noon, and soon the heretofore deserted 

 bottom land was literally swarming with 

 bees, gathering honey from the millions 

 of blossoms. In a week after, we had 

 brought safely and in good order 115 

 ■colonies of bees to the same spot. At 

 the end of the first week, one of the 

 first colonies brought was found to have 

 gathered 20 lbs. of honey during those 

 7 days. This hauling of bees to the 

 bottoms will therefore prove to be a 

 clear gain of several thousand pounds 

 of surplus, while the bees on the hills 

 will barely gather enough honey to 

 carry them through the winter. 

 Hamilton, 111., August, 1880. 



Translated from the Bienen-Zeitung. 



Apis Dorsata of the Island of Java. 



C. J. H. GRAVENHORST. 



A great deal has been written about 

 this bee at different times, and yet our 

 knowledge of it is very limited indeed. 

 At an earlier period the report was pub- 

 lished that it was much larger than our 

 common bee, that it built combs as large 

 as a wheel, upon the branches of trees, 

 and was, withal, so wild and fond of 

 stinging that it could not be tamed. 

 Whether this report is based uyon truth 

 ■or not, can only be decided when more 

 reliable intelligence has been received. 

 Should this bee really be found in Java, 

 then I should like to request Mr. Ry- 

 kens, who at the present time resides 

 there as an instructor in bee-culture, to 

 forward to us, through the Bienen-Zei- 

 tung, reliable and thorough information 

 in regard to the Dorsata. 



I naturally suppose that Mr. Rykens, 

 as an instructor in bee-culture, is a 

 reader of the Bienen-Zeitung, and will 

 certainly take an interest in a bee about 

 which we are so anxious to be enlight- 

 ened, and which might in very many 

 respects I'evolutionize bee-keeping in 

 the future. 



I find in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal of Dec, 1878, an article worthy of 

 notice from the pen of the renowned 

 apiarist, Rev. L. L. Langstroth, whom 

 we are pleased to call the Dzierzon of 

 America, in which he writes about the 

 Dorsata and its introduction into Amer- 

 ica. 



He states therein that Mr. Wood- 

 bury, of Exeter, England, who has re- 

 cently died, was the only one who ever 

 saw the Dorsata and its comb-building. 

 He further says he had many letters 

 from him. He unfortunately died much 

 too soon for the world of bee-culture. 

 He says that these bees would also nest 

 in closed apartments, for at one time a 



swarm of this race of bees had settled 

 down within a steamboat shed in the 

 harbor of Galle, Ceylon. 



The cells of the workers of the Dor- 

 sata are of about the same diameter as 

 those of our bees, only a little longer. 

 Mr. Woodbury, therefore, had taken the 

 view, that our bees could use the cells 

 of the Dorsata ; they would only need 

 to nibble them off a little. This, Mr. 

 Langstroth takes as his basis, when he 

 says that we could probably give to our 

 bees a queen of that race, and that per- 

 haps our drones would copulate with 

 the queens of the Dorsata. Mr. Wood- 

 bury, he says, had placed much weight 

 upon the fact that the Dorsata is much 

 larger, and consequently has a longer 

 tongue. In case the Dorsata could not 

 be tamed, then a mixed breed could be 

 produced, which might become, as far 

 as activity is concerned, a valuable race 

 of bees. 



Braunschweig, Germany. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



What my Bees have done. 



C. A. JONES. 



I have been keeping bees for 40 years, 

 more or less, and this is the poorest 

 season for honey I have ever experi- 

 enced. I wintered 32 colonies ; sold one 

 in the spring, leaving 31, all strong and 

 in good condition. I looked for a large 

 crop of honey and plenty of swarms. I 

 had 9 or 10 swarms ; sometimes putting 

 2 together ; I put 1 second swarm back ; 



1 or 2 went back and did not come out 

 any more. I had an increase of 8 ; sold 



2 of them ; only 1 of the remaining 6 

 has enough to last them ; I shall double 

 2 and feed them. I thought I should 

 have to feed all my bees but lately they 

 have been storing honey from red 

 clover, golden rod and other fall flowers. 

 My bees are all hybrids ; they stored 

 considerable honey this spring from 

 fruit blossoms and black locust ; after 

 that they barely made a living till 

 lately. I think all but the new swarms 

 will have a plenty for winter. The 

 hives are quite heavy ; I have had no 

 honey, except about 50 lbs. of comb 

 houey and about 10 lbs. of extracted. I 

 shall get quite a number of boxes partly 

 filled, which I will use to feed those 

 that are lacking. The cause of the 

 honey failure here was on the account 

 of wet weather during the early part of 

 the season. About the first of July it 

 turned dry and has been so ever since, 

 until within the last two weeks when, 

 we have had a few light showers. 



New London, Ind., Sept. 8, 1880. 



