224 VINES 
call for special precautions. Ihave seen mosquito 
netting tacked across the ventilators to bar their 
entrance, but this is a mistake, as it keeps the house 
hot and stuffy so that occasionally the berries 
rot. Another plan, if the bees are wild and merely 
occasional visitors, is to place here and there in 
the house, honey with lead arsenate boiled into 
it. But I should not advise this either. In 
the first place, certain states have laws against 
killing bees; in the second place, where hives are 
kept it is neither a fair nor a desirous procedure; 
and, in the third place, there are many reasons 
as important as the grapes why we should not 
kill bees at all. Our only other resource is to 
enclose each bunch in a bag made of loose-mesh 
mosquito netting. Make the bag large enough so 
that it will not touch the berries. 
On the average, a forced crop of grapes should 
be ready for use about five months after the 
starting of the canes; but if growth is allowed to 
start naturally in the spring, the grapes will be 
ready in about four months. The ripe grapes 
will keep better on the cane than anywhere else, 
so that one grapery, if properly handled, should 
supply a family for three or four months. In 
gathering grapes, always cut with each bunch a 
small piece of the side shoot; it does not harm 
