158 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



denced by the fact that specialists are being 

 employed and apiaries established in con- 

 nection with the various agricultural col- 

 leges and experiment stations of both coun- 

 tries. It is to be hoped that, by this means, 

 in addition to the mass of useful informa- 

 tion on the subject contained in the leading 

 apicultural journals of the present day, this 

 important branch of agriculture will make 

 rapid stridesinthefuture. Notwithstanding 

 the educational opportunities on the sub- 

 ject and the improved methods now avail- 

 able, there will probably always be a large 

 number of beekeepers who will continue to 

 keep their bees in a haphazard way — that is, 

 in the old box hive or any other receptacle 

 handy. It is, however, an ill wind that 

 blows nobody good, as the saying goes, for 

 the rapid spread of American and especially 

 European foul brood may perhaps, in the 

 end, prove to be a blessing in disguise, inas- 

 much as it is almost sure to put out of busi- 

 ness thousands of these so-called "beekeep- 

 ers" who in reality do more harm than 

 good in the neighborhood, as their bees are 

 too few in number to be of very material 

 assistance, but at the same time capable of 

 transmitting the honey containing the 

 germs of these maligant diseases. 

 Ottawa, Ont., Can. 



BEES CAN NOT INJURE SOUND FRUIT 



How to Prevent Grapes from Being Punctured by 

 other Insects and Birds 



BY PROF. H. A. SURFACE 



[A copy of the following letter by Prof. Surface, 

 in answer to a correspondent, was sent to Glean- 

 ings. We regard it as a most convincing state- 

 ment; and coming from such a recognized author- 

 ity we are glad to place it before our readers, with- 

 holding the name of the original inquirer. — Ed.] 



Replying to your letter asking if there is 

 any practical means of preventing bees 

 from destroying grapes, I beg to say that 

 the bees themselves do not attack the grapes 

 excepting when the grapes themselves are 

 overripe or have been punctured by other 

 kinds of insects, such as wasps and yellow- 

 jackets, or by birds, when they have been 

 diseased by disease germs, which would eat 

 their way through the skin of the grape. It 

 is impossible for bees to make holes in 

 grapes that have not been previously dam- 

 aged in some way. I have tried this again 

 and again. After the holes are once made 

 the bees suck the grapes dry. This really 

 is a benefit to the grapegrower, because it 

 prevents his packing in his shipping pack- 

 ages a lot of grapes that were damaged, and, 

 therefore, would be sure to sour and start 

 decay in the cluster, and spoil the package. 



However, what you need is information 

 as to the method of preventing the grapes 

 from being injured by the original depreda- 

 tors. The most effective means of doing 

 this on a limited scale is by bagging in pa- 

 per bags. You can buy two-pound paper 

 bags by the thousand or ten thousand at a 

 low price. A woman can place hundreds of 



them around the clusters in a day. Fasten 

 them with a pin at the base of the entire 

 cluster of grapes. This should be done just 

 after the blossoms fall, or before the grape 

 berry becomes the full size of a buckshot. 

 This will not only prevent damage as they 

 become ripe, but will prevent injury by the 

 curculio, the grapeberry moth, disease 

 germs, etc., and will give you fruit that will 

 justify it. 



If you were an experienced grapegrower 

 you would not need to be asking for inform- 

 ation as to how to prevent injury from them, 

 because, in the great grape belts, this is 

 handled by spraying: and there, where the 

 production is by many tons per year, the 

 proper thing to do is to spray the fruit and 

 vines several times during the season with 

 the Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead. 

 Use the regular formula of Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, of three pounds of bluestone and four 

 pounds of lime in fifty gallons of water, 

 and add to this two or three pounds of ar- 

 senate of lead. Make the first spraying just 

 after the buds burst in the spring, the next 

 spraying after the blossoms drop, and about 

 the time the bags would be put on if you 

 were going to bag instead of spray. The 

 next spraying should be about three weeks 

 after this, and again should be repeated in 

 three or four weeks for two or three intervals. 



If you are not a commercial grape-grower, 

 the bagging will be found cheaper and more 

 satisfactory than the spraying, because a 

 man who does not understand thoroughly 

 extensive spraying, will not, as a rule, do it 

 properly. If you are an extensive grape- 

 grower, but do not live in a region of large 

 commercial growing of this fruit, I would 

 by all means advise you to go during the 

 proper season right into the grape belt as 

 near to Northeast, in Erie County, as pos- 

 sible, and see for yourself just the methods 

 of cultivation and spraying that are there 

 liracticed most successfully. The kinds of 

 apparatus that are used, the methods of 

 trimming and cultivating the vines, meth- 

 ods of making and applying the spray liq- 

 uid, all are better learned on the ground 

 where this is being done extensively than 

 by any other means. In that region we 

 never hear any thing of damage to grapes 

 by bees, becavise they gather their grapes 

 and market them at the proper time, which 

 is before they are bursting with dead-ripe- 

 ness. They also spray, and cause the skin 

 of the fruit to be healthy, and thus there 

 are no holes by disease germs where the 

 bees find entrance. 



You mention larger, stronger, and later 

 foliage having been made on the vines dur- 

 ing the past two years by the use of ni- 

 trate of soda. This is, no doubt, due to the 

 nitrate, as I have seen such results on al- 

 most all plants where it is used. From 150 

 to 200 pounds per acre is the amount gener- 

 ally used on trees, vines, and, in fact, al- 

 most all forms of vegetation. It should be 

 applied when growth starts in the spring, 

 and again in about a month, but not con- 

 tinued after the early summer. 



