.1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



237 



able to carry out mj' plans for intro- 

 ducing Aph Dorsata to this countr}' 

 Just when apiarians were hoping to 

 see the work accomplished by such 

 men as Dr. E. Parmly and others, 

 the whole thing seems to have been 

 abandoned, and the stamp of worth- 

 lessness to have been put upon Apis 

 Dorsata itself. 



Writing this article away from my 

 library, I am not as sure as 1 could 

 wish to be of some of my statements; 

 but am almost certain that Mr. Wood- 

 bur}', either in a private letter to me, 

 or in some communication, says that 

 he has seen the comb of this bee, and 

 that while the cells are deeper than 

 those of the black or Italian varieties, 

 they have about tJie same diameter ! If 

 this is so it is evident that our bees 

 could utilize their combs, by piercmg 

 out the cells, so that the possession 

 of a single queen might give us the 

 means of propagatmg the race. 



That this bee does not confine it- 

 self to building upon trees, is certain 

 from this fact given to me by Mr. 

 Woodbury: At Galle, on the Island 

 of Cej'lon, from which the English 

 steamers start on their voyage to the 

 Isthmus of Suez, a colony of Dorsata 

 (as he was informed) had established 

 itself in one of the sheds of the steam- 

 ship compan}' ! 



My plan for testing and securing 

 it would be substantially this: Send 

 to Ceylon a thoroughly reliable and 

 energetic bee-keeper. He should learn 

 at what season the propagation of 

 these bees might be most safely un- 

 dertaken; should have all needed 

 hives and other appliances made here 

 and carefully packed so as to occupy 

 the smallest space, and be put togeth- 



er when he reaches his place of des- 

 tination. He should take with him 

 some colonies of Italian bees, well 

 prepared for a long journey — obtain- 

 ing them as near to the Isthmus as 

 possible, in order to make their trans- 

 port the safer. 



, On his arrival at the port on the 

 Red Sea (Aden) where the steamers 

 sail for Galle, he should lay over, one 

 steamer, to give them a purifying 

 flight, thus preparing them for the 

 long sea voyage. Arriving at Galle, 

 he should carry them to some place 

 where Dorsata was in full work, hon- 

 ey gathering, swarming, etc. Here 

 he could easily learn whether this va- 

 riety could be domesticated, and if 

 so, he could breed his queens on the 

 spot. If he found it incapable of do- 

 mestication, or for any reason not a 

 desirable bee, he could ascertain if a 

 cross between it and the Italian race, 

 might not prove to be the long-desired 

 coming bee. I need not enlarge. In 

 1859, Mr. A. J. Bigelow, at my sug- 

 gestion, stopped over, one steamer, 

 at Panama, and thus made the most 

 successful importation that was ever 

 made, of black bees in California, 

 Adopting the same plan, he carried 

 113 small colonies of Italian bees the 

 next season, to San Francisco, his 

 bees arriving in admirable condition, 

 only two or three queens having aied 

 on the passage, and the colonies hav- 

 ing as many bees as when they left 

 New York. With such an expert as 

 Bigelow, Dorsata, if capable of do- 

 mestication, or any other variety of 

 bee, might be brought here from al- 

 most any part of the globe. 



Gerstaker, seems fiist to have sug- 

 gested the value of Dorsata, thinking 



