DOES THE BEE INJURE GRAPES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1339, 29 March 1883, Page 2

DOES THE BEE INJURE GRAPES.

< It has long been; believed and wlnowVi universally accepted as a fact, that the bee destroys grapes and other fruits. I ' have watched the little workers for yeari and have been' loth' to 'believe; it, : II; ] observed long ago that they never al tacked sound grape* But . when.defective,'; or split as the result'of d rainy spell, they noultl then suck out the juices. Being'' unable to couvmce others .of their harm? ■' lessneds of the, insect in any other way,; I devised for that purpose.the following ' experiment, which any oho may try for himself. . I placed at the mouth of hives bunches of several varieties nf thin-skinned grapes j ; . and for days, although the bees were con*;atantly crawled over (hem,, not a berry • was injured. I : then. punotured. -half' the berries on eaoh,bunoh; and instantly 1 the bees went to work on all bo punctured, in a short time sucking thsm dry. ; The remainder of the berries were untouched, and remained so until punctured by me, when they •in turn were attaoked as promptly as the former,' .. ..This experiment'demonstrates that it is necessary for the grape ,to have been previously injured'so as to. allow exudation of juice; otherwise the bee will not ;molest it.—Scientific American.'