BEES AND FRUIT. 



60 



BEES AND FRUIT. 



Tlie authors have had, during the past 

 thirty years, between three and lour hun- 

 dred colonies located in a vineyard at their 

 home apiary. Notwithstanding hundreds 

 and hundreds of pounds of grapes are raised 

 every year, the bunches hanging within { 

 three or four feet of the entrance of the | 

 iiives, the sound fruit is never attacked ; but i 



ONE OF THE EXIIIISITS OF BEES AT THE GRANGE FAIR IN WIL- 



3IINGTON, DELAWARE, HELD IN SEPTEMBER, 1908. 



A curd in tbe hive read, " Bees do not injure sound fruit." 



diu-ing a dearth of honey, a broken or other- 

 wise bruised bunch of grapes will occasion- 

 ally be visited by a few bees. 



The writer of this article has attended va- 

 rious liorticultural and pomological conven- 

 tions, both State and national. Among the 



progressive fruit-growers and horticultu- 

 rists tliere is a general acknowledgment that 

 bees do not attack sound fruit ; that the 

 little damage they do to damaged fruit is 

 compensated for a hundred times over by 

 the indispensable service they perform in 

 pollinating fruit-blossoms early in the season 

 when no other insects or means of mingling 

 the i)ollen exists. In- 

 deed, some of our best 

 fruit-growers are now 

 keeping a few hives of 

 bees in each of their or- 

 chards. Often they in- 

 vite bee-keepers to lo- 

 cate yards of bees either 

 in the orchards or as 

 near as it is practicable 

 to put them. 



But a casual observer 

 might easily get the im- 

 pression that bees not 

 only suck damaged fruit 

 dry, but actually punc- 

 ture and eat up sound 

 fruit. Some years ago a 

 neighbor sent word to 

 us that he would like to 

 have us come up. to his 

 vineyard and he would 

 give us undisputable 

 proof that our bees were 

 actually punctiuing his 

 grapes and sucking out 

 the fruit. We looked 

 at the luscious bunches 

 as they were hanging 

 down , and , sure enough, 

 there were small needle 

 like holes in almost 

 every berry that the 

 bees were working on. 

 It looked like a clear 

 case of " caught in 

 the act" evidence 

 against them. For the 

 time being we were un- 

 able to offer a satisfac- 

 tory explanation. We 

 brought the matter to 

 the attention of an old 

 farmer who had been a 

 bee - keeper for many 

 years. Finally one morning he sent word 

 to us that he had found the guilty culprit, 

 and that if we would come down to his 

 place early some morning he would point 

 him out. This we did. He showed us a 

 little bird, quick of flight, and almost never 



