76 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to the feeding not being attended to early 

 enough to give tlie bees time to seal up their 

 stores before cold weather. In most cases, 

 perhaps, there will be no necessity for de- 

 ferring the feeding until it is too late, but 

 where it is desired to extract the honey that 

 is gathered late in tlie fall, before feeding, I 

 fear in a fall like that of 1873, where the 

 cold sets in earlier than usual, some of our 

 most careful bee-keepers will sometimes be 

 caught before they are through with feeding. 

 In cases of that kind, I should certainly 

 prefer sealed honey to unsealed syrup. 



Too frequent disturbance of bees, after 

 they are housed, is often, I think, a prolific 

 cause of loss. Tlie injunction to " see them 

 often " is right to the point, so long as they 

 can fly out, but when they are housed, my 

 advice would be to let them "severely 

 alone. " 



We should see that they have plenty of 

 stores, and that those stores are in the right 

 place, before they are put into winter quar- 

 ters. Also, that the room in whicli they are 

 wintered, be dark and warm, and the temp- 

 erature as even as possible. I notice the 

 bees are the most quiet in my bee-house, 

 when the thermometer stands at about forty 

 degrees. If it went much below that, I 

 should want it, as Mr. Quinby says, to go 

 enough above to make that the average. 

 With these things attended to, we shall have 

 but little cause to fear the ravages of the bee 

 disease. At least, according to my expe- 

 rience. James BoLm. 



West Lodi, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Do Bees Destroy Fruit? 



The following letter by Mr. Kruschke and 

 comments of Prof. Riley we publish from the 

 Neio York Tribune, at the request of both 

 parties. Barring the personal feeling, which 

 is too common among controversialists, the 

 articles will be found interesting. 



Many complaints have been made that 

 bees destroy fruit. Being a bee-keeper, I 

 consider it also my duty to be a bee defen- 

 der. Various theories are indulged in. Some 

 assert that bees prevent the fruit from set- 

 ting; others maintain that bees puncture the 

 fruit when ripe. A correspondent of 'The 

 Tribune, in the fore part of summer, com- 

 plained that bees destroyed his peaches, and 

 not knowing what to do, asked for advice 

 through your columns, whereupon the learned 

 and wise (V) Prof. Riley took it upon himself 

 to give a recipe, with which to poison the 

 bees, and lu; also stated that by such man- 

 agement he had known one-half of an apiary 

 to give out. lie would have benefitted man- 



kind a great deal more, had he taken a dose 

 of the mixture himself. Does Prof. Riley 

 not know that his bee-destroying recipe has 

 gone before the world, among people some of 

 whom are still more ignorant than himself ? 

 Does it not trouble his conscience, to be the 

 destroyer of the most admirable, busiest, and 

 most profitable insect created ? And all be- 

 cause some ignoramuses imagine the bees de- 

 stroy their fruit without any facts for evi- 

 dence. 



In the Report of AgHculture for 1871, 

 some state that bees had destroyed their 

 grapes, which led me to take close observa- 

 tion. Accordingly, I took a bunch of Dela- 

 ware grapes (the tenderest I could get) and 

 put them on the hive, directly over the bees, 

 and watched proceedings, but not a single 

 berry was punctured; then I broke a few of 

 the berries, upon which they immediately 

 went to work and sucked them dry — thus, 

 showing that something beside bees must 

 open the grapes, or any other fruit, before 

 they can touch it. Perhaps it is in the 

 growth, or in the weather, or the work of 

 some other insect, but don't lay it to the in- 

 nocent bee. How is it tliat we don't hear of 

 such complaints in Germany, France, and 

 Italy, where fruit, especially grapes, are 

 raised so extensively, and bees kept in great 

 numbers V If the bees were so destructive to> 

 fruit, would they not have enacted laws long 

 ago, to prevent their being kept? Such ia 

 not the case ; on the contrary, bee-keeping ]&■ 

 encouraged. In Italy there is a law regulat- 

 ing the size of hives and frames. 



If these prejudiced complainants would 

 only investigate a little closer, they would 

 see how ridiculous their condemnations ap- 

 pear to a close observer. Practical bee- 

 keepers of America are unanimous in their 

 answer to this question. They declare bees, 

 do not injure fruit of any kind. Many of 

 them are extensively engaged in fruit culture, 

 and they say bees help in impregnating 

 blossoms, by bringing the pollen of the male: 

 and female blossoms in contact. Finally, I 

 would say to those complainants. Procure 

 and diligently read one or all the bee periodi- 

 cals published in this country, and thoroughly 

 post themselves on bee culture, and not de- 

 pend entirely on their own investigations, 

 which is not sutRcient, for even Agassiz. 

 makes blunders in the bee line. — [H. 0. 

 Kruschke, Green Lake Co., Wis., in N. Y. 

 THbune, Dec. 31, '78.] 



COMMENTS KY l>ROF. CHARLES. V. RILEY. 



In the article which Mr. Kruschke attempta 

 to criticise, I stated that I expected to have 

 most bee-keepers down on me, and his pro- 

 test is but one of several which, while they 

 charge ri\e with all sorts of ignorance and 

 crime, only betray the ignorance of their 

 authors, and utterly fail to disprove tlie facts 



