283 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



where they will be received as raein- 

 bera of the same family. 



It being rather more difficult to ar- 

 range a tight compartment in the 

 Langstroth hive, a suitable box with 

 rabbits and one or more .movable par- 

 titions and entrances as described can 

 be cheaply made and kept for this 

 special purpose. 



Preferably, the work of uniting col- 

 onies should be deferred until all 

 breeding is over for the season, other- 

 wise queen cells are likely to be con- 

 structed in the queenless compart- 

 ment. However, should it be desira-^ 

 ble to unite during the breeding sea- 

 son, the screen partition may be re- 

 moved at the end of thirty-six hours 

 using a little smoke. Daring a hon- 

 ey flow, bees unite readily. 



Preparatory to uniting colonies, it 

 is best to ascertain whether any have 

 virgin queens, as such, by the ordina- 

 ry methods cannot be united with 

 those having a laying queen. The 

 bees of the latter will kill those of the 

 virgin queen colony until the last bee 

 is destroyed. Having learned this by 

 sad experience I have never attempt- 

 ed to unite any by the compartment 

 plan, but hope to experiment some- 

 what the coming autumn. 



Jackson, Mich, 



(From American Bee Journal). 



BEES AND GRAPES-SOME EXPERT 

 TESTIMONY. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



In the last number of Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture I notice an article by the 

 editor in which he inquires into the 

 damage done by bees to grapes, and 

 asks whether we should lay all or part 

 of the blame upon the bees. As this 

 is one of the rare seasons during which 



bees are seen upon grapes in large 

 numbers, I wish to make some re- 

 marks upon the subject. 



We have a large apiary upon our 

 home farm, but we have also a still 

 larger vineyard, covering in all, now, 

 13 acres. The season of 1879 was the 

 first in which we noticed bees working 

 on the grapes to any extent, and in 

 that season considerable complaint 

 came to our ears from neighbors who 

 imagined that we were getting rich at 

 their expense. The fact is that the 

 bees were then starving, the drouth 

 having destroyed all liopes of a honey 

 crop. But the latter part of the sum- 

 mer was wet, when it was too late for 

 the blossoms to come out- This, wet 

 weather caused fresh sap to flow in the 

 stems of the vines, and the grapes be- 

 came so full of juice that many of 

 them burst. As a matter of course 

 the tenderest berries, those that had 

 the thinnest skin, split the worst. In 

 addition to this, as there was no other 

 fruits, the birds pounced upon the 

 grapes with great greed. A near 

 neighbor of ours who had a small vine- 

 yard near a large timber said to us 

 with great wrath ; 



'■J know how it is about our grapes; 

 I have examined the matter carefully; 

 it is the bees that do the damage, and 

 they always make two holes in each 

 berry, one just above the other." 



We tried to explain to him that the 

 two holes were made by the beak of 

 the bird when he was tired of eating, 

 and still took pleasure in puncturing 

 the fruit. This was plain and evident, 

 especially as the berries were all punc- 

 tured on the same side of the bunch. 

 But nothing would do. He couid not 

 see the birds at work, for they always 

 came at day break, and are usually off 



