340 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that the bees may be kept coming and licking it out, in every hour of the day, 

 and tlie flow of honey ceases just as soon as the pollen is ripened and gone. 

 Mr. A. I. Root says: "'The Catawba is a very desirable variety of grape, as is 

 also the Deleware; but the former is very late, and the latter very small. Dr. 

 Grant originated the lona, by fertilizing the blossoms of one with the pollen 

 of the other; but, in his first attempt, he failed repeatedly, because the bees 

 were sure to upset all his experiments by their intermeddling. When he 

 thought of covering the flowers from which he wished to produce the hybrid 

 seed, with lace or something of a similar nature to keep the bees away, he suc- 

 ceeded at once; and we now have the lona as the result, a grape that is just 

 about half way between the Delaware and Catawba, having very distinctly the 

 flavor of each.'"' 



It has very frequently been urged that bees injure fruit and grain by taking 

 honey from the blossoms ; and I believe the matter was carried so far in a town 

 in Massachusetts, that an ordinance was passed obliging a bee-keeper to remove 

 his bees to another locality. After a year or two liud passed, the fruit growers 

 decided that they would rather have the bees brought back, because so little 

 fruit set on the trees, in proportion to the nun^jer of blossoms that appeared. 

 As it was a fruit growing district, it was a matter of considerable importance, 

 and tlie bees were brought back. Of course, with tlie bees came fruit in 

 abundance, for many kinds of fruit absolutely depend upon the agency of bees 

 to fertilize the flowers, thus enabling them to produce fruit. It has been stated 

 that unless we have a few hours of sunshine when early cherries are in bloom, 

 we shall have no cherries at all ; and we occasionally have a season when cold 

 rain storms so prevent the bees from getting out that not a cherry is produced. 



While the honey bee is regarded by the best informed horticulturists as a 

 friend, a strong prejudice has been excited against it by many fruit growers, 

 and, in some communities, a man who keeps bees is considered as bad a 

 neighbor as one who allows his poultry to despoil the gardens of others. Even 

 the warmest friends of the bee may be heard lamenting its propensity to 

 banquet on their beautiful peaches and pears, and choicest grapes and plums. 

 But it should be remembered that the jaws of the bee, being adapted chiefly 

 to the manipulation of wax, are too feeble to enable it to readily puncture the 

 skins of e\en the most delicate grapes. If it were otherwise, whole crops of 

 fruit would be destroyed by bees whenever a period of protracted drouth cut off 

 their supplies of honey. Wasps and hornets, which secrete no wax, being 

 furnished with strong, saw-like jaws, for cutting the Avoody fibre with which 

 they build their combs, can easily penetrate the skin of the toughest fruits. 

 After the mischief has been begun by other insects, or wherever a crack or a 

 spot of decay is seen, the honey bee hastens to help itself. In this way they 

 undoubtedly do some mischief; but before war is declared against them, let 

 every fruit grower inquire if, on the whole, they are not more useful than 

 injurious. If the horticulturists who regard the bee as an enemy, could 

 exterminate the race, they would act with as little wisdom as those who attempt 

 to banish from their inhospitable premises every insectivorous bird, which 

 helps itself to a small part of the abundance it has aided in preserving. 



BLACK KNOT. 



Dr. Byron D. Halsted says in the American Garden that black knot is now 

 known to be of fungus origin, and therefore is related to the peach 



