140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 15 



grapevines, and peach-trees. Mr. P. M. 

 Auger, State Pomologist (now deceased), also 

 contributed trees and plants, while alive. A 

 great many yards of cheese cloth and mos- 

 quito-net were used to cover trees and plants 

 while in bloom to keep the bees away from 

 the bloom to find out what the benefits were. 



This part of the work showed two strong 

 points. They were very conclusive evidence 

 on the relaiive merits of varieties. A list 

 would take up too much room. 



Some varieties fruited to the extent that it 

 would furnish material to argue that berries 

 would set crops of fruit without the aid of the 

 bees, and other varieties would not set even 

 the apology of berries when covered up, and 

 it was just the same when cultivated under 

 glass. The Early Alexander peach is a very 

 strong evidence of the need of the bees, and 

 others that will set fruit without the aid of 

 bees gave very strong evidence that the va- 

 rieties by which they were fertilized very 

 strongly influenced the flavor of the fruit. 

 Very sweet varieties of strawberries, when 

 fertilized by the sour varieties, furnished fruit 

 with better shipping and keeping qualities, in 

 quite a good number of varieties. All these 

 tests were made on a variety of soils and in 

 different places. 



The influence of a rainy time after a very 

 dry time in a great many instances caused the 

 juice of sweet varieties of both peaches and 

 grapes to force the juice out through the pores 

 of the skin at the stem. This caused the bees, 

 during the scarcity of honey, to collect the 

 juice that was forced out around the stem. 



In such very thin skin varieties of peaches 

 as the Mountain Rose, and most of the very 

 sweet white varieties, I have seen a good heavy 

 shower that came just at the right time as the 

 fruit came to maturity, and a few hours of very 

 bright sunshine caused the pulp to expand so 

 that the skin cracked in places, and the bees 

 would gather the juice. The bees were not 

 alone in these depredations, but were help- 

 ed by the wasps and hornets. These peaches 

 that were by the laws of nature, and uncon- 

 trollable by man, put in a damaged condition, 

 would not be of any practical value to ship or 

 for any thing else except immediate use. That 

 such results were produced in the way men- 

 tioned was proved in localities where a hose 

 and irrigation could be resorted to under quite 

 similar circumstances to test the evidence ap- 

 parent from natural causes. 



With varieties of grapes that were of the 

 more tender skinned and sweet varieties, such 

 as the Green M juntain, Moore's Diamond, and 

 the varieties having foreign blood, like 

 Rodger's Hybrids, quite often a thorough 

 soaking of the soil would make a separation 

 of the grape at the peduncle, or stem, so that 

 the juice oozed out. In some cases cutting 

 back the green growth would cause the same 

 result. I have also seen the same result in 

 peach trees when loaded with fruit, and a sud- 

 den wind storm broke down some of the 

 branches. The roots were pumping sap to their 

 full extent. The fruit on the remaining limbs 

 could not properly appropriate the sap, and 

 that caused the bursting of the skin or the 



stretching of it till the juice oozed through 

 the pores, making it an easy prey for the 

 wasps, hornets, and bees. Cases like what I 

 have given are so numerous in the memoran- 

 da of the 19 years of research, that, were I to 

 give you one out of a hundred, it would more 

 than fill one copy of Gleanings. Even Mr. 

 James H. Hale, probably one of the very larg- 

 est peach-growers in the world, has published, 

 over his signature, that, even if he positively 

 knew that bees did destroy peaches, he would 

 not resort to legal redress with a bee-keeper, 

 because he knows, or thinks he knows, his 

 indebtedness to the bees for their work of fer- 

 tilizing the bloom. 



Woodbury, Conn., Nov. 30. 



[These experiments are exceedingly valua- 

 ble, not because the results found were new, 

 but because they confirm a long line of other 

 experiments that have been conducted at vari- 

 ous times and places. I think we maj^ set it 

 down as a fact that the most progressive fruit- 

 growers are very warm friends of the bees, be- 

 cause they know and realize the valuable ser- 

 vice they render in spring, when no other in- 

 sects are about. The statement of Mr. J. H. 

 Hale, in the last paragraph, is very important, 

 coming as it does from one of the largest fruit- 

 growers in the world. — Ed.] 



RETAILING HONEY. 



A Disturbance Among the Fowls and the Owls. 



The Package Question : Retailing without 



Packages. 



BY NIGHT HAWK. 



Mr. Editor : — In Gleanings, page 14, you 

 have announced your conclusion to keep out 

 of the pie to avoid " dreaming of owls, fowls, 

 and all kinds of night-hawks." Were you 

 " ludin' at" me when you refer to night- 

 hawks ? At any rate, I am anxious to have a 

 hand in this pie contest, whether chicken-pie, 

 owl-pie, or Harry Howe's favorite pumpkin- 

 pie. 



The arguments between our friends, Aikin 

 and Fowls, nicely show the best side out for 

 each of the methods. One wishes to sell 

 large quantities at as low figures as possible 

 to increase consumption near home, packing 

 in low-priced packages, etc. The other takes 

 extra care to get his honey into the most at- 

 tractive shape, which means high prices at re- 

 tail, and a cut-down of amounts consumed per 

 capita. 



You say both are right for their localities — 

 meaning, I presume, with their own quality 

 of honey ; but how would our owl man fare in 

 Oberlin, us-ing his methods with the same hon- 

 ey that the good brother Fowls makes the 

 consumer pay 25 cts. a pound for? Aikin 

 could buy for 10 cts. if Fowls can, and deliver 

 it in the cheap package for 12^ cts. Then 

 the question would be, "Will Oberlin people 

 pay two prices for the sale of the fancy glass 

 bottle and red ribbon?" If they will, they 

 are built on different lines from Pennsjltucky 

 Dutchmen ; and if the good Oberlin brother 



