Norwich bulletin., 1920-04-26

is concerned but the source of death to thousands of honey-bees Is the season. able word of warning given through the Bulletin by Allen Latham of the Reser- yoir road, Norwich Town
 MT. Latham gives his warning as fol- lows:
 The season is approaching for spraying apple trees for the purpose of prevent ing wor1ny apples The spraying of ap7 pie trees at the proper time is a most valuable procedure. and does unquestion- ably greatly improve. the quality of the apple crop. When. however this spray ing is done out of season it is attended by loss not only to the owner of the fruit trees but also to the owners of all honey-bees within mile or so of those trees. In this letter I wish to explain why all owners of apple trees should be very careful to see that their trees are not sprayed at a time when disaster is sure to result, and to relate the nature of such disaster.
 In certain parts of Massachusetts the honey bees have been entirely killed of by this unwise spraying. One bee-oW CT in Connecticut reported the loss of nearly all his 20 hives of bees. In my own case last spring 12 hives died out right or were rendered yalueless. My monetary loss last spring was at a con servatfve estimate $200. This loss upon my part was caused by one day of spray ing which was carried on in Norwich Town.
 Apple trees are sprayed for various purposes. but the May spraying is done to destroy the coddling moth. This little ! moth lays her eggs in the matured bios som of the apple and later worny ap- pie results. By spraying at the righi time a poison is dropped into the blos- som end of the apple and the little
 worm more properly caterpillar, by eating it's way into the apple consumes
 some poison and dies.
 The coddling moth is very set in its | habits. and like all insects seldom de parts from regular custom Its habi l is to lay it's eggs in the calyx. or hloon
 end, of the little apples just forming af l ter the falling of the petals. For few days after the petals fall the little apple
 stands upright on it's stem with the SC pals, or spurs of the blossom end, out spread At this time poison spray car be easily thrown into the cuD-like de pression within the calyx spurs 1t is il | this cup. that the eggs of the coddlint
 moth are most frequently deposited. B. l getting the poison into this cup tn ] fruit grower succeeds in killing most o i the insects.
 When the trees are sprayed while il l full bloom little if any poison gets int the calyxs cups because of the flesh. 1 parts of the bloom. After the falling o 1 the petals the parts of the blosson i shrivel and access to the cup is easier 1 will be readily seen from this that tn
 fruit grower is benefited through spray i ing at just the right time. All large ap pie growers are on the alert at this sea ! son and praying that good weather wi l prevail while the petals are falling. The i know that spraying out of season is sim f pie waste, money thrown away
 It so happens that there are other
 whos make business of spraying frui
 trees besides apple growers. These ar
 men who are spraying by contract. The are not fruit growers. They are sin1pl
 seeking financial return for sprayin
 the trees of other people. It matters lii tie to them whether this spraying is don
 in season or out, provided they can gs in two or three weeks of profitable en ployTnent
 These commercial s1rayers would fin little business while the trees are i
 bloom if it were not for the fact that th
 owners of small orchards are igporar often of the proper time for sDrayin and hence leave the matter entirely. 1
 the commercial sprayer: As they see Il spraying done they pay for it withol : question. not realizing that they haN
 not been given a square deal.
 It is difficult to reach the heart or 1 . direct the intellect of a man or me . who are after cold business For, tn reason this is an appeal to the owners
 small orchards. I say to these ownel that they are simply throwing ava
 when they pay a commercial sprayer fl
 spraying their trees while in bloom. you cannot get your trees sprayed at u
 proper time, let them go uhsprayed. IT
 money you pay for the spraying wou
 buy more good apples in the fall tha will result through any spraying out season.
 A word now for the bees Spraying : not the only thing which is necessary good apple crops, because of the sinr Treason that the ccddling moth is not u sole cause of the failure of good cro } All the spraying in the world will n, cause a crop of apples to result if u : blossoms fail of being pollinated The : are two sexes in the plant just as the
 are in the animal world. Every app : blossom has two sexes in it's structur Si Nature provides that these two sexu ]. structures of the blossom mature at tii : ferent times in order to bring about 2 : infusion of new blood Just as in hl man life we make 1t illegal for broth
 and sister to marry, so Nature preven the consorting of close relatives in u [ plant world. For this reason it is ff
 perative that the pollen of one sblosso
 reach the stigma of another. sVario
 agencies carry on the transportation } pollen. The wind performs the act f ], grasses and corn. The humble bee do !, it for the red clover. Until the fl ' growers of the west imported a. tiny 1 < sect from Smyrna they were unable z get good figs. Apparently Nature h . declared emphatically that the honey b ! shall be tIs agent whereby apple blo ,, soms are pollinated.
 A few years back we had an abun !. ant apple bloom. Everybody predicted ' big crop of apples. The crop proved sn; { and of poor quality. How many. of T readers know that the cause was a SD
 of cold and wet weather which. prevent ' the honey bees from visiting the bIc
 sons? How many. are aware that o ], plum crop last year, despite a fine bloo 2 failed for the same ireason2 cot write many columns devoted to instan< i. of like nature. Let me cite one otr q which has come under my observationl !. I have in my home yard five or six a $ pie trees. About half a mile away . of great promise mentioned a few lir Z; above the home trees and the otil s, seventy trees bioorned freely. In the f :. the home trees were loaded with appI
 while the trees in the main orchard be
 few apples or none. Occasionally 5uri E the blooming season the sun would bu: v out. Only four rods from the Ahol h trees were fifty hives of bees With i y coming forth of the sun, thousands