84 



T'M® MBfflJ^'MieMH MMM JQiTSmMMJU. 



•■'■^'■^^^'■^'■i 



Poiisoning' llie llees.— Under this 

 headiug, on page 803, of our Issue for Dec. 

 21, 1887, we referred to a malicious article 

 in tlie Atlantic, Iowa, Messerujer, advising 

 grape-growers to poison the bees in tlieir 

 localities. 



It also asserted that " the grape-raising 

 industry has been almost entirely Ijilled 

 out in Ohio, by this nuisance." This we 

 stated wa3 a malicious falsehood, and as- 

 serted that the author of it was either 

 ludicrously ignorant.or a willfully malicious 

 slanderer ! 



Mr. W. M. Bombarger, of Harlan, Iowa, a 

 member of the Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 and a fruit-grower, has written to the Iowa 

 Homestead, of Des Moines, a further re- 

 futation, stating that the article in tlie Mcs- 

 senrjer should " receive the condemnation 

 of the intelligent grape and fruit grower of 

 the State which it misrepresents." Mr. 

 Bombarger fuither says : 



That the grape raising industry in Ohio 

 has been killed out by honey-bees or api- 

 arists following their harmless pursuit, I 

 assert is false, whether the assertion be 

 made maliciously or ignorantly, and is 

 proven so by the report of the commissioner 

 of agriculture for 1886, page 116, where, 

 commenting on " The shrinkage of yield in 

 Ohio," he reports as follows : "The shrink- 

 age of grapes in 1881, 1883 and 1885 was due 

 principally to three facts which cannot be 

 separated— rot, mildew, and the effect of 

 the previous severe winter." 



On page 117, is a table showing the 

 shrinkage to be from 27,503,000 pounds in 

 1883 to 9,043,316 pounds in 1885. 



As to any such devastation to grape crops 

 made by honey-bees in Illinois, I have not 

 in my annual excursions through horticul- 

 tural reports, newspapers or bee-papers got 

 the least hint, but have found that grape 

 crops have suffered there of late years from 

 the same cause as in Ohio. I would like 

 very much to have the Messenger send me 

 some of these papers and names of parties 

 sustaining the loss. 



The third paragraph of the above reads 

 very much to me as if the writer does not 

 know what he is talking about. If bees 

 could pierce the grape skin they would not 

 leave it any more than a child would nine 

 sticks of candy to spoil in a package after 

 taking one from it. 



Close observation and repeated experi- 

 ments show us that bees do not puncture 

 grapes, but help themselves only to such 

 fruit as is burst by weather or over-ripeness 

 or punctured by hornets, wasps, or torn 

 open by poultry and birds. I think if the 

 writer watches closely another season he 

 will find that birds do the work, and after 

 they mangle the bunches the bees suck out 

 the juices from the broken husks which he 

 can make no possible use of. 



Since he speaks of rot, it may be Phoma 

 WlcolaciT black-rot, as described on page 

 115 and 110 of the report above mentioned. 

 It places our portion of the State in the 

 black-rot district. 



I regard the honey-bee as one of ray very 

 best friends in grape and small fruit culture, 

 and keep a small apiary in my smaller vine- 

 yard, which is so located that the palh of 

 the bees in the air to their best pasturage 

 during the blossoming season is over my 

 larger vineyard. 



I find the bees so valuable in fertilizing 

 fruit bloom that I not only encourage my 



neighbors to keep them, but intend doub- 

 ling my stock in the near future. Their 

 value is greatest whenever we have cool, 

 wet weather during the fruit-bloom, and 

 the winds cannot carry the pollen in dust 

 form from flower to flower. 



As to this writer's statement that grapes 

 are worth more than bees, I disagree. I 

 have harvested S36 worth of honey from 

 3 colonies, and over $20 from one yolony of 

 bees in one season, and left plenty of honey 

 for wintering. I have generally found an 

 off honey year a good grape year, and -vice 

 versa ; and think grape growing and bee- 

 keeping can be worked profitably together. 

 I harvested nearly 1,000 pounds from my 

 apiary vineyard this year. I found bees on 

 a few bunches that jays and thrush had 

 mangled. One need not be stung by these 

 if after cutting off bunches, and while hold- 

 ing the stem between the thumb and finger 

 he carefully, with grape shears in his other 

 hand, clips off mangled grapes and lets the 

 same fall with the bees thereon upon the 

 ground. 



I have had much trouble with jays and 

 brown-thrush destroying my grapes. But 

 since they are so successful in the destruc- 

 tion of injurious insects, I think it inhuman 

 to shoot them. There are many though 

 that do so. 1 have found that the report of 

 a gun will keep them away; and further, 

 that fire crackers, that are less expensive, 

 if properly used will answer the purpose. 

 It is no trouble to hire small boys, and 

 cheap, too, to walk up and flown grape 

 rows, loaded with fruit, and fire them off. 

 If you repeat this several times a day it is 

 all'that is necessary. By careful observa- 

 tion of the habits of the birds you can soon 

 tell how often to fire them off. A small 

 patch of grapes near a house can be pro- 

 tected from birds by one's family by the 

 same means. If you have children it will 

 be their delight. And it is well for work- 

 men and pickers in vineyards to carry them, 

 and when they see a bird among the vines 

 to fling and explode a fire cracker beneath it. 



A cannon fire cracker exploded in the 

 midst of aflock of jays does pretty effectual 

 work. I would advise our friend above to 

 have his faiuilv ki^ep the birds away from 

 his grapes, and not try to poison the bees, 

 that want to take a little pay for pollenizing 

 our flowers, in sipping up the sweet juices 

 of mangled bunches that he can make no 

 possible use of, and which are in that con- 

 dition because he has not kept birds away 

 from his vines. W. M. Bombaroer. 



Here is the testimony of a fruit-grower in 

 the matter of the value of bees to grapes, 

 which we commend to the careful perusal 

 of all the enemies of bee-culture. 



Xlie Honoy Marliet is thus de- 

 scribed by R. A. Burnett, of Chicago : 



Prices are lower than during November 

 and December, and sales much lighter. It 

 may be that the extreme cold weather of 

 January has checked the demand, but the 

 offerings are becoming heavier ; and many 

 commission houses, that during the fall 

 months had no honey, now have several 

 consiiinments which they are trying to dis- 

 pose of on easy terms, if they find buyers. 



Sorgliimi.— Now that sorghum is once 

 more attracting the attention of farmers 

 throughout the cotmtry, and has this time 

 apparently come to stay, it is well to know 

 that the Sorghum Hand Book, a valuable 

 treatise on the cultivation and manufacture 

 of sorghum, niaj he had free of charge on 

 application to the BIymyer Iron Works Co., 

 Cincinnati, Ohio. 



llomoy Trusts. —The daily papers are 

 determined to have a " honey trust" some- 

 where. One day it is said to be formed in 

 New York ; then it is Chicago, which is to 

 have it ; then Boston. Each city paper 

 palms it off on " the other fellow." The 

 Boston Record of Jan. 17, gives this humor- 

 ous and very unfair sketch of the " trust :" 



The New York bee-keepers propose to 

 form a "trust," nominally to regulate the 

 size of the comb to be produced, but really 

 to control the market. 



When this honey trust is formed there 

 ought to be some way found to get it to boy- 

 cott glucose, and allow the bees to feed 

 upon clover and other wild flowers. Dame 

 Nature formed a honey "trust" a great 

 many years ago, and the modern bee-keeper 

 has been industriously at work to nullify its 

 main provisions. The honey of the markets 

 to-day bears less resemblance to the white 

 clover honey made by the few colonies of 

 bees it was the fashion for every farmer to 

 keep a half century ago, than oleomar- 

 garine does to the butter our mothers pro- 

 duced with the old "dash" churn. It used 

 to be- 

 How doth the little busy bee 

 Improve each shining hour, 

 And gather honey all the day 

 From every opening flower. 



Now, however, under the directions of 

 bee-trusts, that little type of industry is 

 gorged with glucose, and forced to produce 

 an article whose chief resemblance to the 

 rich and delicifiMS comb taken from the stray 

 hives of old is its form. 



What a happy day it will be for America 

 when it can be said that the atmosphere of 

 this free and enlightened country is too 

 rarifled for trusts. Trusts are the glucose 

 of business. 



It would be a happy day for America if 

 the unprincipled " scribblers for the press " 

 found the air too rarifled to permit their ex- 

 istence ! In lying, and writing "scientific 

 pleasantries," they seem to revel, no matter 

 what pursuit is injured, or who may be 

 ruined ! 



There is no truth in the " Honey Trust " 

 matter, and we trust that these scribblers 

 will now turn their villainous attention to 

 something else. If they must write such 

 stuff, give some other pursuit a twirl ! and 

 Give us a Rest ! 



Ki-ainer Bees.— S. W. Morrison, M. 

 D., Oxford, Pa., sends us the following 

 "History of Krainer Bees in the United 



States :" 



I find that Carniolans were first known 

 here as "Krainer bees," and that in 1879, a 

 consignment of twelve queens laht-led 

 " Cyprians," reached A. J. King in New 

 York, for some person with a German 

 name in Iowa. These were not Cyprians, 

 but Carniolans, as the shipper afterward 

 confessed ; the Iowa party probably thinks 

 to this day he had Cyprians. 1 wnuld like 

 to have his name and address. Does any 

 one know of an earlier importation of 

 Krainer or Carniolan bees ? 



A M«Mleru Kee-Farni. and its 



Economic Management ; showing how bees 

 may be cultivated as a means of livelihood ; 

 as a health-giving pursuit ; and as a source 

 of recreation to the busy man. By S. 

 Simmins. For sale at this office. Price, $1. 



