THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



407 



This bee is nearly tivlce as large as our 

 iKitive black bee. A worker bee of this 

 Aiiis <l(irs:ata preserved in a vial of alcoiiol 

 appeared thus to nie. The post-officer here- 

 in mentioned, visited me after liis cure at 

 Carlsbad, and I opened for him a hive in 

 my apiary, showing him tlie queen on the 

 removed comb, whereupon lie assured me 

 that he had found, seeking honey from the 

 flowers, worker bees of the species <lors(tta 

 fully as large as the queen I exhibited to 

 him. Both of the officers told me they had 

 heard from the natives that this bee lives 

 in hollow trees, and is not a wanderer. 



Unfortunately, the Apis dorsata is not 

 bred or kept by the Javanese; neither is it, 

 in its wild condition, hunted. The Javanese 

 is in too great a degree a genuine Malay— is 

 too simple to raise bees even in the most 

 primitive manner. His hut he builds by 

 erecting four unhewn poles, forming the 

 walls of plaited branches covered witli the 

 broad leaves of tropical plants, and adding 

 a roof of palm leaves; some rice, dried fish, 

 and a little cocoanut oil constitute his food, 

 sufficient of which for himself and family 

 he can obtain for a few Dutch kreuzers. 



Since the native wears only a kind of cot- 

 ton shirt on liis body, he is not protected 

 from the stings of insects. He fears par- 

 ticularly that of the Apis dorsata, because 

 it is very painful and produces large swell- 

 ings which, with all the attendant incon- 

 veniences, last for days. This may be un- 

 derstood by considering that the sting of 

 this bee is likely twice as long and stout, 

 and the poison sac twice as large as those 

 of our native black bee. Since the effect of 

 the sting of the common bee on persons 

 that are not accustomed to the poison of the 

 bee is so great, what must be at fii'st that of 

 the Apis dorsata ? With the warm climate 

 and peculiarly luxuriant flora of the island 

 of Java the poison of this bee may be of a 

 stronger nature. We well 'know that dur- 

 ing a rich honey harvest in the heat of sum- 

 mer, the poison of the bee is more intense 

 with us than it is in the spring or autumn. 



The Javanese fears not only the sting of 

 the Apis dorsata, but also its disposition to 

 follow its disturber. These bees angrily 

 pursue in great numbers and to great dis- 

 tances the person who disturbs them in 

 their habitation; and in such cases running 

 back and forth or hiding in thick bushes 

 helps little, for the insects, with certain 

 fliglit are close upon their heels. 



An additional difficulty in the way of ob- 

 taining the honey collected by these wild 

 bees rests in the fact that they are accus- 

 tomed to locate themselves very high— in 

 the hollows of the old giant trees of the 

 primitive Javanese forests. 



As a result of all this the Javanese avoid 

 these bees and in no manner attempt their 

 capture. This race of bees receives no at- 

 tention from the Hollanders who live on the 

 island. They are 'absorbed in mercantile 

 pursuits, and find in Java numerous other 

 products so valuable and remunerative as 

 to be equaled by few other countries. 



Yet tills Apis dorsata is, at all events, of 

 great worth as a honey gatherer, and pos- 

 sesses for bee-culture in Europe a special, 

 but not high enough valued, worth. 



In all portions of our continent there are 

 numerous plants whose blossoming time is 

 long, and that yield honey abundantly, but 

 which have such deep nectaries that our 

 bee, with its short proboscis, cannot reach 



their sweet contents. Think of a single 

 one of our numerous plants— of our red 

 clover, which Idossoms so long a time! 

 What large surfaces in every country, in 

 the plains, as well as mountains, in every 

 village green this plant covers!! What 

 enormous, inestimable treasures of honey 

 our bees must leave uncollected in its blos- 

 soms because their proboscides are too short 

 to reach its nectaries ! ! ! Our bee is only 

 able to secure the contents of the small 

 blossom tubes of remaining stunted heads 

 of red clover; the luxuaiant blossoms are of 

 no use to her though they produce the most 

 honey. What a loss this is for our little 

 pets we can judge from the quantity and 

 quality of the honey which they obtain 

 from the smaller blossoms of the white 

 clover, which, unfortunately, is too little 

 cultivated. But the Javanese bee. Apis 

 dorsata, would be able to gather stores 

 from our red clover fields, so common 

 everywhere, because she has a proboscis 

 nearly twice as long as a common bee's. 



From all this is to be seen what great 

 value the race Apis dorsata would possess 

 in Europe— that its importation to Europe 

 would be, not only for bee-culture in itself, 

 but also, in consequence of the greatly in- 

 creased production of honey, for national 

 economy, a real event. 



The imporlation to Europe of ^pis tZor- 

 sata I regard as practicable, and all the at- 

 tendant difficulties as surmountable, but 

 only in case a practical European bee-cul- 

 turist, with this object in view, goes to the 

 island of Java and brings the colonies to 

 Europe under his personal care. 



GLEANED BY 



W. J. Andbeavs, - Columbia, Tenn. 



Bee Items Gleaned on our Trip. 



A few days since we took a trip to Slielby- 

 ville, and Fayetteville, and we will now 

 give a few bee items gleaned en route. 



At Fayetteville we met for the first time 

 friend Montgomery, who is well known to 

 readers of the bee papers. We regretted 

 very much not being able to visit the apiary 

 of friend Montgomery, but time would not 

 ])erniit. We, however, had a long, social 

 chat with him. He informed us that he 

 had got rid of Gillespie, but that he was out 

 about $8') in the way of lawyers' fees and 

 court costs. Friend Montgomery is a very 

 jolly, good-natured fellow,'and in size and 

 appearance, very much like friend Henry 

 Alley, of Massachussets. 



At Fayetteville. we also met Mr. Levi 

 Elslich and Dr. W. C. Diemer, both bee- 

 men. We also learned that friend McFat- 

 ridge was in town, but did not meet him. 



On our return to Shelbyville we noticed 

 quite a number of apiaries on the road, but 

 did not stop to make the acquaintance of 

 any one but Mr. J. C. Akin, at Shelbyville. 

 We went through Mr. Akin's apiary. His 

 hives are mostly Langstroth, but he has a 

 few of Gillespie's— the first we ever saw. 

 Mr. Akin has a very ingenious mode of 

 locking his hives, his own invention, which 

 prevents any pilfering of boxes containing 

 honey. It is very simple and does not cost 

 over a cent. w. j. a 



