542 BEES AND FUUITS AND FLOWERS. 



or five hives of bees, directly over the frames, and three weeks 

 after we found that the bees had glued them fast to the combs 

 as they glue up anything they cannot get rid of, but the 

 grapes were perfectly intact. This test may be made by 

 every Apiarist. 



Mr. McLain, at one time U. S. Apiarian expert, was instructed 

 to test this matter thoroughly by shutting up bees with sound 

 fruit, and the results were the same as in our case. (See the 

 Agricultural Reports for 1885.) 



873. The main damage to grapes is done by birds. Hence, 

 the borders of a large vineyard are first to suffer, especially 

 when in proximity to hedges, orchards or timber. 



Even in small cities, the number of birds that feed on fruit 

 is extraordinary, and one can have no idea of their depredations 

 until he has watched for them, at daybreak, which is the time 

 best suited to their pilfering. 



After the mischief has been begun by them or by insects, 

 or whenever a crack, or a spot of decay is seen, the honey-bee 

 hastens to help itself, on the principle of "gathering up the 

 fragments, that nothing may.be lost." In this way, they 

 undoubtedly do some mischief, but they are, on the whole, 

 far more useful than injurious. 



875. Among thousands of testimonials, we translate the 

 following from L'ApicoUore, of Milan, Italy, May, 1874, page 

 181: 



"Being a lover of good wine, I manufacture mine from wilted 

 grapes; my crop amounts annually to from thirty to forty 

 hectolitres* of wine, worth on average, one franc, seventy-five 

 centimes per litre, f When my grapes are gathered, I spread 

 them on mats of reed or straw in a sunny place in front of my 

 apiary, where they remain about two weeks. For the first two 

 or three days the mats are covered with bees, but I pay no 

 attention to this, for I have ascertained that they gather only 

 the juice of the berries that are damaged. As soon as the 



* One hectolitre ia twenty-five gallons. 



t Thia is about one dollar and forty cents per gallon, a high pric^ for Italy. 



