White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1924-03-21

| On perusing the December issue
of Bees and Honey, | read Prof. Slo-
Gums article on page 1872, in which
he refers to Milkol used in orchard
sprays as a repcllent to bees. Fine!
But if we repel the agent that poll
mates, where will the pollination come
in?
IT'S true-pitifully so-that the
bees are sacrificed for fruit as it is
likely every pound Of bees arc the di-
rect means of producing thousands of
pounds of fruit. and the fruit men
willingly sacrifice the one for the
other.
AS each year rolls around, the or
chardists get bees any old way they
can-rent, borrow or purchase out
right-but the object is to get bees!
And they get en-; and, generally
speaking, those blessed bees pay the
penalty of their industry, and, after
passing, leave a wealth to those who
sacrificed them.
l believe the problem could be
largely solved thusly: If bee keepers
would move away all their bees from
near the large orchards, the orchar-
dists would wake up, and i'll order
to insure their crop they would take
care not to imperil tho source OF in
surance.
| have talked to big men i'll the
fruit business, and they acknowledge
the corn" but at the same time say
the size of their holdings will not per-
NIT the waiting for blossoms to be
mature enough to fall before spray
ing. In my own little orchard, l find
pollination takes place in plenty of
time before the blossoms fall, and the
blossoms at falling time are receptive
to spray, and the lives of the polleni-
zing agents are saved, or largely so.
Also, | find the new busting methods
are fully as destructive to bee-life as
the liquid, if the poison gets into the
blossom soon enough.
The idea is that the orchardist
should cooperate with the beekeepers.
as his very living and success depend
upon them. Without this assistance
dismal failure would be inevitable.
The point I'm trying to make is,
that Mlkol may be good repellent,
and may not decrease the efficiency
of the poison spray: but if it really
repels, then no pollination can take
place, because the bees won't visit
the blossoms; and as the commercial
orchardist wants fruit, he will sacri-
flee thousands of Ito him insignihc-
anti bees to gain his ends.
After ALL it's the same old story of
worshipping the dollar. No matter
how--but get it!
Multnomah Co, Ore, Jan. %.
CAS- fruitgrowers are not supposed
to spray their trees when in bloom,
the repellcnts are to be used in the
sprays used after the blooming period,
so that any of the poison sprays
that fall upon the cover crops will
not kill the bees that may visit there
in search of either nectar or water.
AS we understand the matter. it is
from working on the cover crops that
most of the bees arc killed.
So. if this be true, then the bees
can have full sway during the actual
poisoning time. and after that use
the rcpcllents in the poison sprays so
as to keep the bees away from the
cover crops, or even from gathering
the water in the poisonous sprays that
may adhere to the fruit-tree leaves or
to the leaves and blossoms that might
be on the cover crops growing under
the trees
We believe that this serious prob-
lem will soon be solved, so that the
orchardists and beekeepers can dwell
in love and harmony side by side.
In fact, when that happy time shall
be here, then every orchardist Will
also be his own beekccper and he
will get dividends from both fruit and
bces-two crops where now he gets
only one.
So If the orchardist is wise, he will
do all in his power to protect the
lives of the bees, for he needs their
hclp--and the bees need the nectar in
the fru.t-blossoms.--Editoy,)