BEES ON SHARES. 



65 



BEES, STINGLESS. 



Provided, and it is mutually agreed and under- 

 stood by and between the pai ties hereto, tliat said 

 employee shall double up all of t^a'd hives at tlie close 

 of the season or leave them reasonably strong and 

 well sujiplied with stores and prepared for winter; 

 and if any of said colonies of bees are lost through 

 the carelessness or negligence of said employee, said 

 owner may recover from said employee as damages 

 an amount not greater than one-half what it would 

 cost to replace said bees and queens; all increase 

 of swarms (artificial or natural) to belong to said 

 owner. It is further mutually agreed and under- 

 stood that in case no honey is secured, or the 

 amount runs below ten (10) pounds per colony, said 

 owner shall pay to said emploj-ce, as and for his com" 

 pensation for all labor done and provided by him on 



and about said bees, an amount not exceeding 



cents per hour for eacli and every hour of labor so 

 done, and provided by said employee on and about 

 said bees, and in such case all honey to belong to 

 said owner. 



Signed in duplicate by said parties, the day and 

 year first above written. 



Signed in presence of 



The foregoing comprises the essential fea- 

 ttire.s of a contract ; but local conditions 

 may render it necessary to make some mod- 

 ilications. 



The last clause in the above contract is 

 inserted as a matter of fairness to the em- 

 ployee. If no honey should be secured, the 

 employee has performed his part of the 

 contract in good faith, and, moreover, has 

 improved the apiary— perhaps increased it 

 — so that it will be in better condition tlie 

 following year for a honey crop. Tor this 

 betterment it is no more than right that 

 the owner should pay the employee a rea- 

 sonable sum, whatever amount may be 

 agreed on ; or, if preferred, a certain num- 

 ber of colonies. One can readily see that, 

 in case the honey season was an absalute 

 failure, the employee would suffer a total 

 loss except for a provision of this kind, and 

 that the owner wovild still have his bees, 

 his implements, and every thing necessary 

 to carry on the business for another season. 



By the above contract it is to the in- 

 terest of both parties to keep down increase. 

 The employee must know, if he is a practical 

 bee-keeper, that, the greater the increase, 

 the less the honey; and he will, therefore, 

 bend all liis efforts and skill to keep the 

 colonies in the best possible condition to 

 obtain a crop of honey. 



Keeping bees on shares is practiced quite 

 extensively in Colorado and California. It 

 very often happens that a bee-keeper lately 

 arrived from the East de-sires to try a local- 

 ity to see whether it will be suited to his 

 health, and whether or not he can make the 

 3 



keeping of bees a success. He accordingly 

 finds a bee-keeper whose other business 

 leads him to desire some one competent to 

 manage them for him. But where one is 

 well settled in a locality, and has the means 

 whereby he can purchase the bees, he had 

 better do so— better even go in debt ; but 

 ia this case, to secure the owner I would 

 agree that, in case the honey crop is insuffi- 

 cient to pay for at least half the bees, he - 

 will then agree to content himself with half 

 the honey crop on the terms here proposed. 



BEZSS, STIWaLESS. The bees of "^ 

 the Western Hemisphere are stingless— at 

 least a very large proportion of tliem. Their 

 habitat extends from the boundary between 

 the United States and Mexico down to 

 Buenos Aires, in Argentina, embracing an 

 area of 8,000,000 square miles. One compara- 

 tively unimportant species inhabits most 

 of the West India islands. There are a few 

 species in Asia and Africa. 



By entomologists these bees are usually 

 classed under two great genera — Mdipona 

 and Triiiond; but some naturalists are dispos- 

 ed to add another, Tetrasoma. There is an ex- 

 traordinary variety of these bees, which is 

 supposed to embrace at least 100 species, 

 whereas there are not more than 8 species of 

 Apis. The variation in size is also great, for 

 some are no larger than a mosquito, while 

 others are considerably larger than the hive 

 bee. A number of naturalists are at work 

 studying them with a view to their proper 

 classification and arrangement by species. 



There is an equal variation in the number 

 of bees per colony, for some consist of only 

 a few (100) individuals while others are sup- 

 posed to contain not less than 100,000 bees. 



Some build only small nests, not much 

 larger than an orange; others, again, con- 

 strirct a home as large as an ordinary fiour- 

 barrel. Some build in a hole in the ground; 

 others in the open air, as wasps and hornets 

 do, while quite a number build their nests 

 in the hollows of forest-trees. 



An intermediate species occupies the 

 position midway between bees and wasps, 

 and is generally spoken of as the honey- 

 gathering wasp. Wasps are carnivorous, 

 hence it is liardly fair to class this one with 

 these hawks of the insect tribe. 



Early travelers in South and Central 

 America did not fail to notice the stingless 

 bees, and they are quite frequently referred 

 to by them. Capt. Basil Hall, in the 18th 

 century, noticed apiaries of them in Peru; 

 and Koster, in his Travels in Brazil, careful- 

 ly mentions them. Spanish writers on Cen- 



