590 
FRUIT BLOSSOMS 
is their silent protest but best retaliation 
to their neighbors who manifest so little 
regard for the rights of others. Bees are 
gradually becoming a rarity in those dis¬ 
tricts where they are most needed. 
CORRECTION OF THE TROUBLE INVOLVES NO 
ACTUAL HARDSHIPS. 
If bees are to be won back and propa¬ 
gated in the fruit-producing districts the 
following conditions must be met: 
a. The calyx spray must not be begun 
until fully 80 per cent of the blossoms have 
dropped. This is consistent with best 
spraying practice. At that time the nectar 
flow has ceased. 
b. Cover spraying should not be over¬ 
done. A tree will take up a definite 
amount of spray without dripping, to any 
great extent, provided a fine mist spray is 
used, and the orchardist must use this kind 
of a spray with plenty of pressure so as to 
do a good job. 
c. Cover crops should be used that will 
not be in bloom at the time of spraying. 
The annual sweet clovers can be planted so 
as to come into bloom after the spraying- 
season is passed. Where insect and fungus 
pests necessitate continued spraying thru- 
out the entire summer it might be advisable 
to use the sod culture system and secure the 
nitrogen from some nitrogenous fertilizer 
instead of obtaining it from legumes. This 
system of orchard management has been 
adopted in some leading fruit sections. 
d. Aphids must be kept in check on such 
varieties of fruit as receive summer ap¬ 
plications of arsenicals. This would pre¬ 
vent the occurrence of contaminated hon- 
eydew. These can be controlled by spray¬ 
ing with nicotine sulphate or black-leaf 
forty. Aphids are killed only by a contact 
spray, and the orchardist must direct the 
spray so as to hit them. 
It is possible, but not very probable, 
that some chemical may yet be discovered, 
which will render poisonous sprays, when 
added to them, repellent to bees; and thus 
enable the fruit-grower to raise cover crops 
and spray his trees regardless of bis little 
friends. Lime-sulphur, nicotine, lime, and 
creosote have each been suggested for 
this purpose, but information is too meager 
to give out a general recommendation as 
yet. In some preliminary experiments. 
which have been made, it has been ob¬ 
served that bees act in unexpected ways to 
substances nauseating to ourselves. Lime- 
sulphur, carbon disulphide, and naphtl a- 
lene were perceptibly avoided by bees; while 
ill-smelling butyric and pyroligneous acids 
were unnoticed. It may be that calcium 
arsenate will be less destructive than 
lead arsenate; it may be that dry dusting 
will be better than liquid spraying. 
CORRECTIVE LEGISLATION WILL AFFORD THE 
QUICKEST BENEFITS TO ALL. 
While it is inconceivable that any fruit¬ 
grower conversant with the facts would 
wilfully place poison in the path of his 
neighbor’s honeybees, yet all appreci¬ 
ate how slow is the directing of reforms 
thru appeals for sympathy. In the mean¬ 
time the beekeeper must live by the lives 
of his bees. His part is not to beg for 
humane consideration of his troubles; he 
cannot wait on educational propaganda; he 
cannot take chances on losing his all; and 
so he moves away until the fruit-men come 
to realize that they need the bees more 
than the beemen need the orchard flowers. 
Some States in the interest of beekeep¬ 
ing have enacted laws prohibiting the 
spraying of trees in blossom. This alone 
would not meet the situation in the North¬ 
west, because the custom there of growing 
a cover crop is responsible for most of the 
trouble. 
For the ultimate good of fruit-growing, 
as well as of beekeeping, every State 
should enact a law forbidding the placing 
of poison inadvertently of deliberately, 
where bees or other insect pollinators will 
unavoidably secure it. Such a law would ap¬ 
ply only to the careless orchardist, who 
would either have to cut his alfalfa before 
spraying or else hereafter use care in 
spraying not to overdo the application. 
SPRAYING FOR THE CODLING MOTH. 
The insect which is most important for 
the orchardist to control is the apple worm 
or codling moth, a pest which may reduce 
the crop of sound fruit by one-fourth to 
three-fourths. The moths emerge from their 
cocoons during the months of May and June. 
The minute whitish eggs are laid partly on 
the leaves and partly on the fruit, and hatch 
about three weeks after the trees have 
