522 



's-rnm SMEMicMSf mmm joiwrnmrni^. 



ing 40 new swarms on them the first 

 jeai', and I have gradually attached 

 reversing eornters to my old combs, so 

 that they are nearly all reversible at 

 present. Thus the conclusions Ihat I 

 have arrived at do not result from 

 theor}', but from practice. 

 Oberlin. Ohio. 



PEACHES. 



Bees and Peaflies — Their True 

 Relations. 



Written for the Massaehxi^etts Plowjliman 



BT GEO. A. STOCKWELL. 



Fruit growers in different parts of 

 the country declare periodical!}- that 

 bees destro}' fruit, carry it awaj'. and 

 thus rob the owner. 



One man relates that he found two 

 pears on a tree that were hollow. The 

 bees had found an opening in the 

 broken skin of the pear, and had car- 

 ried away the flesh, leaving the skin, 

 the pear hanging from the branch, and 

 having the appearance of perfect fruit. 

 Other pears were parti}' excavated. 



This may appear to be conclusive 

 evidence against the bee — that the bee 

 is a reckless forager, and a ruthless 

 destroyer, but it is not conclusive evi- 

 dence that the bee causes the fruit- 

 grower much loss. Two whole pears ! 

 Two imperfect pears carried avifay by 

 bees ! What a calamity ! Ai-e not the 

 bees entitled to two pears — two dozen 

 pears — as a reward for labor that puts 

 money in the fruit-growers' pocket ? 

 Po.ssibly if there liad been no bees, the 

 yield of this orchard would have been 

 less. The distribution of pollen by the 

 bees increases the yield. This is an 

 established fact. 



But why did the bees carry off those 

 two pears, or whj' did they not carry 

 all of them away ? Because the bees 

 found the door invitingly open, out of 

 wliich came a delightful odor, and also 

 a sweet syrup trickling over the thresh- 

 old. Of course they went in ! All 

 that sweetness running to waste when 

 honey in the field was scarce ! Eagerly 

 they worked their way in, and took it 

 all, leaving only the skin and stem of 

 the peai-. The pears thus robbed are 

 imperfect pears, and would be of no 

 value, except for home consumption, 

 and perhaps would serve little for any 

 purpose, and hence the bee as a fruit 

 robber does not interfere very much 

 with the prosperity of the fruit-grower. 

 A sound pear, plum, or peach has no 

 more attraction for a bee than a piece 

 of wood or stone. When the skin 

 breaks, by which most fruit is made 

 imfit for market, then the bee helps 

 itself. While bees may carry away 

 any sweet substi^nce in liquid form 



rapidly, yet they can remove only a 

 half drop at a time. Mrs. A., living 

 near 10 colonies of bees began to make 

 peach preserves one morning, and 

 thoughtlessly invited the bees by 

 throwing the peach-parings in an ad- 

 joining iielil. The bees came, but 

 were not satisfied with parings when 

 there was something -better in the 

 house. They entered through two 

 open windows, and the picnic began. 



A large milk-pan full of peaches and 

 syrup stood on a table in the centre of 

 the room. Mrs. A. was afraid of bees, 

 and withdrew to another part of the 

 house. The bees were not driven out 

 till two o'clock in the afternoon, when 

 the owner of the bees was found. 

 Although many thousands of bees were 

 in tlie room about three hours, they 

 had not been able to carry away all 

 the syrup between the peaches in the' 

 pan. Of course the bees, if the}' had 

 had time, would have carried awa}' 

 everything except the pan and the 

 peach-pits. 



The same is true in a vineyard or an 

 orchard. If the fruit ripe to bursting 

 could remain indefinitely, the bees, if 

 in sufficient force, would carry away 

 all of it. The fruit has no attraction 

 for bees until ripe enough for the juice 

 to run, and not then unless the juice 

 does run, and it will not run from 

 sound fruit. When the fruit is ripe it 

 is picked, and what the bees snatch in 

 this short interval between ripening 

 and picking, from unsound fruit, is not 

 worth talking about. 



In a vineyard where grapes are 

 grown for wine — where broken grapes 

 are as good as any if placed at once in 

 the press, the bees may take a few 

 hundred or thousand half drops, but 

 as such broken grapes are gathei'ed 

 immediately, the total amount of tlie 

 bees' stealings is hardly a factor, prob- 

 ably not equal to the amount of juice 

 lost or wasted in going from the vine 

 to the bottle. 



Some men live on imagination and 

 exaggeration, the latter, perphaps un- 

 intentional. In walking through a 

 grapery, the owner seeing a dozen 

 bees at work, exclaimed disconsolately, 

 '■The bees ruin the grapes ! Not much 

 use to raise grapes where there are 

 bees !" Even grocers in cities com- 

 plain that the bees carry off whole 

 bunches of bananas, rob sugar barrels, 

 and make free with a great qua n o f 

 confectionery. The grocer may lose a 

 few half drops of syrup from his fruit 

 displayed at the door, or from an 

 empty molasses hogshead in his back 

 yard. That's all — such a trifling loss 

 that onl}' a prodigy in mathematics 

 could compute the pro rata cost. To 

 tlie enemy of bees, a bee is as formid- 

 able and destructive as an ox in a 

 crockerv store. 



A sound pear was covered with 

 honey and placed near the apiarj'. The 

 honey was removed quickly, the pear 

 " licked" dry, but the pear remained 

 intact. If there had been a pin-hole 

 break in the skin, only the skin and 

 stem of the pear would have remained. 

 Certainly the bees for the service thej' 

 render, are entitled to a few half drops 

 oi syrup running to waste from fruit 

 that has no market value. 



Providence, R. I. 



EXPERIENCE. 



Bee-Keeping 

 Season 



Mysteries — Tlie 

 ill Iowa. 



Written fr/r the American Dee Journal 



S. C. DIEKDDPF. 



I have learned that there seems to 

 be a good deal of suspense about bee- 

 keeping, and until some one can prove 

 himself a true prophet, there will still 

 be some mysteries to contend with. I 

 commenced four years ago with 2 col- 

 onies, and secured a number of the 

 very best bee books and periodicals, 

 and can thank those for the informa- 

 tion that I gathered I have multiplied 

 my little apiary to 32 colonies of bees, 

 besides giving my daughter 3 colonies, 

 and my sister 4. I would say to all 

 able correspondents, that a great deal 

 of faith and confidence is placed in 

 their experience. I, for one, the past 

 spring, came nearly missing it, by fol- 

 lowing their directions in this way : 



We do not always know what kind 

 of stores our bees have, and we do not 

 know what kind of a winter we will 

 liave. Our bees became verj' uneasj- 

 in February, and out they had to come, 

 because I felt that they would wear 

 themselves out.. So we placed them 

 on the stands, and found some of them 

 in a tolerably bad condition. All of 

 my 26 colonies came out alive, but 2 

 of them afterwards swarmed out, one 

 having no honey, and the other no 

 queen. 



I have had but 6 swarms this season. 

 In May I put on surplus cases on all 

 the strongest colonies, and they all 

 went to work in them nicely. Only 

 one of them swarmed, but for the last 

 three weeks the hot, dry winds kept 

 the bees from finisliing the capping of 

 their honey. 



This is a changeable climate. Last 

 year, at this time, it was our best time 

 for honey ; now tlie flowers are nearly 

 all dried up, but buckwheat is com- 

 mencing to bloom. Last winter the 

 bees did better out of the cellar. I 

 believe we should put the bees in and 

 out of the cellar according to tlie 

 severity of the winters ; that is the way 

 I did with mine, and some of my 



