As to their other qualities we are unable to say anything. It will take a few seasons to test them thoroughly. It is, therefore, desirable to see them tested by a great number of bee-keepers in comparison with Italian bees.
I read in the Italian bee paper, _L’Apicoltore_, for January, just received, that the Central Society of Italian Bee-Keepers will have an exhibition on the first of May, to which the bee-keepers are invited to send bees from every part of the country (probably to answer the assertion of Mr. Jones, that there are black bees in Italy), in order to compare the varieties which can exist on the entire peninsula. The report of the commission of this society will thus put an end to the discussions between those who contend that there are black bees in Italy, and those who say that the Italian bees are all pure. Yet, it is well to remember here, that in Italy, as well as in Germany, they count but two yellow rings; for they do not count as a ring the first segment, to which the thorax is attached.
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.