1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE 



705 



but whenever horses or cattle pass through the 

 woods they pay no attention. They know the 

 cattle are not after them with a gun, and have 

 become accustomed to seeing them. A year 

 ago or so, when I was in poor health, the doc- 

 tor said I might eat meadowlarks. I always 

 noticed I could get quite near them along the 

 roadways, especially if driving in a buggy; but 

 whenever I went out into the field with a gun 

 they kept me at a good big respectful distance. 

 I give these instances to show that dumb ani- 

 mals as well as insects will tolerate and allow 

 things they are accustomed to when they will 

 not brook things that are unusual. — Ed.] 



BEES AND GBAFES. 



PUTTING THEM TO THE TEST. 



By Chauncey Reynolds. 



Aug. 31st a near neighbor came to me and 

 told me my bees were carrying all of his grapes 

 ofif; so I went over into his grape-arbor, and, 

 sure enough, the bees were there in large num- 

 bers. But I told him I was confident that the 

 bees did not at first break the skin of the grape. 

 Of course, I was poohpoohed. He would believe 

 no such thing. I told him he would, upon in- 

 vestigat'on, find either sparrows, wasps, or 

 something, first punctured the skin of the fruit; 

 then the bees, as would be natural, would gath- 

 er the juices going to waste. To further illus- 

 trate to him that bees would not first break the 

 skin of the grape, I selected a large bunch of 

 them from which there had not been one grape 

 broken off, nor had the skin of any grape been 

 broken. I told him to come with me, as I was 

 going to lay that bunch of grapes directly on 

 top of the frames in a colony of bees, and I 

 would leave them there 48 hours, and then I 

 wanted him to come and see me take the grapes 

 out of the hive. I said I thought he would find 

 the bunch as sound as when put in. Of course, 

 he said I would never find a grape. I did ex- 

 actly as above stated; but let me first tell you 

 that I did have some misgivings, as nearly 

 every grape on the bunch had in one spot on 

 them a slight scab, looking to me as though at 

 some time the grapes had been stung by some- 

 thing, and had healed over, and I was afraid 

 the bees might work through the old holes in 

 the grapes. But, no! In 48 hours I took the 

 grapes out, when I found not a single grape had 

 been broken. On some of the grapes the bees 

 had put propolis, and some were stuck fast to 

 the frames, so we had quite a little job to get 

 them off; but, as I said, not one single grape 

 was broken in the least. When I first laid the 

 grapes in the hive, there being no sections on 

 the hive, and it being hot weather, there was 

 no cushion on top of the frames; but the bees, 

 when the grapes were first laid on them, crawl-. 



ed all over the grapes, so you would have 

 thought the grapes would have been all con- 

 sumed in no time. In 30 minutes I glanced into 

 the hive, and there was not a bee on the grapes; 

 and at no time after did I see a bee taking any 

 notice of the grapes at all. I am now still fur- 

 ther than ever convinced that bees must have 

 the holes first bored in fruit before they can get 

 any thing to eat. 

 Fremont, O., Sept. 3. 



BEES A BENEFIT TO THE GKAPE- GROWER, AND 

 HOW. 



I have over 150 colonies of bees, and raise 

 grapes by the ton, and about all the different 

 kinds. I do not think my bees have ever dam- 

 aged me a penny so far, and I have kept them 

 18 years, and have had a bearing vineyard for 6 

 years, and the bees never work on a grape un- 

 less it is punctured or has bursted, and then it 

 will begin to ferment inside of 48 hours, if the 

 weather is warm, and is then unfit to eat, for 

 then the juice will begin to run down soon on 

 the other grapes, and smear the bunch all be- 

 low the bursted or soured grapes; and there is 

 where the bees come in with their help — that 

 is, in cleaning the punctured or bursted berries 

 before they begin to ferment; and instead of 

 their doing harm they are an actual benefit to 

 the grape-grower. To illustrate: Several years 

 ago while at the Columbus, O., fair. Dr. A, B. 

 Mason and I were talking about this very 

 thing, and he gave me an instance that he was 

 personally cognizant of, where a grape-grower 

 complained to a bee-keeper about the damage 

 his bees were doing, and was making a great 

 fuss about it until the man finally moved away 

 with his bees, and then he saw he was mistak- 

 en, and he was now positive the bees were 

 worth at least $100 per year to him in getting 

 rid of the bursted and punctured berries on the 

 bunch, and saved his bunches of grapes from 

 having a mussy, smeary appearance where 

 some of the berries had fermented; so I think 

 if any one will thoroughly investigate the mat- 

 ter, the bees will be acquitted so far as damag- 

 ing grapes is concerned. 



BEES AND PEACHES. 



When it comes to damaging peaches, I can 

 not yet be so positive, as my several hundred 

 trees have not yet begun to bear; but one of my 

 neighbors is already claiming a damage of Siso 

 to his peach crop by my bees; but as I did not 

 get a dollar's worth of hom^y this year, the 

 claim is a pretty heavy one to meet under the 

 circumstances. He is very positive the bees 

 did the entire damage, while I maintain that 

 the fruit was certainly imperfect, or in a state 

 of decay; but as to that, I am not positive; but 

 if the bees have actually damaged him to 

 the amount claimed, rather than permit 

 such a condition I shall have to quit the bee- 

 business; for if I move them I shall get near 



