626 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAi- 



adapted to this section of country than other races. He said: " Don't you think 

 the bees can be improved as have been the cattle ?" My answer was, " When the 

 white man first put in an appearance upon this continent, he commenced to ex- 

 terminate the native cattle — the buffalo — filling at that time its place with cattle of 

 the North Carolina scrub type. It is open to doubt whether there exists a bee better 

 fitted to thrive in these surroundings than the present wild (as you term it) inhabi- 

 tant of the forests. If this wild bee is destined to be exterminated, I hope its place 

 will be occupied with something more desirable than the North Carolina scrub as 

 compared to the buffalo. From this simile I infer it to be dangerous to supersede 

 the old until the new is proven to be better." 



It constantly proves one of the hardest lessons of our lives to judge our sur- 

 roundings, including our bees. Sartor Eesartus-like, notwithstanding the early 

 lessons precepted by our copy-books, to do the contrary: "Judge not by appear- 

 ances." Epictetus also tells us the nature and being of the good is not in external 

 things — the utility of things, I take him to mean in the sense he uses the words, 

 conducive to worthy and profitable ends. The surface of things is to be but little 

 considered — it is to be discarded, to be dug beneath to find out how a matter hinges. 



Cannot Mr. Doolittle tell us a little about the good qualities of the blacks, and 

 cannot Dr. Miller also say why it is the stream of opinion is so tending to drift the 

 same into oblivion ? I admit they bear the character for being truculent, nettlers. 

 "One touch of nature makes the world akin" (Shakespeare). I stung a man in 

 Biltmore last summer— by mistake, I'm told— for which I got a quantity of smoke ; 

 in fact, I was fired, narrowly escaping getting much scorched by taking refuge 

 behind a non-inflammable, barren substance. 



Where is Mr. Thompson ? Will he give a kink, or kick, on this subject ? 



Biltmore, N. C. 



BY KEV. WILFOKD HORSFALL. 



I came to these islands about the beginning of May, 1894, and soon after com- 

 ing to Lahina, the place I am now living in, I bought a colony of bees for $4, trans- 

 ferring them to a frame hive. Since then I had a few swarms given to me by an 

 old bee-keeper in the place, who says he cannot make honey pay. Three of these 

 swarms I united so as to make one good, strong colony. The fourth I united to the 

 colony I had bought in the first instance. Already these bees have produced some 

 very delightful section honey, which is now being sold at one of the village stores. 



The honey here is really beautiful, it is clear and white, with a distinct flavor. 

 The wax is of snowy whiteness, without an approach to yellow. Never since I have 

 kept bees have I seen such lovely sections as the 22 I took from the hives the other 

 day. I am at a loss to discover from what flowers the bees get the greatest part of 

 their honey, but it is evidently from trees. We have large numbers of tamarind, 

 mango, algaroba, pandanus, royal palm, and many others. The humming of bees 

 in the tamarind trees speak clearly of their being favorites; while, when the royal 

 palms are in flower, one would think it was a swarm of bees, rather than bees 

 attracted by nectar, hovering about the heavy plumes of flowers. 



Bee-culture is making progress in these islands. I have been told of several 

 persons who have apiaries, but whether they make them profitable I cannot say. 

 Honolulu is well suited for bees, owing to its wealth of tropical trees and shrubs. 

 Lahina, once the old capital, is not so well adapted to a large apiary, not to speak 

 of apiaries. The settlement runs about two miles on the sea-beach. The houses 



