268 State Boakd of Agriculture, &c. 



portion of Ohio, and the bees and birds {dike were liard up 

 for provender and made sad liavoe with our grapes^ 

 Some citizens counted their loss as liigh as twenty busliels, 

 and vigoronsly pressed the village council to ex})el the 

 bees, by ordinance, l^eyond the corporation limits. Acting 

 on the spur of the moment they actually passed an ordi- 

 nance to its second reading (repeating the Wenham farce,) 

 imposing a heavy penalty for keeping bess within S'lifl 

 limits. 



" In the meantime I had not been idle, but, applying tests 

 to satisfy the people of theii" error, I iuvited tliem to come 

 upon my grounds, and see for themselves the robins, red- 

 birds and orioles that lay dead under my vines and fruit 

 trees, with grape seeds in their stomachs and mouths, as I 

 had often shot them in tlie act of biting open tlie grapes as 

 they hung upon the vines. Our bees were undergoing a 

 test also. Three hives had as many bunches of ripe Con- 

 cord grapes tacked to their fronts, that passing out and in 

 contact was unavoidable. On the fifth day they remained 

 untouched, save tlie bees hunting through and over them 

 to find an open berry. Then I opened with my knife say 

 a quarter of the l)erries on each buncli and, true to their in- 

 stincts, they began taking up the juice before I had com- 

 pleted the joli. Fn about forty-eight hours they had taken 

 up all the juice and pulp I liad offered them, and, four days 

 later, when I removed the bunches, not a single bei-ry had 

 they opened, but were busily inspecting tliose that 

 remained, dou1)tless waiting for some stronger power to 

 lead in the business. 



" The bald hornets, both black and yellow, are experts in 



