'S7c 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CVETCRE. 



103 



. '.uioli. Now thore is not one in the country that has , 

 •v-oinevoten mo thsit 1 am Ihe ihm-pou that importPtl 

 thf'l.ijr l)ee moth." as thev call it, yet 1 am fully 

 aware that it is generalK- bellcveil that it v.ame in 

 (>uinbv"s bee box. ami no one <'oulil convince them 

 otherwise. l_'ertainlv nothinpc like them was ever 

 seen here j)revious to the arrival oC the hive from 

 • Jiiinbv. 1 (lid .ill tliat lav in niv jiower to have them 

 ilestrovei^ before tlie box'was taken to my place, but I 

 have no ilcnibt many (rt" them escai)v?(l. as the wive iiot- 

 tinjr was broken in" several places. 1 toM you what 

 was (lone with tlie hive, some thiie ajro, therefore it 

 is useless to repeat it. Tliey are just about six times 

 as larjrc as anv moth I ever saw in this country 

 l)efore; many of Hiem are larger than a drone bee. 



I have seen hives overflowing with bees, and still 

 •(he moth has riddled every comi). ami dviven the liees 

 awav. I have seen more than athoui^and young bees 

 on a" single sheet of comix with the cai)s of the cells 

 all nibbled ofl", strusr^linc: to get o\it. but held fast in 

 the cells bv tlie Yuoth wonn. Every bee is imperfe<'t 

 J'.i some way, and often two or three small worms in 

 -every cell, bwt never less than one. No pen can dvs- 

 ^;'ril)e the ravages of this miserable pest. The bee- 

 koeiiers of this country are discour;tged, and giving 

 ■u|> in despair \vithout a single efl'ort. I have had my 

 ->vork. for my bees andtovself have had toilight against 

 luillions of" them; manv hives having been sacked 

 within three miles of ritv Apiarv. I stimnl:ate<i my 

 bees to the highest pitch, with "out-door feeding; 1 

 liad nearly 2000 brood combs badly damaged. I took 

 tiiem frcjm the centre of the hive, and placed them 

 outside the brood nest. Kept my bees busy carrying 

 in sugar syrup for three wceks,"and every damaged 

 <-omb was beautifully re));'.ired, and filled with syruj). 

 It would liav« done" your eyes good, "old man."' to 

 •have seen those combs. My bees were greatly annoyetl 

 hy those little black scamps, (I meanthe native bees 

 of Queensland), tliey don^t sting, simjily because they 

 cannot-, tliey are lio larger than a sniall fly, but are | 

 womlerfully po-^s-erfu' in the jaws: in a light they are I 

 too much for the black bee, "they mount his back in 

 twos and threes, and he has to take to his legs to get 

 rid of Them. They never store any surplus; the hon- 

 ev is in cells in th"e form of small "globules, about the 

 size of a ix>yai cell. The i)ollen is stored altogether, as 

 It were, an"d the whole nest is coated over with a kind 

 ■of pro])olis, resembling gutta-percha more than any- 

 thing else. I enclose a piece of brood comb, ami i)i-op- | 

 olis— now you have got all I-cau tell you about our i 

 natives. 



I will talk to you a few minutes about the Ligurian 

 bees. 1 hope my Apiarian friends across the brook 

 have not shiiiped any as yet for me. but if they have, 

 ^iiay the best of success "attend them. You will see 

 b\' the palmers I have sent you. that I am proiiiise'l 

 lielp by the Acclimatization Society, therefore if Bar- 

 iium Bro's & Co., have not despatched any bees for 

 me, jilease tell them to send them by the shi]i '-Mac- 

 gresor," sailing July I9th. I enclose a list of the ships 

 sailing from .San Francisco, will you publish it, and 

 tell any of the others that have riot shipped, to -send 

 by the same vessel. It will lessen the expenses, and 

 I would like yon to write "Bee Master" on all you 

 send me, they will then come as straight as an arrow. 



How are you getting on with the dysentery, and 

 have you found a remedy yet? It is said by some of 

 the wiseacres that if bees could get out of •cheir hives 

 now ami then during the winter, to take a ]iurifying 

 i1ii:ht. they would not snfter from dysentery. ]^ow, 

 *-oiii syrupy," I would like some of ycii to tell me how 

 ii is that our bees sufl^er from the same com])laint ? I 

 lu'ver lost an entire colony by it, but I lost hundreds 

 and thonsands of bees by it once. It must be remem- 

 bered that Ijees are never confined to their hives in 

 sunny Queensland, not even for a single day. the year 

 round. Now I can safely say that it is inferior honey 

 that is the sole cause of it here ; two years ago I bo't 

 to cwt. of cheap honej% and fed every pound of it to 

 '.ny bees. In less than a week afterwards the ground 

 was covered with bees ; when I saw it, I thought of 

 the cause in a moment. I lost no time in getting my 

 'extractor in order, and straightway' tlirew out every 

 pound of honey the hives contained, and afterwards 

 gave them ten hundred pounds of sugar syrup, and 

 there was a change in the scene at once. Last May 

 m\- bees gathered freely from the tea tree, and the 

 honey producetl dysentery in every hive. I kept the 

 extractor going daily to keeii it down, but before the 

 blossoms were gone, one-lialf the bees were lost. I 

 believe that I have used more sugar during the last 

 live years than any other person ; and that too, with ' 

 the greatest satisfaction. We raise sugar in this haj)- 

 py land; we have mills throughout the country, and 

 the kind I use, a good coffee sugar, costs a little less | 

 than 5 cts. per lb., and molasses 3 cts. per gallon. ' 



Novice, there is nothing that ever grew on the eavtli, 

 that can't grow here. By the time yo<i get this note 

 our winter will be upon us. If our Yankee friends 

 coxdd only take a iieep at us thev vvoulil envy us. 

 'Die weather is all th.al a man could desire, beautiful 

 Minnv days, soinetimes weeks without even seeing a 

 cloud, with a si)lendid bright h\\u- sky. The foliage ol 

 the trees is beautiful. AVe can do without otir coats 

 an<l vests during the da\-, but re«iuire them in the 

 evening, and enjoy a good log fire at night. Tlic bees 

 are in their slory, having plenty of work most of the 

 time. Novi('e, it is the finest, hajiplest, and richest 

 country on tlie face of the earth. 

 , AVithbcst ^\^sllcs for vour success. I remain vours 

 faithfully, .1. C.\kim)lt-, Mohawk Vallev, Knoggera, 

 (Juoensland, Ajjril, 'i.'Jrd, IS7.5. 



We give below the paper referred to : 



'I'lIK LIGURIAN I«EK. 



Dr. AVaugh maile mention of the terrible ravages 

 among the hives of the common Knglish bee commit- 

 tc'l by a species of American moth recently, unfc.rtu- 

 iiately. imiiorted, and which devours the young bee in 

 the cell, causing; the most complete destructio\i ol ev- 

 ery hive into which it enters. He staled that hardly 

 a hive existed tVee from this moth in the direction oi 

 INIilton. while the secretary gave evidence that it had 

 reached at least three miles in the other direction 

 (Breaxfast Creek). Dr. Waugh brought the matter 

 forwarrl in the hope that the society might aid in the 

 importation of the Ligurian bee, which, it seems, is 

 able to cope with tliis moth. It was resolve<l that Ihe 

 society should give everv assistance in its iiov.er 

 towards so excellent an object, and that Dr. Waugh 

 should ascertain from Mr. Carroll what ster)s he had 

 taken towards introducing the Ligurian, so that the 

 society's help might be given in the most etfective 

 manner. 



]\Ir. Carroll some time ago sent the money 

 to Mr. Quinby for a hive of bees, and an Ex- 

 tractor. Mr. Q. sent them, but was notified at 

 San Francisco that tliey would not take live 

 bees on board, so Mr. Carroll says, and Mr. Q. 

 did nothing further than to write Mr. C. for 

 further instructions. Meanwhile the bees 

 starved, and then of course the vessel would 

 recei\i? the hive, filled with the moth worm 

 that flourished in the 'warm climate of Califor- 

 nia. In the still more congenial clime of Aus- 

 tralia, they have developed into the pest 

 named above, and now the Itajiaus seem to be 

 tlie only hope. We give below the names and 

 dates of sailings. 



Leaves San Francisco. 

 (.'yphrenes ...Jan. 30 ] Cvphrenes ...May -i-t 

 City of Meltune. Mar. 1 | Citv of Melbrne. June •:! 

 Macgregor ...Mar. 2!) I Ma"cgregor ...July in 

 Mikado ...April -26 I Mikado ...Aug.lt> 



Mr. Carroll adds : 



Tell all those that have not sent bees, toship them 

 by the "Macgregor." I had to name a vessel to the A. 

 society, in order that thev mav use all the inliuencie 

 they can for the safetv of" the 6ee.s. The agent of the 

 ships is a member. 



?*Ir. C',s wholesale sugar experiment does 

 not surprise us in the least; those who are not 

 satislied can l^eep on experimenting, but as for 

 ourselves, we shall always sell the" honey, and 

 feed the bees on sugar. 



^^UCH is still written about honey being 



' ' a drug in the market, and about adulter- 

 ation having ruined the sale of it, etc., but we 

 are confident our friends are only borrowing 

 trouble. All the honey we have ever adver- 

 tised in this column has been, we believe, sold 

 at good prices, and the fact that none of our 

 readers have any for sale at present, seems to 

 us good proof that r/ood honey is nowhere a 

 drug in the market if ofl'ered at fair prices, say 

 20 or 3oc. per lb. retail. Our country stores 

 and groceries are not sui'>plied by any means. 



