GROUNDLESS PREJUDICES. 543 



injured berries are sucked dry, the bees cease visiting the mats, 

 for they cannot open sound berries. Instead of doing me any 

 damage, they help me greatly, as they take away from my 

 grapes the otherwise souring juices, which would give a bad 

 taste to my wine. — Gaetano Taxini, Coriano, Italy, February, 

 187-1. 



876. Those who handle grapes, apples, etc., in times of 

 honey-dearth, should avoid attracting the bees, by unneces- 

 sarily exposing the crushed fruit, in warm weather, as the 

 presence of bees in press-houses and sheds, where fruit is 

 either made into wine, or otherwise prepared for use, is the 

 greatest annoyance that they can cause the horticulturist. 



With a little care, a wine-grower may escape all trouble, 

 even if his press-house is in reach of a large apiary. But 

 let him not imitate the grocer who had an open box of 

 comb-honey at his door "for show,'' and tried to "shoo" the 

 bees off, when they, in turn, deputized a few of their number 

 to "shoo" him off, with great success. 



8'J"S'. In these depredations, the wine-growers who do not 

 own bees are often very much incensed, because they believe 

 that the Apiarist is making a profit out of their loss. But 

 such is not the case. The Apiarist loses more than the wine- 

 grower, for many of the bees are destroyed, and the juice 

 which the others bring home is worse than useless, as it is bad 

 Winter food (627). 



It is therefore, to the interest of the Apiarist, as well as of 

 the fruit-grower, to prevent the bees, in all possible ways, 

 from getting a taste of the forbidden juices, in seasons — 

 luckily scarce — when there is a dearth of honey during wine- 

 making time. 



878. Some ignorant people have also contended that the 

 numerous visits of bees to flowers, injure the latter and cause 

 them to abort. This is the greatest of all delusions. White- 

 clover, knot-weed, and Spanish-needles, which are among the 

 plants most visited by bees,- are also the most abundant, and 

 if they were damaged, by being deprived of the honey which 



