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what it could not do for itself without 

 tho aid of the bee. 



So that perhaps Prof. Cook is not 

 far out of the way when he says, 

 "That bees ever injure blossoms, and 

 thus eflect damage to the fruitage of 

 such plants as buckwheat — or to any 

 plants, as is sometimes claimed — is 

 utterly absurd, and without founda- 

 tion." 



While we may not all indorse this 

 strong language, yet I think j'ou will 

 all agree with me in the statement 

 that, on the whole, the busy bee is a 

 great benefit to the flower, and rarely, 

 if ever, an injury. But the main 

 ground of complaint has not been that 

 bees injured the flowers, but the fruit 

 itself, especially the grape. Men have 

 been so certain of this that the bees 

 and grapes have had one or two law- 

 suits, but I believe that so far as heard 

 from the bees ai'e yet "on deck." 



EXPERIMENT WITH BEES AND GRAPES. 



You may not all be aware of the 

 fact that the government has a special 

 agent who is employed to make ex- 

 periments in apiculture in all of its 

 ramifications. This man. Prof. McLain, 

 has no " axes to grind," and so we are 

 more likely to get unbiased statements 

 from him than from any other source. 

 Under special instructions he has been 

 making extensive experiments in this 

 direction, and has made two or more 

 elaborate reports on the subject. 



In one of them he says: "I have 

 repeated my experiments of last year 

 for testing the capacity of bees to in- 

 jure fruit." He confined two colonies 

 of Italian bees, two of hybrids, and 

 two of Syrians, in a house and endeav- 

 ored, by heat, etc., to bring about all 

 the conditions of a severe drouth. He 

 says : 



The bees were repeatedly brought to the 

 stages of hunger, thirst, and starvation, 

 the test continuing for 40 days. I obtained 

 13 varieties of choice grapes, and every 

 inducement and opportunity was afforded 

 the bees to appease their hunger and thirst 

 by attacliing the fruit which was placed 

 before them. Mark this : Some of the 

 bunches of grapes were dipped in syrup 

 and hung in the hives between the combs, 

 some placed before the hives on plates, and 

 grapes were suspended in clusters from the 

 posts and rafters. The bees lapped and 

 sucked all the syrup from the skins, leaving 

 the berries smooth. 



They daily visited the grapes in great 

 numbers, and took advantage of every 

 crack in the epidermis or opening at the 

 stem, appropriating to their use every drop 

 of juice therefrom, but they made no 

 attempt to grasp the cuticle with their 

 mandibles or claws. I removed the epider- 

 mis carefully from dozens of grapes of 

 various kinds, and placed them on plates 

 before the hives. The bees lapped up all 

 the juice on the outside of the film sur- 

 rounding the segments of the grape, leav- 

 ing this delicate film dry and shining, but 

 through and beyond this film they were 

 unable to penetrate. 



I punctured the skins of grapes of all 

 kinds by passing needles of various sizes 



through the grape, and placed these before 

 the bees. The needles used were in size 

 from a tine cambric needle to a jacking 

 needle. The amount of juice appropriated 

 was in proportion to the size of the opening 

 in the skins and the number of segments of 

 the grape broken. The same was true in 

 the case of grapes burst from over-ripeness. 

 Bees are not oidy unable to penetrate the 

 epidermis of grapes, but they also appear 

 to be unable, even when impelled by the 

 direst necessity, to peuetrate the film sur- 

 rounding the berry even after the epider- 

 mis is removed. Grapes so prepared, with- 

 out exception, lay before the hives until 

 dried up. 



He further saj's that clusters of 

 sound grapes which he hung in hives 

 with strong colonies for 15 days, re- 

 mained sound and unbroken at the 

 end of the time. He then stopped the 

 entrances of hives containing strong 

 colonies by pushing sound grapes into 

 the openings, and confined the bees in 

 the hives in this way for days in suc- 

 cession, and the skin of the grapes 

 was not broken. He sums up his re- 

 port by saying : 



During the last season I made many visits 

 to vineyards, and my observation and ex- 

 perience with bees iu confinement, and 

 those having free access to vineyards, 

 furnish abundant proof to convince me 

 that bees do not and cannot under any 

 circumstances injure sound fruit. 



This has also been my own experi- 

 ence. One year I had 150 colonies of 

 bees, and harvested a fair crop from 

 two acres of grapes that grew along 

 by the side of my apiary, just over the 

 fence, and we had no trouble with the 

 bees whatever. 



Yet I do know that there are some 

 seasons when it is very dry, and the 

 grapes are left on the vines until they 

 are dead ripe, for the purpose of mak- 

 ing wine out of them, when the bees 

 faii'ly swarm in the vineyard, and be- 

 come almost, if not entirely, a nuisance 

 for the time. But even then they only- 

 work on the grapes that burst from 

 over-ripeness, or that have been torn 

 open by birds or other insects. 



But on such an occasion the grapes 

 are as much of an injury to the bees as 

 the bees are to the grapes, and it is 

 simply a question of previous location 

 as to who should move or be declared 

 a nuisance. 



Anj' one who will examine carefully 

 the jaws or mandibles of a worker- 

 bee will see at once that they are not 

 made for cutting hard, tough sub- 

 stances, and this is one of the ver3' 

 best evidences that they are not in the 

 habit of doing it ; for in the entire 

 economy of nature we find all organs 

 adapted to the work thej' are required 

 to perform. It is true that a bee's 

 mandibles are very strong, and the)' 

 can press very hard with them, and 

 they use them constantly in molding 

 wax and propolis ; but they are not 

 sharp, are not toothed, nor made in 



any way that would indicate tliey were 

 designed for cutting. 



BEES NEVER INJDEE SOUND FRUIT. 



In view of all these facts, I am 

 forced to take the position that bees 

 never injure sound fruit. However, I 

 am conscious that notwithstanding I, 

 with many others, have reached this 

 conclusion, yet we will continue to 

 hear complaint against the bees for a 

 long time to come, and much strife 

 and contention will yet arise before 

 this vexed question is finally settled. 



This leads me to the question of a 

 remedy. A meeting like we had here 

 last year, or the one at Columbus to 

 which I referred, is one of the best 

 remedies known to me. Let those 

 who are interested get together and 

 discuss this question in a friendly way, 

 and then get at all of the facts in the 

 case, and much that now seems dan- 

 gerous will, in my opinion, be found 

 to be perfectly harmless. In a word, 

 my remedy is education. Knowledge 

 is always power, and the saying will 

 be especially true in this case — learn 

 more at first hand ! 



I feel that I have made a very hasty 

 and imperfect survey of this subject ; 

 it is too large to be treated fullj- in one 

 essay. Yet I trust I have presented 

 some facts, standing in the presence 

 of which Nature seems larger than 

 before ; and we find ourselves seeing 

 with keener eyes, harmony and order 

 come out of what seemed to be only 

 chaos, confusion, and discord. We 

 hear again, with new meaning, the 

 angels' song of "Peace on earth, good 

 will to men." 



In a world where there is room 

 enough for all, all should be willing to 

 give all the benefit of that room. So 

 let us then, horticulturists and bee- 

 keepers, join in the poet's song of — 



WELCOME TO THE HONEY-BEE. 



" Come, honey-bee, with thy busy hum, 



To the fragrant tufts of the wild thyme— come. 



And sip the sweet dew from the cowslip's head. 



From the lily's bell, and the violet's bed. 



Come, honey-bee : 



There is spread for thee 



A rich repast in wood and field ; 

 And a thousand flowers 

 Within our bowers. 



To thee their sweetest essence yield. 



" Come, honey-bee. to our woodlands— come ; 



There's a lesson for us in thy busy hum. 



Thou hast treasure in store in the hawthorn's 



wreath. 

 In the golden-broom, and the purple heath ; 

 And flowers less fair 

 That scent the air 



Like pleasant friends, drop balm for thee ; 

 And thou winnest spoil 

 By thy daily toil, 



Thou patient and thrifty and diligent bee." 



Permit me to make one remark in 

 conclusion that does not relate exactly 

 to my subject, but rightly grows out of 

 it, I think. In religious matters I am 



