Relation of Bees to Fuuit Culture. 267 



«ays : " Over twenty years I have cultivated both bees and 

 fruit, consequently my affections are about equally divided 

 between the two. My colonies, say sixty to eighty in num- 

 ber, are located under apple, peach, pear, quince, cherry, 

 grape and plum trees, where contact occurs necessarily 

 every season. Being a person of leisure, my opportunities 

 have been good to closely inspect this question. In years 

 departed I liave witnessed my bees swarming by thousands 

 upon my trellises, apparently threatening the entire des- 

 truction of my grape crop, to say nothing of my pears and 

 peaches. My neighbors too give their unimpeachable tes- 

 timony to the same state of facts among themselves. 

 Surely this ought to be suthcient to convict every bee in the 

 land and, as the lawyers say, we miji-ht here rest the case. 

 Now, I have summed up all I care about on this side of the 

 question, and am free to say there is not any evidence 

 touching the \'ital point at issue. 



" Who cares about what bees eat in general '{ All winged 

 insects live on something. Every bare-footed boy in the 

 land can testify to bees, extracting the juice from pomace 

 lying around a cider mill, peaches, pears or grapes that 

 have been maimed, crushed, eaten into or broken open by 

 some other agency ; l)ut not one living soul in all the par- 

 ties to this question have seen, with the physical eye, tlie 

 honey bee, at any time or under any circumstances, pounce 

 upon a bunch of grapes or other fruit untouched by other 

 insects, perfect in all respects, and, with its mandibles, eat 

 through the skin or rind and open up its contents to a free 

 bouquet ! 



" The season of 1872 visited a fearful di-outh on this 



