14 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



flowers. When I had finished, my opponent said: " Well, I don't know any- 

 thing about it; maybe you are right, my friend." 



Now, those of you who knoio that bees are largely instrumental in the fer- 

 tilization of blossoms, and that the removal of the nectar in no wise injures 

 the fruit or grain, may be inclined to smile at the old farmer's views, but, my 

 friends, he is not alone in his ignorance; even editors — yes, and agricultural 

 editors at that — have exhibited lamentable ignorance upon this subject. The 

 agricultural editor of a very prominent New York weekly very gravely in- 

 formed an inquiring correspondent that bees were an injury to buckwheat, 

 taking the same grounds as did my farmer opponent. It was this same editor 

 who said he had watched with interest the progress of the Italian bees ever 

 since the first pair (?) was brought over from Italy. 



It is nearly always ignorance that leads to trouble about bees. In Wisconsin 

 the past season, the owner of an apiary was sued for damages alleged to have 

 been done to sheep while grazing in a pasture of white clover. It was claimed 

 that the bees came in swarms and drove the sheep from the pastures! 



It is well known to those who are conversant with the habits of bees, that, 

 when foraging, a bee is timid, and will flee upon the approach of any object. 

 The plaintiff in the suit was not only ignorant of the habits of bees, but 

 seemed to forget that were it not for the services of the bees in fertilizing the 

 white clover blossoms there would have been no white clover pasture for his 

 sheep. The judge in this suit decided that there was no law applicable to the 

 case, and dismissed the suit. The plaintiff probably mistook the attacks of 

 the troublesome gad-fly for the attacks of bees, which he saw working upon 

 the clover. 



In California, recently, a bee-keeper has been sued by a fruit grower for 

 alleged damages done to grapes. The suit was in a justice's court; the apiarist 

 was beaten, but has, I believe, appealed to the higher court. 



As to whether b^es really do injure fruit is a question that has been fre- 

 quently asked. I presume many fruit growers will unhesitatingly say 'that 

 they do, and they know they do, while bee-keepers are equally certain that it is 

 impossible for bees to pierce the skin of fruit. At the convention of bee- 

 keepers, held last December, in Detroit, Prof. A. J. Cook said : " People 

 have several times told me that their grapes had been destroyed by bees, and 

 I have offered to come and witness the destruction, if they would let me know 

 when it was going on, but I cautioned them to first be sure that they had a 

 case. I have never been called. Bees do sometimes attack grapes, however, 

 but it is when the weather has first caused them to crack, or something else 

 has attacked and opened the skins." 



At Aurora, 111., there is an experimental station of the United States, in 

 charge of Prof. Nelson W. M. Lairs. The Professor was at the December 

 meeting of bee-keepers in Detroit, and read from the advance sheets of his 

 report. He had placed colonies of bees in a building, deprived them of food, 

 except fruit of different kinds, which was placed upon shelves around the sides 

 of the room. All specimens having cracked skins, or that were intentionally 

 preforated, were entirely consumed, except the skins, but, although these bees 

 were starved to death, not a sound grape, apple, peach, or fruit of any kind 

 was injured. It is a physical impossibility for a bee to cut open the skin of a 

 grape; its mandibles are not capable of cutting. 



Now, then, although I deny that a bee can attack and destroy a sound grape, 

 I do not deny that bees are sometimes a source of great annoyance, and per 



