13 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



.JuiiH(ir(f 



And this, inind >on, was printed on a 

 postal card, sliowin}? tlial it is their cus- 

 tom to send such a reply to any propo- 

 sition that does not meet with their un- 

 biased ajjproval. For a conii)arison we 

 also print another letter, received in tlu 

 same mail. 



"Tiiic Christian IIi;i<ai,i). " 

 Rev. T. Dewitt Talniage, I). I).. Editor. 



New York. Dec. 19, 1899 

 "Gentlemen: 



As we do 11.) e.xchange ad\erlisin.L;'. \se 

 ■cannot avail our.>-elves ofyour kind pro])0- 

 sition of tlie i6tii inst. Thanking you for 

 same, 1 am. 



\'ouis \(.r\' lrul\-, 



1*. J}. Hromiield, 



.AIkt. Advj^. Depl." 

 Now. whicli of these two pa]iers do you 

 suppose will receive our "cash" adver- 

 tising, which by the way is several thous- 

 and dollars a \ v^'ar ? It surely is not diffi- 

 cult to surmis-; (Jne is the letter of a 

 gentleman, the other that of— well we do 

 not doubt b'.l thai our readers are al)le to 

 fdl theblauk. 



win- i)iscniK.\(', INC? 

 Among the "(rood Things From Other 

 Journals," which Dr. Mason selects for 

 the I'.ee-Keeiiers' Review, the following 

 item is (|uoteil from a pa])er known as 

 "Wurer/.burger Wegwerser;" "A Holl- 

 ander b\ the name of Verholen, for sev- 

 eral years, uilji llie most tenacious per- 

 tinacity, trie.! in Java to domesticate the 

 big Indian l)ee. but all in vain. Kighty- 

 seveii different t-olonies were captured 

 and hived, but every .single colony de- 

 serted its brood and honey, and took il.s 

 ile])arture." The doctor then follows 

 with this editorial from the .\merican Bee 

 Journal, which he is inclined to regard as 

 "still more discouraging, if po.ssible, than 

 the above." "Apis dorsata was discussed 

 in convention by .-\u.stralian bee-keep 

 ers. II. b. Jones read a ])apermoileratelv 

 favoring their introduction Mr. Pender 

 thought they might be valuabie for wax 

 production .Mr. Bradley ^aid he had 

 lived long years in India, and the man 

 who would bring them into .\ustraHa 



should be prosecuted. They were migra- 

 tory, as bad as wasps, with .stronger col- 

 onies. Mr. Abram told of a gentleman 

 who had gone to expen.se and travel and 

 then decided to let them alone. Mr. 

 Jones said a gentleman in Singapore wa> 

 trying to domesticate them. It begins to 

 look as if a good deal of time and valu- 

 able space had been taken up in talking 

 and writing about a])is dorsata. The 

 Italian bee will likely 'hold the fort' for 

 stmie time yet." 



W'e share with Dr. Mason the interest 

 be feels in the efforts being made to 

 domesticate dorsata, but are far, very far 

 from sharing the discouragement which 

 the foregoing items seem to have imparted 

 in his case. The editorial was not a re- 

 port of the Australian convention, but a 

 brief tesume of the particular feature in 

 which the Journal was, perhaps, most in- 

 terested. 



The paramount question anumg bee- 

 keepers of Australia todav is, not to sec- 

 ure more honev Ijut rather to de\elop a 

 market for thatalread\- on hand and now 

 coming in. Uidike .\merica, tiie talk is 

 all "markets," "exports" and "board of 

 exports." An idea of the general situa- 

 tion there existing may Vje gathered from 

 the statement of one of the ]Dartici])ant.-; 

 in the convention to which the Journal 

 refers: "Our bees produce loo much 

 honey now " This remark was delivered 

 during the discussion which followed the 

 reading of ^Ir. Jones' ])a])er "nioderatelv 

 favoring" the introduction of dorsata. 

 ([uoled bv the Journal, and it echoes the 

 sentiment of Australian bee-keepers to- 

 day. Is it any wonder that any project 

 likely 10 increase the production of honey 

 shoidd be unpopular? Increased produc- 

 tion would mean still Icwer jjrices for 

 them. 



.\s lo the Hollander, and the W'urerz- 

 burger Wegwerser. it is not im])robable 

 that a commendable effort was made to 

 domesticate the giant bee, and his efforts, 

 if as rei)orled, vvoidd be creilitable to the 

 rniled .States government. Fncle Sam 



