THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



reason the seed fail, us from cli- 

 matic condition and influence it 

 occasionally will, the bees are 

 charged with the damage, though 

 their whole work, as shown above, 

 has been beneficial and that only. 



It is true, as I have personally 

 observed, that species of our car- 

 penter bees (Xylocojya) do pierce 

 the flower tubes of the wild berga- 

 mot, and some of our cultivated 

 flowers, with similar long corolla 

 tubes, that thej'^ may gain access to 

 the otherwise inaccessible nectar ; 

 the tubes once pierced, and our 

 honey bees avail themselves of the 

 opportunity to secure some of the 

 nectar. I have watched long and 

 carefully, but never saw the honey 

 bee making the incisions. As I 

 have never heard of an}^ one else 

 who has seen them, I feel free to 

 say that it is entirely unlikely that 

 they are ever thus engaged. 



My last proposition is, that 

 though bees, in the dearth of nectar 

 secretion, will sip the juices from 

 crushed grapes, and other similar 

 fruits, they rarely ever, I think 

 never, do so nnless nature, some 

 other insect, or some higher animal 

 has first broken the skin. I have 

 given to bees, crushed grapes, from 

 which they would eagerly sip the 

 juices, while other sound grapes on 

 the same stem — even those like 

 the Delaware, with tenderest skin, 

 which were made to replace the 

 bruised ones — were left entirely 

 undisturbed. I have even shut bees 

 up in an empty hive with grapes, 

 which latter were safe even though 

 surrounded by so many hungry 

 mouths. I have tried even a more 



crucial test, and have stopped the 

 entrance of the hive with grapes, 

 and yet the grapes were uninjured. 



In most cases where bees disturb 

 grapes, some bird or wasp has 

 opened the door to such mischief, 

 by previously piercing the skin. 

 Occasionally there is a year when 

 an entire vineyard seems to be 

 sucked dry by bees in a few hours. 

 In such cases the fruit is always 

 very ripe, the weather very hot, 

 and the atmosphere very damp ; 

 when it is altogether probable that 

 the juice oozes from fine natural 

 pores, and so lures the bees on to 

 this Bacchanalian feast. I have 

 never had an opportunity to prove 

 this to be true, but from numerous 

 reports I think it the solution of 

 those dreaded onslaughts, which 

 have so often brought down severe 

 denunciations upon the bees, and 

 as bitter curses upon their owners. 



Lansing, Mich, 



HINTS 

 FROM OBSERVATIONS. 



By L. C. Root. 



In all my writing upon the subject 

 of beekeeping, 1 have endeavored 

 so to qualify my statements of 

 facts, as not to lead the beginner 

 to expect more than he in his 

 inexperience could realize ; yet I 

 have received some criticism for 

 statements of yields of honey which 

 we have reported. 



I shall therefore offer some hints, 

 as to methods we have pursued in 



