plans for introducing Apis Dorsata to this 

 country. Just when apiarians were hoping 

 to see the work accomplished by such men 

 as Dr. E. Parmly and otiiers, the whole thing 

 seems to have been abandoned, and the 

 stamp of worthlessness to have been put 

 upon Apis Dorsata itself. 



Writing this article away from my library, 

 I am not as sure as I could wish to be of 

 some of my statements ; but am almost cer- 

 tain that Mr. Woodbury, either in a private 

 letterto me, or in some communication, says 

 that he has seen the comb of this bee, and 

 that while the cells are deeper than those of 

 the black or Italian varieties, they have 

 about the &ame diameter! If this is so, it 

 is evident that our bees could utilize their 

 combs, by piecing out the cells, so that the 

 possession of a single queen might give us 

 the means of propagating the race. 



That this bee does not confine itself to 

 building upon trees, is certain from this 

 fact given to me by Mr. Woodbury : At 

 Galle, on the Island of Ceylon, from which 

 the English steamers start on their voyage 

 to the Isthmus of Suez, a colony of Dorsata 

 (as he was informed) had established itself 

 in one of the sheds of the steamship com- 

 pany ! 



My plan for testing and securing it 

 would be substantially this : Send to Ceylon 

 a thoroughly reliable and energetic bee- 

 keeper. He should learn at what season the 

 propagation of these bees might be most 

 safely undertaken ; should have all needed 

 hives and other appliances made here, and 

 carefully packed so as to occupy the small- 

 est space, and be put together when he 

 reaches his place of destination. He should 

 take with him some colonies of Italian bees, 

 well prepared for a long journey— obtaining 

 them as near to the Isthmus as possible, in 

 order to make their transport the safer. 



On his arrival at the port on the Red Sea 

 (Aden) where the steamers sail for Galle, he 

 should lay over, one steamer, to give them a 

 purifying flight, thus {preparing them for the 

 long sea voyage. Arriving at Galle, he should 

 carry them to some place where Dorsata was 

 in full work, honey gathering, swarming, &c. 

 Here he could easily learn whether this 

 variety could be domesticated, and if so, he 

 could breed his queens on the spot. If he 

 found it incapable of domestication, or for 

 any reason not a desirable bee, he could ascer- 

 tain if a cross between it and the Italian 

 race, might not prove to be the long-desired 

 coming bee. I need not enlarge. In 1859, 

 Mr. A. J. Bigelow, at my suggestion, 

 stopped over, one steamer, at Panama, and 

 thus made the most successful importation 

 that was ever made, of black bees into Cal- 

 ifornia. Adopting the same plan, he carried 

 113 small colonies of Italian bees, the next 

 season, to San Francisco, his bees arriving 

 in admirable condition, only two or three 

 queens having died on the passage, and the 

 colonies having as many bees as when they 

 left New York. With such an expert as 

 Bigelow, Dorsata, if capable of domestica- 

 tion, or any other variety of bee, might be 

 brought here from almost any part of the 

 globe. 



Gerstaker seems first to have suggested 

 the value of Dorsata, thinking that from 

 tlae size of its proboscis and power of flight, 



it might prove to be a better bee than any 

 now in Europe. The manner in wh ch the 

 natives secure its comb, as described by Mr. 

 Wallace, demonstrates that it can be con- 

 trolled by man, by the use of smoke. 



Will our American bee-keepers raise a 

 fund and obtain the services of some bee- 

 keeper, not too old, strong, wise and of in- 

 domitable energy, to test this matter ? 



If our different missionary societies would, 

 through their missionaries in India, China 

 and other parts of the world, as they so- 

 easily might, send specimens of worker- 

 bees, preserved in alcohol, to A. J. Cook, 

 Professor of Entomology in the Agricultural 

 College at Lansing, Michigan, much might 

 be done to advance the cause of practical 

 apiculture. His full and accurate knowl- 

 edge of bees, and his great skill as an 

 entomologist, would enable him to examine 

 thoroughly the length of proboscis, wing 



Eower, capacity of honey-sac, &c., of those 

 ees, and thus to direct us where to get the 

 variety which by proper crosses would im- 

 prove our present bees. Instead of so much 

 theory and talk, let us get to practical work. 

 With a mere pittance of the suma 

 which have been spent in improving our 

 domestic animals, we can do more in 

 months for settling these questions, than the 

 breeders of short horns, merinos, Alderneys, 

 &c., have been able to effect in as many 

 years. We want the best race of bees, or 

 the best cross in the world. 



L. L. Langstroth. 

 Oxford, Butler Co., O., Nov., 1878. 



For the American Bee JournaL. 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



In the Oct. No., page 347, of American- 

 Bee Journal, surely "chaff" was given 

 by A. W. Foreman. Tlie thousands of readers 

 of the Amekican Bee Journal did not 

 get one valuable idea by which they could 

 get one ounce more of honey or handle bees 

 in less time, by reading that article. 



A. W. F. says : *' The note Mr. Palmer 

 received from the publishers, confessed 

 their ignorance." Is it wrong to confess 

 itrnorance by asking for information? 

 Many times neighbor Scudder and I, as we 

 have done to-day and hundreds of times 

 before, learn of each other. 



Again, A. W. F. says : " Because of this 

 confession, it logically follows, that the bal- 

 ance of the book is equally worthless, which 

 I believe has long been well known by 

 scholars." 



Which you believe ? Then you have only 

 hearsay or some unreliable source, and con- 

 fess your ignorance in regard to the book, 

 instead of being published, as you intimate, 

 by saying " has long been well known," it 

 is a recent work, and in fact is yet being 

 published in parts in order to keep up to 

 the times. 



When a bee loses its sting it is sure to 

 " die in a short time." How long is a 

 short time? We say of the worker bee, 

 that it lives but a short time; but does 

 a bee die in consequence of losing its 

 sting? How long does it live after los- 



