruit fertilized by 

 the pollen carried by the bees. (Ap- 

 plause.) 



Mr. Hershisher: Mr. President, I 

 placed a few bees in a buckwheat lo- 

 cation this summer, and while talking 

 upon the subject, I remarked to a gen- 

 tleman who was a very large grower of 

 buckwheat that the presence of the 

 bees would probably result in an in- 

 crease yield of buckwheat, on account 

 of the cross pollentation, and that 

 they were beneficial to fruit, etc. He 

 was rather disinterested in the matter. 

 He had no objection to the bees, but 

 he remarked "They say not. They are 

 rather an injury than otherwise." For 

 the purpose of getting a scientific ex- 

 pression upon record, I would like to 

 hear what he Professor has to say 

 upon that subject, and also Mr. Hol- 

 terman, who has had more or less to 

 do with scientific matters in Canada. 

 It is for the purpose of being able to 

 say what the scientists of the country 

 think about that subject. My notion 

 is that bees do good to buckwheat and 

 they do no injury; that the petals of 

 the flowers when they fall, if the bee 

 did not gather the honey, the honey 

 would go into the ground and be lost. 

 The bee ga*hers the honey and saves 

 it and at the same time does good to 

 the grain and fruit crop. 



Prof. Surface: Mr. President, I sow- 

 ed a field of buckwheat after the 

 1st of September this fall, that was 

 very late, as you recognize, and it was 

 sowed for the purpose of furnishing 

 food for the bees for winter stores 

 and the crop I could turn down to en- 

 rich the soil. I believe that the value 

 of fertilization alone was enough to 

 justify the cost of that planting, and 

 I got the feed for the bees in addition 

 to that. So that I am well satisfied 

 with the result. But, late as it was 

 sowed, I was rather surprised at the 

 fact that it came on well and the seed 

 set well, and that the buckwheat was 

 harvested and put in the barn only 

 last Saturday, so that it went fur- 

 ther than I expected. I saved it for 

 seed. I had my bee-hives lined up all 

 around it so that if the bees had been 

 detrimental there would not have been 

 very much grain set. In the buck- 

 wheat region of this state is where 

 we have the greatest success in bee- 



