WINTER MEETING. 249 



ant moisture. At least so far as I have observed, the cracking is con- 

 fined almost entirely to compact clusters. 



Of the many varieties I have in bearing the work of the bees has 

 usually been confined almost exclusively to the Delaware and the 

 Lady ; but on account of the wetness of the season, the Duchess and 

 the Salem were added to the list last year, and these are the ones to 

 which cracking was almost exclusively confined. It was a significant 

 fact that the work of the bees was confined to the compact clusters of 

 these varieties, while the loose clusters neither cracked nor were vis- 

 ited by bees. 



In all these, except the Delaware, the cracks were plainly seen on 

 the visible part of the berries. In the Delaware the cracks are out of 

 sight, being transverse and near the stem end. 



In July last, the rainfall being so great that more than the usual 

 amount of cracking was anticipated, I decided to determine, if pos- 

 sible, whether grapes from which bees were excluded, but still left on 

 the vines, suffered in any different degree from those to which the bees 

 had free access. To shut out the bees paper sacks were used, folded 

 over the clusters and pinned. More than a thousand sacks were put 

 upon grapes of the thirteen varieties I am about to mention. Many of 

 these became ripe early in September, and by the 24th all were ripe 

 except Jefferson and lona. 



In the case of the following there was no damage either inside the 

 bags or out, viz : The Agawam, Eaton, Eumelau, lona, Lindly, Niagara 

 and Ulster. Brighton suffered none in the sacks, little out; the Dia- 

 mond, a little in and a little out; the Jefferson, a very little in and the 

 same out; the Delaware, Dachess and Salem suffered much in and 

 somewhat less out. 



In the case of the three kinds much injured it became constantly 

 more evident that the damage to those in the bags was greater than to 

 those to which the bees had access. This was especially true of the 

 Duchess and the Delaware. So evident was it that the reason of this 

 lay in the fact that the juice oozing from the cracked grapes in the 

 bags was communicated to contiguous sound grapes, causing weak- 

 ness of skin, cracking and incipient decay, that by the middle of the 

 month of September I hastened to remove the bags from these varie- 

 ties that the bees might gather the juice from the broken grapes. 



To my mind the conclusion is inevitable that not only do bees not 

 injure grapes, but that by gathering the juice of cracked ones they 

 prevent decay and thereby the destruction of sound grapes. 



E. L. Taylor. 



