No. 2. Fighting Bees.— Culture of Coffee. 



63 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Fighting Eees. 



In passing through Water street a few 

 days ago, my attention was attracted by 

 seeing a large number of bees flying round 

 an open cellar door, but as these insects 

 often collect in considerable numbers where 

 our wholesale grocers deposit their hogs- 

 heads of sugar, Inolasses, &c., I would pro- 

 bably have passed them without giving the 

 matter further thought; but when I came 

 opposite the cellar,^! found the bees were 

 clustering together in numerous parties, 

 from three or four, up to as many as forty or 

 fifty. They were violently agitated, and 

 my first impression was that they were 

 swarming. I stopped to see if the queen 

 bee w-as among them ; but that was not the 

 case, as they were in distinct groups: on 

 closer examination they were found to be 

 engaged in fighting, and I soon found there 

 we"re°two classes of bees in the battle ; one 

 was the common honey bee, and the other a 

 smaller hee, and almost blacJi ; lacking also, 

 the fringe of hair around the rings of the 

 abdomen, that adorns the honey bee. Per- 

 haps I should rather say the hair was much^ 

 more sparcely scattered over the body of 

 the smaller bee, than over the honey bee. 

 ■ The whole incident was so curious and 

 interesting to me, that calling in a friend 

 who has a fondness for natural history, 1 

 took some pains to inquire further into- the 

 matter. 



The bone of contention, we were told by 

 one of the clerks m the store, was a hogs- 

 head of honey in the cellar, so we descended 

 into the midst of the combat, to get a fairer 

 view of the whole affair. The hum of the 

 angry combatants was quite enough for 

 weak nerves, but the scene was so interest- 

 ing that we laid aside persorial feelmgs to 

 enioy it. 



The honey bees were evidently the more 

 numerous, but the little black bee did not 

 lack spirit, and the battle was hardly fought ; 

 indeed the clerk above named assured us it 

 was a feud of many days standing. Their 

 mode of attack was curious: — the bees, if 

 in single combat, generally approached face 

 to fjvce, till their antennse met, when each 

 grasped the other, striving to get such a 

 hold as would enable her "to sting her oppo- 

 nent in the thorax, never attempting to in- 

 flict a wound in the abdomen. The honey 

 bee seemed lo us the best tactician, crouch- 

 ing down, so as to prevent her antagonist 

 getting the advantage of her, while the 

 black bee alwaj^s stood up, thus giving an 

 advantage to the other, which was improved 

 to the great loss of the black army. If in 



their struggles they became separated for 

 more than an inch or two, they often could 

 not again find each other, satisfying us of 

 the extreme near-sightedness of vision in 

 the bee. 



They fought both singly and in groups, 

 as above stated, though when in clusters 

 they seemed to lack that care and tact ob- 

 servable in sinffle combat. 



V\ hat kind of a bee was the little black 

 one'! Can some of the readers of the Cabi- 

 net, who are more curious than myself in 

 such matters, inform usl My friend and I 

 concluded it was a native or wild bee. 

 Were we correct in so thinking] W. 



Philadelphia, Eighth mo. 1844. 



From the American Agriculturist. 

 Culture of Coliee. 



I HAD almost forgotten the promise I made 

 during our pleasant intei course at my resi- 

 dence last summer; to give for the Agricul- 

 turist a short account of the cultivation of 

 coffee and other products in the northern 

 sections of South America and the province, 

 or rather State of Venezuela. At the time 

 I traversed that country, I did not feel that 

 deep interest in things pertaining to the cul- 

 tivation- of the soil, which would induce mi- 

 nute observation of all that related to the 

 products of the country. My observations 

 were more of a general nature, and were 

 directed to the cultivation of coflfee, cocoa, 

 and indigo, as subjects of interest to a tra- 

 veller, and connected intimately with for- 

 eign commerce. 



The luxuriance of vegetation in those 

 valleys, which lie between the various 

 branches of that great range of mountains 

 which passes through the South American 

 continent, far surpasses all that we meet 

 with in this country. The valleys of Ca- 

 raccas and Aragua, consist of a deep, rich, 

 black loam, equal in fertility to the most 

 productive portions of the Mississippi or its 

 tributaries. Throughout these, and on the 

 sides of the adjacent mountains, are the 

 coffee planlations, scattered here and there, 

 small cultivated spots in the immense tract 

 of neglected and uncleared waste. I shall 

 not soon forget my first impressions of a 

 cofice-estate, as I caught sight of it in the 

 distance, or when actually within its pre- 

 cints. 



We were on Las Vueltas, or the back of 

 the mountain, and descending by a gently 

 sloping zifif-zag mule path, shaded by lofty 

 ' forest trees on our left, and on our right a 

 steep precipice. Far below this lay the city 

 of Caraccas, as on a map, its spires glitter- 

 ing in the sun, and its surrounding estates 



