7she RURAL NEW*YORKER 
831 
Value of Bees in the Orchard 
The Question of Spraying 
T have orchards of peach, pear, (iiiince and apple. 
The api)les are of various varieties, which blossom at 
different times. There are no bees kept within several 
miles of these orchards. A bee man wishes me to fur¬ 
nish a place on my farm for him to put 25 swarms of 
bees. In spraying my orchards I find that Avhen spray¬ 
ing Baldwins other varieties used as fillers are often 
in blossom, and these trees are quite apt to get a dose 
of spray material. liocal fruit growers seem to think 
that spraying is more essential than bees. I should 
dislike to'take a chance of killing the bees, and with 
around 00 acres of fruit to spra.y it would be impossible 
to keej) spra.y off ever.v tree with bloom. What shall 
I doV ‘ A. w. II. 
I 'J' has been my contention for inan.v years that 
honey-bees are not essential to the fertili/..Mtion 
of an apple crop. Some of my state- 
uieiits along this line have received 
ver.v severe criticism in the columns 
of Thk B. N.-Y. This year there has 
been an exceptional chance to test the 
matter. Weather conditions during 
the time the blossoms Avere open were 
ideal for pollenization. For about a 
week the sun Avas bright, the Aveather 
was Avarm, and there Avas little Avind. 
I took time to stop in the orchards 
ver.\- often during this week and 
watched to see what insects Avere 
visiting the trees. On our place there 
were so few honey-bees that T am 
sure I have seen less than 50 this 
yciir. (ireening trees hlos.somed ver.v 
full, most other A-arieties AA'ere full of 
bloom, and Baldwin had a moderate 
blossom. Avhich Avas AA’ell distributed 
over mo.st of the trees. Noav that the 
time has come Avhen Ave can see how 
file fruit has .set Ave find that Baldwin 
has set about as full as ftreening. and 
that most other A’aiieties are about 
the same. May IS, AA’hen the blossoms 
were just beginning to fall, I stoppl'd 
in the Catchpole orchards and noted 
the bee situation. There the hone.A'- 
bees Avere very numerous. There 
seemed to be several for each cluster 
of blossoms. .Tune 9 this orchard Avas 
again visited, and it aa'us found that 
the set of fruit Avas practically the 
same (less if anything) as in our 
orchards where honey-bees did not 
Avork. If the question is, are honey¬ 
bees necessary in an orchard? the 
ansAver must be. decidedly, no. If Ave 
sa.A' bees, the ansAA'er is. probabl.A^ yes. 
In our case the bees that did the Avork 
are some or all of the many species 
commonly called “sAveat bees.” 
In the matter of spraying hefori' 
the blossoms are all off the trees, avc 
may dismi.ss the AA’hole thing Avtih the 
statement that it is impossible to do 
otherwise. May 22 the blossoms Avere 
practically off. and Ave started spray¬ 
ing. but on .Tune 9 (18 days later) 
freshl.v opened blo.ssoms could still be 
found on the tices. It is probable 
that some bees Avill be injured in the 
process, but there are no figures to 
tell how much tliis amounts to, and 
the spraying must be done on time. 
There seems to be little danger of 
serious results if earl.v si)raying is 
stopped about as soon as the blossoms 
begin to open, and the calyx spray is 
started when most of the blossoms 
have fallen. ai.fhkd c. avkkd. 
Wayne County. N. Y. 
1 have felt for a long Avhile that 
Ave were overlooking the question of 
bees. Evei-y once in a Avhile I hav<' 
an opportunity to observe the effect 
of ;i bee colony on pollenization of 
trees closely surrounding them, and it 
:i!wa.vs looks as if there was some definite benefit, 
.so that I AA’ould look Avith decided favoi' on any 
plans that Avould introduce bees in the orchard. 
Following the m.-itter further, T AA'ould like to rai.se 
tlie (|uestion Avhether the accidental spraying of such 
trees as happened to be in bloom reallj'’ injures the 
b('es. I have heard i»ositlve statements to the effect 
that there Avas no injury Avhatever. even Avhen trees 
Avere sprayed in full bloom, and 1 liaA’e never heai'd 
any authoritative statement of actual poi.soning of 
bees by spray material. Of course. Ave do not aim 
to spray trees Avhen they are in bloom, but difference 
in varieties and tardy blooming of some individual 
trees makes this unavoidable soinetiines. 
IVnusylA'ania. c. .i. tyso.v. 
This year T have a young man Avorking for me 
who lives next door and Avho has and is very much 
interested in bees. This Spring, in order to control 
the bright red bu.g before too much damage Avas 
done, it seemed necessary to spray soon as possible. 
In our orchard too many varieties are interplanted. 
When our application Avas made not more than one- 
third the blossoms Avere off Fall 1‘ippin. Wealthy 
and Spy. Our application Avas lime-sulphur fii-e 
gallons, tobacco extract (40%) one quart, .‘irsenate 
of lead (poAvdered) six pounds. Avater to make 200 
.gallons. The Ijees Avere observed very closely, and 
no detrimental effect Avas noted. Jly oavii opinion is 
that the strong lime-sulphur-tobacco-extract mixture 
Av.'is so distastefid immedhitely it Avas applied the 
'tVomcn (1)1(1 Children Wccdinf/ lions of Snxill Plants. FUj. l/FJ 
(>ro)rin(/ Vrojis that TCnjnire a' Mininiinn of Labor. FUj. .’il'i 
I shoxdd say. T’.suall.v trees .set more fruit than 
they ought to hear. The thinning que.stion is ever 
Avith us. The last tAA’o sea.sons have bo«n exceptions, 
hoAvever, as the scab fungus here Avas bad both years. 
Bees are a help in pollenizin.g. but is not the scab 
fungus our greatest enemy for getting a .good set of 
fruit? Ask the trees. av. a. bassett. 
Seneca Co., N. Y. 
A considerable number of insects other than 
honey-bees are assiduous Avorkers in fruit-tree 
blossoms. So far as knoAvn good polh'iiization is 
attributable more to the visitations of insects to the 
flowers than to any other a.gencies. I believe hone.\'- 
bees do much toAvard securing a .good setting of fruit 
than an.v other of the insect visitants, because they 
distribute pollen so liberally. So much 
faith have I in the importance of bees 
in the fertilization of apple blossoms 
that I fully believe this year in this 
community Ave will haA’e a lessened 
production amounting to thousands of 
barrels, from the fact alone that there 
AveiA' so few Iiees left alive this 
Spring. We hai-e a normal amount of 
bloom in many of our orchards, and 
though it is true a]>ple trees hai'e not 
a strong health standard after l:tst 
Winter’s excessiie cold, which Avill 
account in part for shortage of fruit, 
AA'e had .good blossom Aveather, and 
had still a right to expect a much 
larger crop than Ave are going to liaA-e. 
We must look for a reason, fi’here 
did not seem to be a great amount of 
pollen. When there aabs pidlen on 
the blossom for a brief pei'iod there 
Avere no bees to distribute it. I gai-e 
the matter much close obserA’ation, 
and AA’ould I’arel.A' see at the outside 
more than two or three honey-bees 
Avorking at one time in a tree. At 
the .same time, other in.sects Avere 
scarce at that period. The result is 
.general that the fruit that is to de- 
A’elop and make good is not hanging 
thickl.A' this .A’Citr. Dou'btle.ss this is 
all the belter. Personall.A', T AA-ant 
imin.v coloiues of bees in or ne.*!!’ ui.a' 
orch.'irds. .and I am .getting as inan.y 
as possible for next ye.-ir’s campaign. 
A. W. IT.'s i)osition Avith inter- 
pl.anted varieties that blossom a little 
later than the Baldwin is somewhat 
dillicnit. thou.gh 1 think he can AVork 
it out prett.v fairl.v by beiifg careful, 
perhaps by deferring his BaldAviu 
spraying a little. I do not think many 
bees Avill be killed. I IniA'c never no- 
tic('d an.v dead bees from m.v spray¬ 
ing operations. av. s. teatok. 
Dutcliess Co., N. Y. 
Washing and Packhtf; Rhnburh for Market. Fig, .'/lo 
bees Avorked no further on tho.se trees. If a loss 
distastefxd mixture Avere used the result might luiA'c 
been quite different. This has made me Avonder 
Avhether something could not be added to all sprays 
used, Avhlch Avould be so distasteful to bees there 
of their Avorking on the sprayed 
AVM. IIOTALI.XG. 
Y. 
ask the trees.” as one of your 
a short time a, go. If the man 
in (piestion is not .getting a satisfactory .set of fruit 
from year to ye:ir and if he takes the precaution 
to si)ray Avith a fungicide before the blos!<onis open 
and after they fall, then he Avould be justilietl in 
trying the experiment Avith the lu'cs. and then onl.A', 
Avould be no danger 
trees. 
Columbia Co., N. 
“When in doubt, 
correspondents said 
Cover Crop After Rye 
I li^avo jibont 2% acres of land sown 
to Winter rye. and intend to let rye 
ripen. Is there any legume I can put 
in this Fall to ewer and also enrich 
the soil and turn under in the SjAring 
and seed piece to grass? Cood m.-uiurt' 
is nut obtiiinahle here, and I can use 
fertilize'!', but Avould like to use inort' 
organic matter. I liad this land in 
corn and potatoes last yeiir. What 
should foIloAV the r.ve? E. E. G. 
Norfolk Co.. Mass. 
N your latitude you probably Avill 
not harvest the rye before the 
hitter part of .Tul.v. You could then 
AA'ork up the ground Avith a ploAV or 
disk harroAv. and seed Ilair.A' vetch at 
the rate of 25 iiounds per jicre. (Gen¬ 
erally, AA’heii seedt'd in August, this 
crop get.s a good stjirt before Winter, 
!tnd Avill come out in the Spring AA'ith 
a .good groAVth. Tbsually avc aaouM 
not advise .seeding the Hairy vetch 
jiloiie, (Ji'jiin of some sort i.s better to .go AA'iti! it. 
In the case of the rye. Avhen harvested for gniin, 
there is usmilly a thin sot'ding from the .sc.-irterings, 
and this A’olunteer crop Avill come up iind .groAv alon.g 
AA'ith the vetch. It Avould probably pay, hoAvever. to 
seed at least one-half bushel of r.A'e alou.g AA'ith the 
vetch, and let them groAv to.gether. The A'etcli seed 
is expensive, and you may not care to take chances 
AA’ith it. In tluit cjise. there are .several other com¬ 
binations Avhich ma.v be put in. 
giA’es us profitable return.s 
as a cover crop. On the 
be better for this imrpose 
than otlu'i' kinds of clover, Avheu seeded north of 
the central part of Noav Jersey. A combination of 
Alsike clover usually 
AA’hen us('d in this Avay 
AvhoU'. Alsike .seems to 
