ths. 



Poisonous Wild Honey, Etc. 



Mr. A. V. McDonald, of Aukland, 

 New Zealand, writes thus : 



Editor Bee Journal. — Do you 

 know of any case of poisoning from 

 eating wild honey, gathered from poi- 

 sonous plants. I saw the following in 

 a New Zealand paper lately : 



" A curious circumstance showing the 

 danger which persons run from eating 

 wild honey, occurred near Maketu. A 

 native who was on the search for honey 

 discovered a hive close to a wharangi 

 bush, and having eaten plentifully of 

 the honey, he was attacked after a 'few 

 hours with violent pains similarto those 

 resulting from taking strychnine. No 

 medical assistance was available, and 

 the unfortunate sufferer died in the 

 course of the night. The bees had 

 gathered their honey from the flowers 

 of the wharangi, which is one of the 

 two poisonous plants to be found in New 

 Zealand. It is well that people should 

 be aware of the poisonous nature of 

 this shrub, so that they may prevent 

 their cattle from eating its leaves. Its 

 flowers produce abundance of honey, as 

 is indicated by the botanical name 

 melicope ternata. It is easily known by 

 its large white-backed leaves. Its gen- 

 eral habitat is at the edges of forests." 



I notice in the New Zealand papers 

 that an acclimatization society in the 

 northern portion or this Colony are 

 about to import humble bees in order 

 to fertilize red clover. Will not the 



Eure Italians do this as well as humble 

 ees ? Is the honey from red clover 

 good ? as I notice in a late number of 

 the Bee Journal that it is questioned. 

 Also, will humble bees be an acquisi- 

 tion to a country perfectly free from 

 them ? Would the amount of honey 

 they take be of any consequence to bee- 

 keepers V I ask these questions because 

 more than one pest has been introduced 

 . to the Colony through carelessness and 

 ignorance. If in event of humble bees 

 being objectionable I should like to 

 mention it in time. 



In answer, we would remark that 

 Italian bees do sometimes work on red 

 clover, and that it yields honey of ex- 

 cellent quality very plentifully. Any 

 insect that works on red clover will 

 naturally fertilize it. 



We do not see wherein humble bees 

 would be detrimental; they will cer- 

 tainly do their part in fructifying the 

 plants on which they work. The honey 



they may store will be quite insignifi- 

 cent when compared with that secured 

 by the Italian honey bees, and their 

 irritable disposition will not be very 

 tempting to men in general to handle 

 them. 



A colony of pure Italian bees was sent 

 from the Bee Journal apiary to New 

 Zealand last summer, and we hear that 

 it arrived in good condition. A corres- 

 pondent from Canada sends us the fol- 

 lowing information concerning another 

 shipment of bees to New Zealand : 



" Italian bees (2 hives) have been success- 

 fully carried across the tropics from San 

 Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand. 

 They were shipped per H. M. Ship ' Aus- 

 tralia' with damp sponges over the combs. 

 Capt. Cargill keeping them in his own state- 

 room throughout the 20 days sea voyage, via 

 Honolulu. They arrived in splendid order 

 in Auckland, whence one hive was sent to 

 Coromandel, in the Thames Peninsula, 

 Auckland; the other being sent to Christ- 

 church, Canterbury. New Zealand with its 

 113 varieties of flowering shrubs and trees, 

 its mild aud equable climate, is the Para- 

 dise of the bee. Judging by the rapid in- 

 crease of the black stock introduced 40 

 years ago, there is every reason to think that 

 the ' immigrants' will rapidly increase." 



igir Two queens in a hive is rather a 

 rare occurrence, but none the less vexa- 

 tious, especially when attended with 

 such results as one lately found by Dr. 

 N. P. Allen, of Smith's Grove, Ky. At 

 the National Convention, he was pre- 

 sented with a fine queen by his old 

 friend Benedict, of Benningion, O. On 

 arriving home, he introduced her into a 

 hybrid colony, after removing the old 

 queen. Still having a young queen they 

 desired no stranger, and killed her 

 majesty from Italy. The Doctor now 

 regrets not having made a thorough 

 search, before introducing his valued 

 queen. 



f^ Mr. F. Benton says that hundreds 

 of colonies of bees died in Cyprus, last 

 summer, from the effects of buiming 

 hot winds. We never felt such burning 

 hot winds as those that assailed us in 

 Venice, last year. They came from the 

 desert of Sahara, and the same have 

 evidently troubled the bees in the Island 

 of Cyprus. 



