112 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



as to tlie commercial results. I had hoped that 

 we might have nice little rows of bee-bives in 

 our gardens in India, just as one can have at 

 home, with results as sweet and as paying, but 

 so far as 1 could see, the strong instinct for emi- 

 gration and colonising in the Indian bee seemed 

 to forbid such a result. As I could now get 

 plenty of bees, I resolved for one good experi- 

 ment in the interests of commerce. 1 thought if 

 I could put five or six hives together, I should 

 have a good strong one to begin the experiment 

 with. So now I had a six-d<kzen beer chest pre- 

 pared for a hive, and a noble hive it was. The 

 thing to be done was to fill it with a working 

 colony. A Mahomedan gentleman gave me free 

 access to his forest and zemiudary, allowing me 

 to take any liberty I pleased with those trees that 

 had bees in them ; from cutting off a limb to 

 felling the trunk. I selected my trees, and the 

 first was an old jammum pollard. Two good 

 bhurrs (woodcutters) soon brought it down for 

 me, and the bees being within 1^ foot of the bot- 

 tom, I was able to reach them pretty well. But, 

 do what I could, the bees would not remain in 

 my hive, as fast as I took them out they tlew 

 back again into the tree. I ordered the tren to 

 be split open in the middle — as soon as it wa.s 

 opened out, "horror of horrors," there lay coiled 

 up a large khoreit snake, and every time my 

 hand had gone in, it had gone over this snake. 

 It makes me shiver when I think of it now, and 

 the sight of those lookers-on who were with me 

 is a picture on my memory still. My honest and 

 good friend, the Mahomedan, would allow me to 

 cut no more trees, unless I promised in future to 

 see what sort of a nest I was putting my hand 

 into. I of course gave the promise, and kept it. 

 I saw my friend twenty year.s after the above, 

 and he still retained the clearest possible convic- 

 tion of the goodness of my kismut. May his 

 shadow never grow less ! 



I got together six hives without any further 

 trouble, and then how were they to be united ? 

 I made short work of it, by mixing a solution of 

 sugar and water, and poured it into the hive that 

 was to be united with the bees already in the new 

 hive. I easily managed to get the queen, and 

 the workers were then taken to and claimed by 

 the old stock as a matter of course. And thus I 

 filled my magnificent hive. It was a sight to 

 see them work. I had the hive in a house'^ with 

 a hole in the wall for going out and in, and I 

 had doors and widows for observation. T would 

 have no tricks with these to interfere with the 

 commercial results. My heart rejoiced as day 

 by day and week by week, I saw the combsgrow 

 and the inmates increase. To show their watch- 

 ful care and strength, I may relate that a death's- 

 head moth had the temerity to enter an air cham- 

 ber I had made for ventilation ; there he was 

 waxed down to the board, and made a mummy 

 as a warning to all such intruders. As the in- 

 mates increased in number, I was alarmed at the 

 unusual heat engendered, and I did all in my 

 power to cool them down. It was all useless, for 

 the heat went on increasing, and the ventilators 

 were covered with an immense amount of mois- 

 ture that collected in large drops as the vapour 

 condensed, and soon, to my utter despair, I saw 

 combs forming for drones, and these of course 



were followed by queens' cells. I did all in my 

 power to put an end to both, but the colony out- 

 witted me, and one day I had the misfortune to 

 see my splendid hive denuded of more than half 

 of its population. I caught and killed the old 

 queen who was leading them ofi", and the queen 

 being killed the bees returned again to the hive. 

 The excitement never subsided, and the next day 

 many took wing again. I saw the bees were 

 angry, but I did not expect the mischief which 

 followed. I had a very tame, long-tailed, black- 

 faced, white monkey — a longoor — and my angry 

 bees stung him to death before I was aware of 

 his danger. On the third day from the jDrevious 

 swarming, a new queen led them off" again, and 

 this time they flew away at once. I now gave up 

 all as useless and hopeless, and prepared for one 

 final experiment, little suspecting the good for- 

 tune that awaited me. 



I removed all the combs, except one very nice 

 new little one, and sought for and removed the 

 queen. My object was to see how long the 

 workers would hold together and keep to the 

 hive after losing their queen. At first, of course, 

 all was confusion ; but they soon began to col- 

 lect pollen, though their wax was all wasted. 

 And although the pollen was collected and 

 brought home, very little skill was shown in 

 storing it, and most of it fell in little oblong 

 flakes at the bottom of the hive. After six days, 

 I was surprised to find a number of eggs on the 

 board at the bottom of the hive. I could hardly 

 believe what I saw. I was quite sure there was 

 no queen, and yet there were eggs. I made a 

 closer search, and more astonishing still, nearly 

 all the cells in the comb I had left them had eggs 

 in them ; not one egg in each, as the queen care- 

 fully lays her eggs, but in one I counted a dozen, 

 and there was every proof of a most careless and 

 ! indiscriminate laying. I was determined to 

 i give up any time and attention that might lie re- 

 I quired to fathom the mystery ; and in a short 

 i time, I saw the common worker bees laying eggs, 

 } Of course I was most anxious to see what the 

 '[ final result of this new fact would be. I soon 

 j saw that the eggs were fruitful, for the little worm 

 I floating in jelfy appeared in some cells the next 

 1 day, and things went through their usual course 

 i to the closing up of the cells. My patience could 

 not wait for the flying insect to come out, and I 

 opened a cell and took out a young bee nearly 

 ready to come out ; and two days afterwards, I 

 was gratified by seeing some half dozen little 

 black drones fly out with their usual heavy buzz. 

 This was highly satisfactory as far as it went. It 

 was a fact, not before known, that the workers 

 could turn out fruitful. There was no hope for 

 the hive, for the males do not work. Nothing 

 more was to be learnt, and my hive died out in 

 short time. And here was an end to my amuse- 

 ! ment with bees. 



The Rev. Henry Oppermann, chaplain of the 

 German legion employed in British Cafi'raria, 

 says that in the season when the bees in that 

 country gather honey chiefly from the Aloe blos- 

 soms, it is of a poisonous or noxious quality, 

 causing nausea or vomiting when eaten. 



Talk that does not end in any kind of action 

 is better suppressed altogether. — Carlisle. 



