best incomplete and inconclusive 
There have been a large number of ex¬ 
periments conducted to determine this 
matter and it has been shown that bees 
have little ot no part in the spread of 
pear blight, twig, or blossom blight. 
This blight is a bacterial disease that 
attacks the twigs and tihe ends of 
the branches. If not checked, it may 
extend to the entire branch or tree. In 
the spring the affected limbs exude a 
gummy substance filled with germs 
called “holdover-cankers". It has been 
definitely proven that flies, aphids (or 
plant lice), leaf hoppers, and certain 
other bark-piercing insects, in connec¬ 
tion with rains, are the means of car¬ 
rying this blight. It has been observed 
that when the plant lice are abundant, 
fire blight is most prevalent. It is also 
proved that bees will not visit blighted 
blossoms, although they will visit free¬ 
ly the healthy ones on the same tree. 
J. H. Merrill, formerly of the Kan¬ 
sas Experiment Station, Prof. H. A. 
Gossard, Wooster Experiment Station, 
and Prof. A. L. Pierstorff, plant path¬ 
ologist. Ohio State University, have 
conducted experiments showing that 
bees are not the means of scattering 
blight. 
In brief: Fire blight appears both 
before and after pear and apple trees 
are in bloom, and it is well known 
that bees do not visit the trees except 
for nectar and pollen; the germs of 
blight must be pricked into the tender 
tissues of the limb and honeybees have 
no means of puncturing or piercing the 
bark; experiments show conclusively 
that fire blight can be and is spread by 
hosts of sucking and biting insects, and 
not by bees. 
3988-RZM-350-2B-Printed in U.S.A. 
