"The wasp pierces the fruits ; to the grapes 

 it leaves nothing but the skin and the seeds. 

 The bee only profits by these spoils ; for 

 she usually goes from blossom to blossom, 

 gathering honey in gardens and fields. If 

 at times she is seen in orchards or vine- 

 yards, where she only goes after the wasps, 

 it is only to gather the remains of the feast. 



"Curious experiments have been tried, it 

 appears : Some sound fruits were placed 

 simultaniously within the reach of both 

 wasps and bees ; the former have soon 

 achieved their work of destruction, while 

 the latter starved to death." 



In the proceedings of the eleventh annual 

 convention of the Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, held at Adrian, Mich., Dec. 19, 

 1877, the question before the association was, 

 Do bees injure fruit ? 



Dr. Whiting said that in his observation 

 bees do not cut their way into ripe fruit, 

 but would work on any cracked or marred 

 fruit. 



Mr. Fahnestock said he was a fruit grow- 

 er. He had sixty acres of it. His apiary 

 was in his vineyard, and he had made care- 

 ful examination for years, and he never 

 knew sound fruit to be attacked by bees. 

 Peaches that had burst their skins were, of 

 course, a source of food. 



Dr. Southard had sat for hours at a time 

 to watch for the working of bees on fruit, 

 but never saw them do it. 



As these statements are corroborated by 

 the experience of all observing bee-keepers, 

 and are so easy of verification, we will con- 

 tinue them no further, but ask your atten- 

 tion for a few moments to a case of local 

 importance, which embodies, we think, all 

 there is in this question deserving of atten- 

 tion. 



It was stated at our last meeting by a 

 gentleman who honored us with his confi- 

 dence, that owing to the injury inflcted up- 

 on his grapes the past season by the honey 

 bee, he was only able to get $40 for a crop 

 that should have realized him $100. The 

 amount not carried off by the bees had to 

 be marketed so early to avoid greater loss, 

 that they did not bring within 1% cents per 

 pound what they would, had they been per- 

 mitted to hang longer upon the vines. 



The first question we meet in the solution 

 of this problem is : What percentage of 

 this crop did the bees actually carry away ? 

 Assuming the grapes brought 2% cents per 



Eound, then as 4 cents per pound would 

 ave been realized had they not been forced 

 upon an early market, the difference be- 

 tween what they would have brought at 4 

 cents and .$100, the amount they should have 

 brought, gives the amount the bees actually 

 carried away, namely, 36 per cent, of the 

 whole crop. 



The next question that confronts us in 

 struggling with this problem is, How many 

 pounds of grape juice did these bees carry 

 to their hives and what did they do with it? 

 There are two apiaries charged with in- 

 flicting this loss. They are about one mile 

 apart, and situated in the southern suburbs 

 of this city. At. the height of the season 

 last year one had 75 stands of bees, the oth- 



acres of grapes in bearing. Grapes yieid 

 from 3,000 to 8,000 pounds per acre. The 

 past year produced at least an average crop. 

 But, taking the minimum yield, then 20 

 acres will produce 60,000 pounds. As we 

 have shown, 100 colonies of bees are charged 

 with 36 per cent, of this amount, then each 

 hive must have increased in weight 216 

 pounds, which is more than a hive will hold. 



I asked these bee-keepers what their bees 

 did with this grape juice. They said they 

 couldn't tell, for, while their bees were ac- 

 cused of this enormous robbery, they were 

 losing in weight nearly one pound per day. 

 Now, as we take into consideration that to 

 accomplish this result, the bees must have 

 carried to their hives at least 21% pounds 

 per day. As the statement mounts to the fab- 

 ulous, with such giant strides, we feel the 

 best refutation possible to make is the state- 

 ment itself. 



The strongest argument, however, which 

 they bring to sustain their charge and the 

 one having the indorsement of their highest 

 authority is this: It is a well-known fact 

 that bees- can gnaw through cotton cloth, a 

 vegetable substance. They are also seen by 

 nearly every one feeding on ripe grapes; 

 hence, the conclusion is irresistible that the 

 bees are responsible for the destruction of 

 the grapes. We might mention here that 

 breaking the skin of the grape is equivalent 

 to its destruction, as fermentation immedi- 

 ately sets in, when it becomes no longer fit 

 for the table or the market. 



In all the numerous, and I doubt not crit- 

 ical examinations which form the basis of 

 this argument, a case is not mentioned 

 where a bee was brushed off a grape before 

 he had time to puncture the skin. If then, 

 the observer has never been quick enough 

 to find a bee working on a sound grape, we 

 assert that there is no evidence that the bee 

 made the puncture. But admitting for 

 a moment that it did, we then ask why will 

 so many bees crowd themselves on to a 

 single grape, when the adjoining berry, 

 equally as ripe and inviting, is passed by 

 untouched, when it could be opened so 

 quickly and so easily. Their argument is 

 simply this: The bee, having the power 

 has the will, in which we are offered a me- 

 chanical solution to a psychological ques- 

 tion. We reply, potentiality implies volition 

 no more among bees than it does among men. 



In leaving this part of the subject we 

 hope we have made ourselves understood. 

 We feel, at least, we have suggested meth- 

 ods of investigation that must lead to the 

 convictions we hold. We will, therefore, 

 turn our attention to that more agreeable 

 part of our subject, the benefit bees do fruit. 



We all see the bees working on flowers. 

 We find them panting at the threshold of 

 their hives, their strength exhausted with 

 an over-load of honey and pollen gathered 

 from the flowers. The interior of their 

 hives, the combs in which they rear their 

 young and wherein is stored the surplus 

 honey gathered for future us; the pollen 

 so essential to feeding their young while 

 undergoing the process of development 

 from a larvse to an insect, are dependent 

 entirely upon the secretion of the flowers, 

 without which the race of bees would al- 

 most immediately become extinct. 



