146 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



down by the bees, in trying to rid them- 

 selves of their enemies. Again, the 

 small openings in the trees compel 

 the bees to swarm, even when the 

 parent swarm is small. Their envi- 

 ronment, as Mr. Spencer would say, 

 is not favorable to large swarms, and 

 the energies of the bees are devoted 

 to increase of species. Honey can 

 be got in small quantities all the year 

 round so there is no necessity to store 

 it up save for a rainy day, and there 

 is seldom more than a week in the 

 depth of the rains that bees cannot 

 take a flight and gather some honey 

 and pollen. There is one kind of 

 A. Indica which I have not been able 

 to capture yet, which takes up its 

 abode in piles of rocks, and forms 

 large storehouses of honey. This 

 kind seems to be an exception to the 

 general rule. 



Notwithstanding all these difficul- 

 ties which the A. Indica must meet, 

 they multiply with great rapidity, and 

 I hope may yet be made of some use 

 under domestication. I have had six 

 swarms, several months, under trial, 

 and although I have obtained only 

 ten pounds of honey, yet I am en- 

 couraged to continue experiments. 

 If I can restrain the swarming im- 

 pulse sufficiently to secure large 

 swarms, I believe they can be made 

 useful. I have taken one colony 

 through the season without swarming, 

 and now I have a very large hive of 

 bees, which I am trying to induce to 

 work in supers. Tliey are now at 

 work on combs placed in supers, but 

 do not act as if it was natural to them. 



These bees are remarkably gentle, 

 I have taken as many as a dozen 

 swarms from tVees this year with 



scarcely a sting, though working of- 

 ten without a vail. But they have 

 their moods, and before they are fully 

 subdued one needs to be careful. 



The A. dorsata has been under 

 study as well as other races, but as I 

 am not yet satisfied with my experi- 

 ments, I dare not write much about 

 this class or the "Melipona''\}). 

 This last class is a stingless bee, pro- 

 ducing abundance of wax, and little 

 honey, but offering a very interesting 

 study to the lover of natural history. 

 I have two varieties of this class of 

 bees in observatory hives, and I hope 

 to have something interesting to re- 

 port by and by. 



Toungoo^ Burmah. 

 May i8, iSSj. 



BUILDING UP. 



By C. M. Goodspeed. 



After such a winter as we have 

 just experienced, the question comes 

 in from all sides, "How can I best 

 restock my empty combs?" 

 • Making a practice, as I do, of selling 

 bees and queens, I am doing this 

 building up all the time and will tell 

 you how I do it. 



In early spring I confine each col- 

 ony on just as many combs as they 

 will cover thoroughly and no more, 

 examine them carefully each week, 

 and as soon as I am sure they will 

 bear it I increase the brood room and 

 insert one empty comb in the centre. 

 Be careful not to do this until there 

 are bees enough to keep all warm. 



