IHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



^ovusponiitnct. 



This mark indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named ; 

 5 north of the center: 9 south; O east; 

 ♦O west; and thisd northeast; "o northwest: 

 o- southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee JonnmL 



Bees M Grapes— Some Oliseryatioiis. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



For several years I have been inter- 

 ested in the discussion of the bee-and- 

 grape question, and have many times 

 wished I might add a few hnes of 

 proof that bees never injure sound 

 grapes ; but until the present season 

 I had no grounds to worls on, save 

 that I had grape-vines scattered all 

 through my bee-yarJ, yet bees had 

 never attacked them. This and much 

 whicli has been written on the subject 

 is only negative proof that bees do 

 not injure sound grapes. Negative 

 proof is not what we want, but proof 

 of a positive nature. During the past 

 season I have had some experience 

 along the line of bees eating grapes, 

 and while it is not as positive proof in 

 favor of the bees as 1 might wish for, 

 yet it sheds some rays of light upon 

 the subject. 



On any warm afternoon during the 

 month of September, a casual ob- 

 server would have said, "Doolittle. 

 your bees are destroying your grapes;" 

 and at first I almost so believed my- 

 self, but after carefully watching I 

 found out wherein the trouble lay. 

 The Concord and Worden suffered 

 the worst among the black varieties ; 

 the Agawam and Salem among the 

 red, and the Lady and Belinda of the 

 white. A close examination of all 

 these revealed that the Concord, Wor- 

 den and Belinda burst open during a 

 damp night or warm, moist spell ; for 

 I would find scores of them at such 

 times cracked about and near the 

 stem of a fresh nature, so that I knew 

 that no bees had been at work upon 

 them the day before, while such ex- 

 amination was made early in the morn- 

 ing before the bees were out. This, 

 of course, cleared the bees from doing 

 aught but sucking the juice from the 

 fruit, so that instead of being the 

 cause, they came in as an effect. 



But an examination of the Lady, 

 Agawam and Salem, at first appeared 

 to convict the bees ; for on examina- 

 tion these tougher skinned varieties 

 showed a triangular piece of skin of 

 about 3-32 of an inch on each side 

 torn right out of the side of hundreds 

 of perfectly sound grapes. Through 

 these holes the bees were putting 

 their tongues and sucking or lapping 

 up the sweet juices, for all of tliese 

 grapes are very sweet. I carefully 

 watched the grapes in the morning to 

 see if any appeared freshly cut, as if 

 it was done during the night, but 

 none was so found, and at this time 

 there was nothing on the grapes ex- 



cept a few squash bugs or stink bugs, 

 while a long time watching of these 

 convinced me they were not the cause 

 of the holes. 



I next watched the bees, feeling 

 almost sure that they did really bite 

 open the grapes, but after watching a 

 long time I failed to see one make 

 any attempt at aught save sucking 

 through holes already made. In fact 

 I soon became convinced that they 

 were not the cause, for where several 

 were collected about one of these 

 torn places, so that no more could get 

 at them, others tried to push in, and 

 failing, would run frantically about 

 in search of some other opening, when 

 to cut a hole through would have been 

 but a short job, if such had been the 

 object. Thus they would continue to 

 run around over different grapes till 

 a torn place was found not fully oc- 

 cupied. 



So far I had watched in the fore- 

 noon, when the bees first came on the 

 grapes, or had been on but an hour or 

 two, thinking that if the torn places 

 were the work of the bees, they would 

 be more apt to commit their depreda- 

 tions at this time of the day. Finally 

 I thought to watch about 2 o'clock, 

 and later, when on almost the first 

 bunch I looked at was a wasp, such 

 as build paper nests about our houses 

 wherever a secluded place affords 

 shelter. Upon looking further I saw 

 many of them, and a few moments 

 watch gave me the privilege of seeing 

 a grape torn open^ for what purpose I 

 could not tell, unless for mischief, for 

 I failed to see any wasp act as if sack- 

 ing the juice of the grape. They 

 seemed to work upon the piece of 

 torn skin for awhile, and then leave 

 that grape and tear open another. If 

 a bee came near, the wasp would put 

 out a foot or bring out a wing and 

 drive it away, so that no bee could 

 get at a freshly-made hole until the 

 wasp had left. 



These wasps I have often seen about 

 the entrances of the hives on warm 

 October afternoons, where they will 

 sit and keep the bees away from them, 

 unless perchance several bees attack 

 them, when they will quietly with- 

 draw a little way and parry with a 

 single bee, not stirring an inch for it. 

 I never knew that they did any harm 

 before, save to annoy the house- 

 keeper when they had their nests be- 

 hind the window blinds, or in some 

 such place, when they would sting if 

 disturbed. But now I know they are 

 a most prolitic source of loss to our 

 ripening grape crop, and to the de- 

 famation of our bees. These wasps 

 and the cracking of the grapes has re- 

 sulted in the loss of at least one-half 

 of my grape crop. However, I am 

 glad to know that the bees have no 

 part in causing the trouble. 



There is an item wherein the bees 

 give offense, and that is in gathering 

 the crop. If done when they are on 

 the grapes, care must be used or the 

 gatherer will get stung ; for at this 

 season of the year the bees are very 

 sluggish, and will sting on the least 

 provocation by way of squeezing. 

 Again, they will crawl down into the 

 baskets or "boxes so that many will be 

 carried to the store-room to be an 



annoyance there. Of course a bee- 

 keeper will overlook all of this for the 

 sake of the bees, but such care and 

 annoyance is anything but pleasant 

 to a person who is not a bee-keeper, 

 or especially to a timid person. 

 Borodino,© N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



f oriinE for Extracted Honey. 



M. A. QILIi. 



While reading Mr. .1. J. Waller's 

 artile on page 216, I find his manage- 

 ment so different from my own that I 

 concluded to give a brief of how I 

 manage extracting. His first objec- 

 tion is to robber bees, while taking 

 combs away. I am never bothered 

 in this way, and in out-apiaries where 

 I have moved for basswood, 1 fre- 

 quently extract in the open air, and 

 on two occasions I have seen the bail 

 break and spill a pail of honey in the 

 apiary, and it was not visited by a 

 single bee. Of course this was in the 

 height of the basswood yield. 



Mr. W. mentions " stooping " as an 

 objection. Well, it is, but he would 

 need about two men to help him 

 " straighten " if he carried some of 

 my colonies into his honey-house. 

 Remember I allow no increase when 

 working for extracted honey, and 

 have my hives tiered from three to 

 four stories high; and I have had 

 them on the scales when they would 

 weigh from 180 pounds to 225 pounds. 

 You will see the straightening up 

 with them would be harder than 

 stooping. I can imagine what kind 

 of a muss I would have, should I take 

 one of those colonies into the honey- 

 house. Think of from 16 to 20 pounds 

 of bees turned loose thus ; of course a 

 large per cent, would be young bees, 

 that could not get home in any way 

 except on " foot with a guide." 

 These young bees do not know enough 

 to fly to the window, and could not if 

 they did. The little, soft things only 

 know enough to feed a young larva, or 

 crawl into a person's ear. 



Another reason why I could not 

 afford to do as he says, is, the bees 

 would lose too much time. Our 

 main crop is gathered in from 9 to 14 

 days, and when the bees are bringing 

 in from 5 to 30 pounds per day, they 

 should be kept at work, and by using 

 little or no smoke, their work goes on 

 with but Tery little interruption. By 

 tiering up and keeping one or two 

 frames with " starters only," in the 

 lower story, bees can be kept from 

 swarming. About two weeks before 

 basswood blossoms, I examine my 

 bees, and take the queens away, 

 forming a good nucleus colony. By 

 doing this three important points are 

 gained— one which concerns the nu- 

 cleus, and two concerns the main 

 colony. 



It will be seen that in two weeks 

 after (at the beginning of basswood), 

 the nucleus will have a working-force 

 of its own, and will work wonders in 

 the next two weeks. Next, if the 

 work of cutting out queen-cells has 

 been thoroughly done, swarming is 



