700 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



I have already stated that the bee does not mix its drinks, but 

 while it will not mix apple nectar with any other nectar, it does not 

 distinguish between variety, and is just as likely to travel across 

 varieties as to go lengthwise with the row. In this way it has 

 been instrumental in multiplying varieties. The fact is, with all 

 our science and all our skill, we are indebted to the bee for nearly 

 all of our best varieties of fruits. Study the pedigree of almost 

 any highly prized variety, and you finally come to a chance seedling 

 in some out-of-the way place. How did that chance seedling get 

 there? The bees made a cross between known varieties growing 

 near each other. A bird carried the seed and dropped it where 

 it sprouted, grew, and finally bore fruit. Go through the list, and 

 for ever} 7 desirable variety that has beeen produced by the in- 

 genuity of man, you will find one hundred that are the product of 

 the bees. 



So we see, when this old world was new the bee began its horti- 

 cultural work and has kept it up without intermission through all 

 the ages. The service rendered has been of inestimable value to 

 man. It cannot be stated in dollars and cents, and the bee will 

 certainly continue to work industriously along the same lines on 

 every fair day during the proper season while time lasts. I think I 

 am safe in saying that future generations will be indebted to the 

 bee for their best varieties of fruits, just as we are for the best at 

 present, notwithstanding our advance in knowledge of the natural 

 sciences; but of one thing you be sure: The bee will never give you 

 a seedless apple. 



Notwithstanding all its good and useful traits, the bee manages 

 to make itself very unpleasant in the orchard at harvest time. This 

 is especially the case with early peaches and plums. These are more 

 inclined to rot than others, and they then prove very attractive to 

 the bees. In picking the fruit, one is very apt to gather a bee in 

 his hand with a peach, and a sting is the result. 



They sometimes become very troublesome about the house when 

 canning and preserving is being done. I remember an instance of 

 this kind which occured a few years ago. A farmer living just 

 across the river from Harrisburg kept a number of bees. One day 

 they scented the preserving kettle on a neighbor's stove and they 

 marshalled their forces and literally drove the family out of doors 

 and kept them out until sundown. A damage suit in court was 

 the result. 



On a large fruit farm in Franklin county some years ago, at the 

 time I visited it, they were canning peaches on a rather extensive 

 scale, and the bees from their own hives annoyed the women who 

 were paring peaches so that they could hardly work. Several 

 were badlv stung while I was looking at them. 



I then and there decided that while I grew fruit for market I 

 would not engage in the bee business. 



Note. — The way to prevent such trouble, entirely, is to feed the 

 bees with syrup or dilute honey, best by spraying it on the leaves of 

 trees, when beginning such work. — H. A. S. 



The bee has been charged, whether justly or not, with cutting 

 grapes and sucking their juice, thus doing great damage to vine- 

 yards. I have never actually caught a bee in the act of cutting 



