180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 15 



But whilst the palace and the cottage, the dwelling of 

 the richest and the poorest, are so eminently improved 

 by these most attractive of nature's vegetable works, 

 the indefatigable bee collects tribute from every flow- 

 er, and hordes its treasure with equal fidelity for the 

 cotter as for the magnate, anding to the comfort and 

 profit of both by its unceasing industry. The little 

 stranger, perhaps at this moment on her way, will be 

 the means of visiting upon you an important and inex- 

 pensive article of export; and in return for such ser- 

 vice, and forthe additional comfort which families will 

 derive from that healthful article of diet, and the wax 

 which she so abundantly produces, I trust that some 

 exertions will be made to raise flowers for her support. 



Although the promise of bees irom New 

 Zealand was made, it was never fulfilled. 

 The same year, 1851, the first actual attempt 

 to bring the honey bee to Hawaii was made. 

 A colony was forwarded by sailing vessel 

 from Boston. The details are given in the 

 following report by C. R. Bishop, read at the 

 June meeting of the Royal Hnwaiian Agri- 

 cultural Society in Honolulu, May 26, 1854. 



W. Chamberlain, Chairman of the Committee on the 

 Honey-bee — 

 Dear Sir.— Being one of your committee, and having 

 had within the last year a little experience with the 

 unfortunate colony of these interesting insects upon 

 which you are expected to report, I will give you what 

 information I can relating thereto. I believe that each 

 year since the formation of the Royal Hawaiian Agri- 

 cultural Society, except the present, there has been of- 

 fered a premium for the introduction of the honey-bee 

 into the.'ie islands. The only persons that I know of 

 who have really been at any expense and trouble to 

 accomplish so desirable an object are Henry A. Pierce, 

 Esq., of Boston, a life member of the society from its 

 foundation, and contributor to its objects in various 

 ways, and Capt Stearns of the bark Matanzas. In 1851 

 Mr. Pierce put on board the ship R. B. Forbes one 

 swarm of bees and offered the mate a liberal reward if 

 he would take care of and deliver any of them safely. 

 The hot weather in the S"Uth Atlantic melted the hon- 

 ey and drowned all the bees in the hive. In February, 

 1853, he procured another hne swarm, well stocked 

 with honey, and was at a large expense, some $140, in 

 having it secured on the deck of the bark Matanzas in 

 such a manner that seemed to insure its safe arrival 

 here. The hive was placed in a strong box, leaving a 

 space of six inches all around for air between the hive 

 and the box; then a packing of ice two feet thick above, 

 below, and on each side; outside of which was a space 

 of six inches filled with charcoal, and all enclosed in a 

 cas" 8 feet square having two lead pipes 3 inches in di- 

 ameter running from the outside to the hive to supply 

 the bees with air. Capt. Stearns also purchased a 

 gwarm and placed the hive inside a box having wire 

 cloth nailed across openings in the sides, and hung at 

 the end of the boat just forward of the cabin. The 

 bark had a long passage, 150 days, and, being becalm- 

 ed a number of days in the vicinity of the equator in 

 the Atlantic, a part of the ice melted, and during the 

 rough weather off Cape Horn thumped against the 

 decks so heavily as to jar many of the bees down into 

 the water. After they doubled the Cape, Capt. Stearns 

 had them taken out of the large case and hung up un- 

 der the boat with the other swarm, where they b"th 

 appeared to be doing well until they arrived within 

 about ten days of this port, when moths made their 

 appearance in the boxes, and the bees commenced to 

 die rapidly, Capt. Stearns' more than the other. When 

 the bark arrived off Honolulu in August, 1852, 1 went 

 on board, examined Capt. Stearns' hive, and found 

 large numbers of moths, worms, larvae, and some dead 

 bees ins'de, but no live bees. "The other hive was in 

 very bad condition, containing swarms of moths, 

 worms, and larvas among the honey- comb. A few 

 bees were living, and they had plenty of honey, some 

 15 to 20 pounds, a part of which, in the chamber of the 

 hive, was very handsome. I took the hive to my gar- 

 den, where, with the kind assistance of Capt. Stearns 

 and others, we removpd as many as possible of the 

 moths and cleared the hive of worms, dirt, etc., as 

 well as we could, and afterward removed nearly all 

 the honey. There appeared to be from 40 to 60 bees 

 living, among them the queen. The hive of bees and 

 honey was put up and sold at auction in order to give 

 persons understanding the management of bees, or 

 wishing to have them, an opportunity to purchase. I 

 purchased them, had a new hive made, and tried to 

 induce them to occupy it, without success. After a few 



days I thought they seemed to be less active than iisual, 

 and upon examination found but three or four bees 

 remaining, and, a day or two after, none at all. As 

 there were no dead bees in the hive or on the boards 

 underneath, and no birds about to destroy them, I con- 

 cluded that they had found some place more to their 

 fancy than the hive, and that I should again see them 

 or hear of them; but I have not, and am unable to ac- 

 count for their disappearance or fate Capt. Stearns 

 took excellent care of the bees; and had he had a short 

 passage, or even a passage of from 130 to 140 days, 

 would have delivered both swarms in good order which 

 proves that they can be brought from the United States 

 via Cape Horn without any great expense or trouble 

 except to have them secure against any excessive heat 

 and rt)ugh handling; but great care should be taken in 

 the beginning to select hives free from moths and their 

 eggs. Had the swarm mentioned arrived here in bet- 

 ter condition it probably would have been better to 

 send it immediately to a cool locality on Maui or Kauai 

 in the vicinit\ of sugar-plantations and banana-fields; 

 but it was too far gone to admit of any delay in remov- 

 ing the destructive enemies of the bees. 



We have a great variety of moths and ants in the 

 islands, from which it would require constant care to 

 protect the bees. I have lately learnt-d that honey- 

 bees have been rec- ntly introduced into California. 

 By and by we shall probably be able to get them from 

 there more easily than from any other place. The 

 thanks of the society are due to Capt. Stearns and Mr. 

 Pierce, who, in my opinion, should be partly or entire- 

 ly remunerated for the expenses incurred in trying to 

 supply us with so interesting and useful an addition 

 as the honey-bee. Charles R. Bishop. 



After these failures no further attempts 

 were made to bring the honey-bee to the 

 Hawaiian Islands until after colonies had 

 been sucresstully established in California. 

 On the 21st of October, 1857, Capt. Lawton, 

 of the ship Fanny Major, landed four hives 

 of bees tiiat had been shipped from San 

 Jose, California. These four colonies, ac- 

 cordmg to Dr. W. D. Alexander, were placed 

 in Dr. Hillebrand's garden in Honolulu, and 

 are reported to have thrived well. Two of 

 these colonies were afterward purchased by 

 the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society for 

 $100 apiece, and the oiher two colonies were 

 purchased by private parties. These four 

 colonies were the first honey-bees to become 

 established in the Hawaiian Islands, and 

 from them have descended many of the wild 

 swarms to be found in the trees and cliffs of 

 the mountain ward regions of the islands. 



CUT COMB HONEY. 



Should it be Sold for a Low Price? Lique- 

 fying Honey by Solar Heat. 



BY F. GREINER. 



In the foreign bee-journals it has been no 

 uncommon thing to see comb honey adver- 

 tised "in tin boxes (Blech-Dosen), so many 

 kilos for so many marks. " These advertise- 

 ments imply that the comb is being cut out 

 of frames, and packed into the tin receptacles 

 (flat boxes) . We had been accustomed to 

 look with contempt upon such a slovenly 

 way of marketing como honey. I flattered 

 mjself that we in America were marching 

 at the head of the procession, and that "cut- 

 ting "comb honey to be marketed was not 

 to be thought of. 



From what the editor says on pages 765 — 

 767, Dec. 15, it appears that we are falling in 

 line with the brethren across the water, and 



