I notice that the question whether bees destroy sound grapes is again
being discussed. I have been a bee-keeper for 11 years and during most
of that time have raised grapes enough for family use, and I have given
considerable time and attention to the question under discussion. All
my observations go to show that bees do not puncture sound grapes. I
have seen them sucking the juice from grapes that had been broken by
birds, and have picked off the broken grape, and watched the result.
The bees would run about over the bunch hunting for an opening, and
finally abandon the search. Last season a great many grapes were
destroyed or injured in this part of the country, and I gave the matter
special attention. Many of the grapes cracked more or less from the
effects of rains following dry weather, and many more were broken more
or less by birds. As forage was scarce the bees worked industriously on
these broken grapes until they were all gone. But on all the bunches
there were some grapes that were not broken, and these remained on the
vines until late in the season. After the juice had been sucked from
all the broken skins I saw the bees for many days vainly searching
for openings from which they might obtain the supplies they had been
accustomed to draw from the broken fruit. These sound grapes remained
on the vines, in some cases, for weeks after the bees had ceased to
get anything from the broken ones. Now it is plain that the juice of
these very ripe grapes would have been quite as acceptable to them as
that from the ones they are accused of having punctured and destroyed.
And to my mind it is clear that if they had punctured and destroyed as
many as they are accused of doing, they would not have become suddenly
reformed as the grapes became sweeter and more delicious. I will not
affirm that the bees cannot puncture the skin of a grape, but I do
affirm that as far as my very careful observation enables me to judge,
they do not. And if I am correct in this the injury done to the grapes
is very small. The injured grapes would spoil in a few days if the bees
were not to touch them.
As far as I have been able to observe wasps, hornets, &c., do little
injury to grapes. The mischief results mostly from the cracking of the
skin, by a very few days, even, of wet weather after it has been dry
for some time. The skin of the grapes becomes so full that a jar from
the wind or from the alighting of a bird on the bunch, will cause them
to crack, and then, if there is a dearth of honey, they are sure to be
sucked dry by the bees, with more or less help from yellow jackets,
hornets, and wasps. It is possible that in some cases the skins are cut
by wasps, &c., but I think the cases are exceptional.
Huntington, Ind., March 4, 1881.
For the American Bee Journal.
The Use of Separators for Box Honey.