126 Bee-keeping in Victurla. 



pollen, iior is there any instance on record of the poisons having been 

 proved, by analysis, to be present in dead bees, bee larvge, pollen, or 

 honey. 



Dead bees may often be found not only on the blossoms of fruit 

 trees which were not sprayed, but also on acacia and other flowers 

 blossoming at the same time. Heavy losses of bees from unknown 

 causes occasionally occur at the time of fruit bloom in localities where 

 there are no fruit trees at all; while, on the other hand, apiaries 

 located close to orchards in which the trees were sprayed repeatedly, 

 suffered no perceptible loss and were in a thriving condition. Again, 

 bees might not be affected by the amount of poison gathered with the 

 nectar, but it might be sufficient to kill the brood. In an independent 

 experiment made last season, iron sulphate, 1 part in 400 of sugar 

 syrup, was quite harmless to bees, but killed all the brood. 



At the Burnley orchards, there are altogether over 1,800 varieties 

 of fruit trees, which bloom at various times — from the end of August to 

 the beginning of November. Hence, the trees, particularly the apple 

 and pear trees, must be sprayed at a time when some of them are in 

 bloom, with both Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead. And this 

 occurs every season. 



During last year, the pear trees were sprayed with Bordeaux mixture 

 when some were in blossom ; while, later on, a number of apple trees 

 were sprayed with lead arsenate when in bloom. Under these circum- 

 stances it was decided to make observations in order to establish reliable 

 data on this question. 



At the Burnley apiary, the bee hives are right under the fruit trees, 

 and at the time of spraying with Bordeaux mixture the ground had 

 not yet been ploughed, so that the spray fell not only on any fruit 

 blossoms which were open, but also on the Cape weed then abundantly 

 in bloom. 



Neither the spraying with Bordeaux mixture nor the subsequent 

 one with arsenate of lead had any effect whatever upon the bees, the 

 colonies developing normally and without any check ; there was not at 

 any time dead brood in the hives. There is no doubt that under the 

 atmospheric conditions prevailing at the time the spraying of the trees 

 proved quite harmless to bees. 



The apiary at the Burnley Horticultural Gardens was established 

 before the 1911 fruit bloom to which the report quoted refers. Since 

 then observations have been continued extending over two additional 

 seasons, and although atmospheric conditions were somewhat different 

 the results are identically the same. There were no dead bees and no 

 dead brood with the single exception of a few dead larvas in one hive 

 into which, owing to its backward tilt, a quantity of the arsenate of 

 lead mixture (about a fluid ounce) had entered; the spraying being 

 exceptionally heavy and the floor of the hive projecting several inches 

 beyond the hive body. The liquid had, perhaps to a slight extent, been 

 used instead of water. Diligent search failed to find more than five or 

 six dead larvae. 



Requests made during two season's lectures on bee-keeping for 

 authentic information as to the poisoning of bees by spraying and for 

 bees which died of the poison have elicited no response, and so far as 

 this State is concerned not a single case of poisoning by spraying has 

 been proved up to the present. 



