1 Frs., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 107 
without loss. No citrus fruit should ever be packed straight off the tree, 
especially early in the season, as this always results in heavy loss to the grower ; 
this not only ates to Bowen fruit, but to that of Maryborough, the North 
Coast, and other citrus-growing districts in the State. When cut from 
the tree the fruit should be earefully placed in clean cases, in which it 
should remain from three to five days before being packed for market. 
The cases containing the freshly-cut fruit should be placed in a shed or 
lean-to where they willbe subject to a fair draught, which will dry the skins, 
and the fruit will have gone through what is technically known as “the 
sweat.” Another great advantage in sweating the fruit for, say, five days is 
that in this time any fly-infested fruit will be easily detected as well as any 
bored, thorn-pricked, or badly bruised fruit, and all such can be culled out, only 
sound fruit being packed. Owing to the toughening of the skins, the fruit 
can be much more firmly packed, and this in itself is worth all the trouble, as 
the firmer the fruit is packed in the case the less liable is it to injury on the 
journey, and the better the condition in which it will arrive at its destination. 
The treatment of citrus fruit that I have described will not add materially 
to the expense of handling, for all a grower has to do is to cut his fruit a week 
before shipment, instead of leaving the cutting and packing to the last moment 
before the boats leave. 
In conclusion, I may say that the general impression that I formed of the 
fruitgrowing capabilities of the Bowen district was a very high one, as, with the 
good soil, the abundance of available water, and a suitable climate, I see no 
reason why the industry should not be considerably extended, but to do so it 
will be necessary in the first place to go in for systematically destroying all 
fruit pests, which can only be brought about by an active co-operation of all 
growers, and, secondly, by adopting a system or systems of irrigation benefiting 
a number of growers, instead of depending on small individual irrigation 
outfits. Bowen has the three great essentials for fruit production—suitable 
soil, water, and climate ; and, if these are used intellectually, I see no reason 
why the industry should not become a very profitable one. 
DO BEES INJURE FRUIT ? 
This question has been repeatedly asked, and as often answered in the 
negative. Mr. H. Tryon has stated his opinion to that effect in this Journal. 
Two or three years ago, the question came up in a practical way in Hungary, 
says a writer in the Rural New Yorker, when grapegrowers in a certain 
district accused the insects of puncturing the ripe berries. The matter was 
referred to Professor Josef Jablonowsky, the State Entomologist at Budapest. 
All the evidence known to him ‘was against the charge, and none of the 
observations at and near Budapest gave the least support toit. But no amount 
of negative evidence can discredit even a single positive observation, and he 
visited the district where the crime was committed. 
I saw Professor Jablonowsky at Budapest in June, 1900, and he told me 
there was no doubt that the bees were guilty as charged. But in extenuation 
it was said that there was absolutely nothing else for them to eat at that season. 
The region is semi-arid, and, while there are plenty of spring flowers, there is 
nothing for the bees after midsummer. What was at first an occasional feeding 
on a broken grape developed into an occasional attack on a sound one, and this 
became a universal habit in a surprisingly short time. 
The mouth parts of a bee, while beautifully adapted for gathering nectar, 
have also well-developed jaws or mandibles, and there is absolutely no reason 
why they should not puncture ripe fruits to get at the juices if there is nothing 
else equally attractive. I do not believe that the fruit-piercing habit is at all 
a normal one, and, so far as my own observations go, I have never seen a bee 
on any fruit not previously injured by some other cause. I would be always 
inclined to seek a prior break rather than consider the bee guilty. 
