Relation of Bees to Fijuit Culture. 269 



cutting into peaches, pears, grapes, etc. In handling 

 fi'uits, I have seen them cut tlirough the rind of ripe and 

 tender peaches with great facility, thus leading the way for 

 more feehle insects to follow and take up their contents, 

 and therein lies the great mistake with the hundreds of com- 

 plainants. Birds and hornets are few, indeed, wlien com- 

 pared Avith bees, and, while they glide along, opening np 

 •cind inviting to the feast, are rarely noticed. The honest 

 bees tarry, to appropriate for the supply of their homes, and 

 are seen by the million and are condemned as thieves and 

 burglars. 



" The most persistent and clamorous of our citizens, 

 who had threatened bee men with the law and tlieir bees 

 with strychnine, were the first to come forward and thank 

 me for what I had placed before their eyes as the true solu- 

 tion of the whole question, for all who took the trouble 

 accomplished exactly the same results by the same means 

 that I had used." 



Kow, this is no new question, but one that has engaged 

 the attention of fruit growers and bee keepers in Europe 

 for very many years, where the grapes are much thinner 

 skinned and more delicate even than our own. 



Says Mr. Charles Dadant, of Hamilton, Illinois, who, by 

 ^e way, is a native of rran(;e : " I have cultivated bees in 

 a part of Franc^e where grapes are the main crop, near the 

 hills of Burgundy, celebrated for the wine produced l)y the 

 culture of the Sugared Piueau, a grape richer in sugar than 

 all the American kinds. * * * * There has l)een con- 

 siderable discussion between the wine growers and bee 

 keepers of the above named district, and it is very well 



