373. Report or THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THB 
would be seriously reduced in numbers if spraying at blossoming 
time became a common practice. The subject is still in need of 
careful investigation. 
There have been few satisfactory experiments to determine 
whether bees are likely to be killed if they visit a large orchard 
which has been sprayed with arsenites when in full bloom. In 
some cases the experiment has consisted in covering the sprayed 
tree with sheeting or netting and placing bees inside. After 
awhile dead bees are found on a sheet which has been spread 
beneath the trees. These dead bees are then washed with ammonia 
water to remove any of the spraying material which might have 
been brushed onto their bodies. If, after this washing, the 
chemist finds arsenic in the bodies of these bees the conclusion 
is reached that they died from arsenic poisoning. These 
experiments merely show that if bees eat poison they will die; 
they do not prove that if an orchard is sprayed with an arsenite 
when in full bloom most of the bees visiting it will be killed. 
Whether or not bees will avoid poisoned blossoms if untainted 
flowers are to be had is a question that fruit-growers are always 
asking. In 1896, Professor F. M. Webster reported three obser- 
vations on this point. (1) Six apple trees were sprayed in full 
bloom with Paris green and water at the rate of four ounces to 
forty gallons. Sheets were placed under the trees and on the 
sheets were two hives of bees. Fifty-six dead bees were found 
near the hive within a week. Analysis of some of these showed 
traces of arsenic. (2) On the morning of a clear warm day, two 
apple trees were sprayed with Paris green and water at the rate 
of one ounce to twelve gallons. In the afternoon a number of 
bees which visited the blossoms were caught and marked. None 
of these marked bees were afterwards found dead near the hives. 
The next day other bees were caught, dissected and analyzed. 
Arsenic was found in the honey-sacs and the abdomens of some 
of these bees. (8) A small apple orchard was sprayed when in 
full bloom with Bordeaux, to which was added Paris green at 
the rate of four ounces per fifty gallons. Three apparently 
healthy colonies of bees were located on the premises. AI] the 
