12 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



January 



this : " For sale— hybrid bees, $4.00 a 

 hive." Now, triends, this isn't so. 

 Nobody has hybrid bees in the United 

 States as yet. Wait till we get Dor- 

 sata or Indica here and there may be a 

 chance to get hybrids. 



One of the most painful reflections 

 about the recent death of the great 

 Langstroth is the fact that there is no 

 one to take his place as an author and 

 student in apiculture. I know of 

 editors of bee papers who have never 

 read Reaumur's work, the foundation 

 stone of bee culture. All these things 

 make it difficult to conver to the aver- 

 age bee keeper just what chances there 

 are of improving practical apiculture 

 by introducing new species (not races) 

 of bees. The domestic animals of the 

 United States are all introductions ; 

 and the introduction of Apis dorsata 

 would probably, in my opinion, be of 

 more importance than either ostriches 

 or reindeer. 



The more we diversify our business 

 the more likely we are to succeed. 

 The introduction of a new species of 

 bees would give us a standing in the 

 eyes of the world we do not now pos- 

 sess. What I should expect from 

 Apis dorsata would be ; 



1. A larger number of flowers visi- 

 ted having deep nectaries. 



2. A larger area covered by its 

 greater power of flight. 



3. More wax produced. 



4. Honey coming to us now going to 

 bumble bees. 



5. A greater power to take care of 

 itself against wasps, etc. 



It is, of course, problem ical some- 

 what as to what would be the greatest 

 advantage till we know more about 

 them. Certain it is, they are valua- 

 ble, and compare favorably with Mel- 



lifica. I should be discouraged if I 

 did not know how our own honey bee 

 behaves in the tropics. It is often 

 said that dorsata is migratory in its 

 habits, but our own honey bee does 

 the same thing pretty much. This is 

 news, but it is a fact. A bee tree is 

 not a bee tree very long in the tropics. 

 When the rainy seasons come, enemies 

 of all sorts come to eat their honey 

 and wax, till, in sheer exasperation, 

 evidently, the colony decamps, leaving 

 his abode in the hands of its enemies. 

 Bees in the tropics get no peace. 



It may strike your readers as very 

 strange, but flowers are scarce in the 

 tropics. I suppose that Ontario is a 

 better place for flowers than Brazil, 

 under the equator. One of the lies 

 we are taught in childhood is that 

 tropical countries have lots of flowers. 

 Mr. Miller would find wintering quite 

 a problem in the equator — just as 

 much as in Illinois. For months the 

 bees get hardly an ounce of honey. 

 Then they are annoyed by swarms of 

 ants, termites, and moths. 



Then Apis dorsata is accused of 

 working nights. So does Melli'ifca. 

 Bees in the tropics work nights and 

 mornings only, for the very good 

 reason that the vertical sun evaporates 

 all the nectar out of the tubes in the 

 middle of the day. My own bees used 

 to fly around moonlight nights in the 

 tropics, and no wonder, for a moon- 

 light night in Capricorn is superb, but 

 I could never discover that they did 

 anything nights. On the eastern side 

 of the Andes the little rivulets trickle 

 down the mountain side till about 10 

 or 11 A. M., then stop altogether for 

 the day. This is about the time bees 

 stop till about 4 p. m., when work is 

 resumed. 



