706 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Oct. 1. 



some one else who has a peach-orchard, and 

 then it will be the same complaint. 



Geo. W. Lawson. 

 Centreville, O., Sept. 3. 



BEES CAN PUNCTURE GRAPES, BUT DON'T. 



It seems to me that all there is to the theory 

 is this: There is no bee-keeper of practical 

 experience but knows that bees can cut away 

 comb to remove old pollen, miller-moths, etc. ; 

 also cut holes through burlap, sheeting, or even 

 enamel cloth, over the top of the hive, and 

 even nibble the edge off a thin strip of wood 

 inserted in the entrance. Well, now, if they do 

 all this (which no one will deny), why can't 

 they puncture tlie skin of a grape? I for one 

 say they can do it, and, if so inclined, could cut 

 the skin entirely off; but right here is the 

 secret: They naturally lack that inclination, 

 just as much as they naturally lack the incli- 

 nation to sting when at work in a clover-field 

 or linden forest. If this were not true, what is 

 there to hinder them from puncturing the hon- 

 ey-cells of red-clover blossoms, and even many 

 other honey-secreting flowers, some of which 

 are accessible to nothing but the long bill of 

 the hummingbird? There is no question but 

 that, in every instance where bees have worked 

 on grapes, the fruit has burst its skin from 

 some action of the atmosphere, or else the 

 puncturing has been done by yellow-jackets, 

 wasps, or birds; fori am confident that bees 

 would starve before they would think of secur- 

 ing sweets in such a manner. Elias Fox. 



Hillsboro, Wis., Sept. 7. 



BEES ON GRAPES AND OTHER FRUIT. 



I am very sure bees do not damage grapes. I 

 have had K acre of the soft Early Turner rasp- 

 berry, which bees do work on, but not till over- 

 ripe. They never touch them till too soft to be 

 very useful. I have raised them seven years, so 

 have tested that. I have also two large Black- 

 heart cherries, which are sure to crack after a 

 heavy rain; then the bees are very attentive 

 to the juice, but never do they molest a sound 

 cherry! The skin of these is much tenderer 

 and softer than a grape-skin. It's not the 

 nature of bees to eat open such fruits. Honey 

 is what they are for (to suck). I have grapes, 

 but I never saw bees on them unless on some 

 that got torn or mashed somehow. Just so 

 with apples. Who ever saw a bee working on an 

 apple? But they will sip up the juice in a 

 small way. Oh, no! the rain cracked the 

 grapes. It has cracked some of my plums re- 

 cently. Bees are busy on goldenrod, but they 

 will no doubt be about the plums unless gath- 

 ered soon. E. P. Churchill. 



Hallowell, Me., Sept. 11. 



fit for use after they crack open or burst?rl 

 think the very heavy rainfalls caused ours to 

 burst, and they would sour in a few hours; 

 hence I can not see how the bees could have 

 damaged them much. J. T. Van Petten. 

 Linn, Kan., Sept. 14. 



[Friend V.. I think you are right. After 

 what appeared in Gleanings, to which you' 

 allude, 1 noticed one Sunday afternoon a few 

 bees buzzing about our Delaware grapes over 

 the porch. The grapes were burst open, and the 

 sweet juice was right in sight. It was not 

 soured at all, for I ate some of the bursted ones, 

 and they were curing something like raisins. I 

 presume the reason why there were no more 

 bees was because they were getting stores 

 somewhere else. Some of the grapes had evi- 

 dently burst a little before, for they were per- 

 fectly dried up. I directed Mrs. Root's atten- 

 tion to the bees, and asked her if she had seen 

 bees on the Delawares before this season. She 

 said she had not, and was sure there was not 

 a bee on them the day before, for she had 

 noticed the grapes particularly. As ihe matter 

 had been up in the journal I examined the 

 bunches very carefully. A good many grapes 

 that seem sound, when examined closely show- 

 ed a little depression, say the size of a pinhead. 

 Others had this depression larger, and so on. 

 Now, when the smallest depression was visible. 

 The Italians were able to push their tongues 

 down into it, and get the juice. To a careless 

 observer it would appear that the bees made a 

 hole in a perfectly sound grape. But such was 

 not the case. They could not do it. It may be 

 urged that the bees damage the appearance of 

 the grapes any way. Yes. they do; but the 

 grapes that they injure would have been worth- 

 less in 24 hours more, any way. The grapes 

 were fully ripe— dead ripe — and had been so for 

 many days. Had they been gathered and sold, 

 or packed away, there would have been no loss 

 from the bees, nor this peculiar breaking open. 

 Where the vine of some sweet variety of grapes 

 is covered with berries in the condition men- 

 tioned, during a spell of dry weather, the bees 

 would no doubt cover the bunches in swarms; 

 and as fast as a single berry approached this 

 breaking stage, bees would suck out all the 

 juice; and almost every person who might see 

 it would say the bees destroyed the crop, where- 

 as the bees used only what would have been 

 otherwise worth very little, or good for nothing 

 at all. Now, after many years of observation I 

 am satisfied that bees injure grapes thus far 

 and no more. In California, where they make 

 a practice of curing grapes for raisins, the case 

 may be different. — A. I. R.] 



PEDDLING HONEY. 



THE ART OF GETTING PEOPLE TO BUY. 



BEES AND GRAPES. 



In regard to bees injuring grapes (p. 647) I 

 will ask the question how long grapes will be 



By F. A. Snell. 



I have found from experience that much 

 more honey, especially extracted, can be sold 

 by going from house to house, and allowing the 

 people to sample the honey, than will be sold 

 when left tvith the grocers on sale. Getting 

 people to sample the honey goes quite a way 

 in the making of a sale or sales. Even if some 

 desire to buy honey they forget it when in town 

 trading, and so perhaps go without it for some 

 time. When I desire to peddle honey I put a 

 little comb honey up in crates holding four. 



