40 



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assistants, by means of a good mask for the, 

 liead, and by sinearinff tl)e whole body and 

 impregnatinf; the clothing with strong- 

 smelling petroleum; for the higlily offensive 

 odor canses every bee to avoid stinging 

 anything tliat has been moistened with it. 



1 wonid overcome the colony by means of 

 strongly narcotic smoke, and, it necessary, 

 paralyzing means, whose gasses conld be 

 led from tin receptacles into the dwelling 

 ot the bees through rubber tubes. The 

 removal ot the queen with a portion of the 

 colony could be acc(miplished in accordance 

 with the local conditions by practical work. 



The locating of the precious colony, 

 through the employment of a cjueen-cage 

 for confining the queen periodically, so as 

 to retain it in a suitable hive, as well as the 

 rearing of young queens, would be with 

 me, as with every practical apiarist, no 

 ditticuit task, because Apis dorsata is not 

 inclined to wander. 



Assistants in this undertaking cannot but 

 be obtained among the natives of Java; the 

 attractions of money, of good words, and of 

 careful guidance would not fail to produce 

 a willingness to serve, particularly on the 

 part of such poor islanders. Neither would 

 the assistance and support of the Dutch 

 colonial governnjent be withheld, whose lib- 

 erality in the advancement of undertakings 

 for the benelit of natural science and 

 natural economy is well knoAvn. 



Even the transportation of the bees to 

 Europe would turn out as desired, notwith- 

 standing the extremely warm winds on the 

 passage through the Gulf ot Aden, the 

 entrance from the Indian ocean to the Red 

 sea. I would take only weak colonies with 

 me to Europe— those consisting of but a 

 few hundred workers. The transport- 

 hives I would construct of light strips of 

 wood, with wooden bottoms and covers, the 

 latter removable, and containing numerous 

 openings for ventilation. The covers 

 c(mld be taken off during the passage 

 through Aden, and the hives placed in the 

 free air in the shade of some object on ship- 

 board. The bees, in their hives of light, 

 uncovered strips— quite as though they 

 were in the open air, would be enabled to 

 bear the great heat even better than the 

 passengers, and would certainly stand the 

 journey and arrive alive. A.n occasifmal 

 careful sprinkling with water would refresh 

 them. In the transport-hives I would place 

 neither empty combs nor those filled with 

 honey, but only a few unplaned boards per- 

 pendicularly, on which the bees could hold 

 fast. I would supply the bees with food, as 

 well as water, by placing at the top of the 

 hives receptacles with thick linen bottoms, 

 through which they could suck honey or 

 water. 



I confidently believe that in this manner I 

 would come into possesson of this Apis 

 dorsata, so inestimable in its worth to bee- 

 culture, and would be able to import it to 

 Europe. 



To be sure, these are only ideas which I 

 presenthere— a kind of a dream of ahoary- 

 lieaded bee-keeper, yet, I like the liberty of 

 expressing my views here, because 1 hope 

 they may sometime be of use to our bee- 

 culture. 



In case some worthy reader of this valua- 

 ble Journal, would put into the young, 

 true mind of a son, who is already practi- 

 cally informed in bee-matters, and who 

 possesses a preference for the calling, these, 



—my ideas, it might chance that the young 

 bee-keeper having, in his life occupation, 

 reached the island of Java and passetl some 

 time there, remembering Apis dorsata and 

 my ideas, would undertake and accomplish 

 the project of capturing a colony of this 

 race and bringing, or sending it to Europe. 

 Ills name would forever shine with honor 

 upon the eternal page of liistory— that of 

 apistle and national economy, near those of 

 our great masters iu bee-cultnre, and. 

 should great governments honor him with 

 large premiums for his services, it would be 

 but the reward which such a great and use- 

 ful work would merit. 



In a recent number of Die Bienen- 

 Zeitung, the great German bee-master. Dr. 

 Dzierzon, describes the mating of a drone 

 and a queen; which occurrence he was for- 

 tunate enough to be able to observe on the 

 second day of July last. During more than 

 50 years of close observation — particularly 

 of the movements of young queens, such an 

 opportunity, he says, has not before pre- 

 sented itself to him. 



The Dutch government is about to send 

 Italian bees to the Island of Java. An 

 agent of the minister of the Colonies has 

 ordered, of Dathe, S stocks, the necessary 

 implements, and a practical apicultiu'ist. — 

 Dr. Dzierzon is to furnish S colonies also. — 

 S. H. Kykens. son of the director of the 

 seminary in Groningen, will conduct the 

 enterprise, and will be installed as a teacher 

 of bee-culture, in Java, witn a salary of 5000 

 marks (81.825), which, later, is to be 

 increased to 10.000 marks. 



Herk Ad Hauffe, who obtained Italian 

 bees of Dr. Dzierzon, in lS53,-and who was 

 the first to cultivate that race in Saxony, 

 recently gave his experience regarding the 

 Cyprian bees. He claims that, as is the 

 case Avith Italian hybrids, it is only the 

 hybrid Cyprians that are more inclined to 

 sting than the common bees or the Italians; 

 that the pure Cyprians are very docile. All 

 know how many times novices in bee- 

 culture, who could not tell a hybrid Italian 

 stock from a pure one, or who did not know 

 how to get Italians off the combs without 

 making them angry, liave affirmed that the 

 latter were crosse'r and more inclined to 

 sting than common bees. It is quite well 

 also, to consider that the Cyprians may 

 possess as marked peculiarities as the Ital- 

 ians or common bees, and in view of the 

 fact that they will likely be among us 

 another season, it is best to know all that 

 is said about tliem across the water. 



"The Bag-pipe Bee.— (^pis amaWiea.) 

 This is the name given to a race; of bees in- 

 habiting Havana, Cayenne, Surinam, etc., 

 and which must produce the sweetest, 

 best-tasting honey. The Bag-pipe bee has 

 the size of our ordinary house-fiy, and is 

 quite black, witli brown antennfe and feet. 

 These bees build their nests in the form of 

 a bag-pipe, in the tops of trees. Their cells 

 are ruuisually large and contain much honey, 

 which however soon ferments and changes 

 into a strong drink of which the Indians 

 are very fond, and which must have a very 

 agreeable taste.'"— Bie?ie?i-Z«cc7i.tcr. 



