388 
FRUIT BLOSSOMS 
extend their work over as long a time as 
possible, spray continuously thruout bloom¬ 
ing time. A third class consists of those 
who are ignorant of the harm done by this 
practice. 
When the trees are sprayed while in 
bloom, many bees are killed, much brood 
dies, and often valuable queens are lost. 
Beekeepers in all parts of the country 
have reported that as the result of the use 
of poisonous spray entire colonies have 
been destroyed and others greatly weak¬ 
ened. In 1912 about half the bees in Pecos 
Valley, N. M., were killed in this way. A 
small apple orchard on the Ohio Experi¬ 
ment Station Farm was sprayed with Bor¬ 
deaux mixture, to which had been added 
Paris green at the rate of 4 ounces to 50 
gallons of the mixture. Three colonies of 
bees were located near by. A few days 
later one colony suddenly became extinct 
and a second greatly reduced in numbers, 
dead bees being abundant in both hives. 
Chemical analysis showed the presence of 
arsenic in the dead bees. 
Experiments conducted at the Cornell 
and the Geneva Experiment Stations 
showed that the spraying of trees in full 
bloom decidedly injured the blossoms. The 
poison retarded or checked the develop¬ 
ment of the pollen and was harmful to the 
stigma. Pollen placed in a thin syrup, 
about the consistency of nectar, to which 
was added a quantity of ordinary spraying 
liquid, failed to grow. The fruit-grower 
can not afford to injure the delicate repro¬ 
ductive organs of the flowers. Moreover, 
spraying when the trees are in bloom, says 
the Vermont Experiment Station, is en¬ 
tirely useless; it is a, waste of both time 
and spraying material. 
sprat poisoning. 
Fruits vary in their necessity for cross¬ 
pollination from complete self-sterility to 
self-fertility. Some of the best-known 
commercial varieties of apples, pears, cher¬ 
ries, etc., are entirely dependent on pollen 
from other flowers. Even in case of self¬ 
fertility it has been demonstrated conclu¬ 
sively that more perfect fruit results from 
cross-pollination than from self-pollina¬ 
tion. Bees, either the many native wild 
species or the hive-bee, are the most impor¬ 
tant agency for carrying pollen from flow¬ 
er to flower. From the point of view of 
fruit-growing, therefore, every thing pos¬ 
sible should be done to have plenty of hon¬ 
eybees, as they are the only insects under 
the control of man. 
Progressive fruit-growers appreciate the 
importance of bees in setting a crop of 
fruit, and commonly rent colonies of bees 
for the blossoming period, paying $5.00 
per colony and allowing one colony to each 
acre or two of orchard. The increasing 
custom of growing a honey-producing 
cover crop would make the combination of 
orcharding and beekeeping particularly 
desirable, were it not that some fruit¬ 
growers overdo their spraying so as to al¬ 
low spray poison to drip from the trees. 
This poison, falling to the blossoms of the 
cover crop, is taken up by the bees and has 
resulted in the destruction of so many bees 
as to cause commercial beekeepers to move 
away to safer zones. 
In return for their good services many 
bees meet a pitiful death at the hands of 
those they help. For two or three days 
after the spraying of an orchard near-by 
bees frequently die in large numbers. The 
field force first is depleted, either failing to 
return, or sometimes bringing into the hive 
sufficient poison to cause destruction to 
brood and nurses. Many colonies of bees 
have been completely exterminated. Others 
were so harmed that they failed to build 
up even during the honey flow, and later 
succumbed to disease or were winter-killed. 
Instead of producing honey these colonies 
must be fed that the remnant may survive. 
SOURCE OF THE POISON. 
Bees secure poisonous fruit sprays as a 
result of the following improper horticul¬ 
tural practices: 
a. From the drip upon honey-produc¬ 
ing cover crops grown under the trees. 
This is a fault of excessive application. 
b. From spray reaching fruit bloom. 
This is a fault of spraying too early, be¬ 
fore the blossoms have dropped. 
c. From spray mixing with honeydew, 
the excretion of plant lice. This is a fault 
of neglecting to keep plant lice under con¬ 
trol. 
d. Another source is from foliage be¬ 
fore the spray has dried, especially in the 
semiarid regions of the West, where water 
