10 



TUE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



January 



Again, without any doubt, these 

 bees have longer tongues than our or- 

 dinary bees and might very likely be 

 able, like our bumble bees, to gather 

 honey which is inaccessible to our 

 common honey bee. It would certain- 

 ly be a great acquisition to secure a 

 bee, for instance, that could secure the 

 nectar at the deep flower tubes of red 

 clover. It is more than probable that 

 many other flowers secrete nectar that 

 cannot be reached by our common 

 bees. 



Again, these bees are not only a 

 different variety from all our domesti- 

 cated bees, but they are also a distinct 

 species. It certainly is not up to our 

 nineteenth century civilization to let 

 bees of such marked characteristics 

 pass year after year without a trial. 

 Every great enterprise has more or less 

 risk back of it. This is no exception 

 to the others. While we may perhaps 

 say that the probability is of no signal 

 advantage, yet, on the other hand, 

 there is more than possibility that its 

 introduction among us might be at- 

 tended with great advantage. The 

 Government is all the time introduc- 

 ing new seeds, new plants, new do- 

 mesticated animals, and I see no pos- 

 sible reason why we should make an 

 exception of Apis dorsata, or any pos- 

 sible reason why bee keepers should 

 not benefit by Government enterprise 

 ■with those engaged in other manual 

 pursuits. Without doubt the Govern- 

 ment could accomplish this at very 

 slight expense, as they did the intro- 

 duction of Novius (vedalia) cardinalis 

 from Australia. In that enterprise 

 the State of California received a ben- 

 efit which is almost beyond computa- 

 tion. 



It seems to me the broad view of 



any such matter as this is for the Gov- 

 ernment to introduce any species or 

 race that might offer even a slight 

 hope of improvement. Is not this a 

 sort of " making two blades of grass 

 grow where only one grew before?" 

 And 1 have no objection to the Gov- 

 ernment becoming just such a philan- 

 thropist. It passes understanding, to 

 me, why any one should object to the 

 Government undertaking such an en- 

 terprise. If the objection comes from 

 the fact that some obnoxious individ- 

 ual is likely to be selected to carry it 

 out, then I say make objections to the 

 individual, and not try to balk the en- 

 terprise. While I am not in favor of 

 the Government giving money for 

 conventions or anything else that ben- 

 efits the few, I would hold up both 

 hands to have it undertake any such 

 project which offers even small hope 

 of advantage, and which is beyond 

 the means of individual effert. Es- 

 pecially would this be true where all 

 the people of any great industry would 

 certainly profit were the enterprise 

 successful and the results available. 



I, therefore, wish to put myself on 

 record as commending the action of 

 the bee keeping society of New York 

 State, which has been so active in try- 

 ing to accomplish this object. 



Claremont, Calif. 



(From Gleanings). 



APIS DOKSATA NOT UNDESIRABLE 



Their Practical Value for the United States 

 — Other Races of Bees. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



The editor of Gleanings is anxious 

 to know something about ray way of 

 securing A'pis dorsata for the purpose 

 of attempting its domestication. In 



